Travel Demand Management is "Weird"

That's what New Zealand's Minister of Transport told Radio New Zealand yesterday as he answered questions about the Government's latest transport budget allocations. The Hon Mr Steven Joyce was explaining the re-allocation of transport budgets previously targetted at "Travel Demand Management", to Road Safety. There are also large allocations to motorway projects, and there is some allocation to public transport - notably rail in Auckland.

This is a throw-back to the bad-old days of car-centric transport and urban planning in Auckland. The Minister really needs to get to grips with the role that good travel demand management has in Auckland's economy...

I have tried to get to grips with what the differences are between what you see on the roads and the surrounding urban landscapes in the city-scapes of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Japan. Kuala Lumpur would have to be the most car-centred city I have ever been in - and that includes great American disasters. You can see my blog about Kuala Lumpur transport planning....

This eyeful is probably symbolic of all that Kuala Lumpur wants to be. The Petronas Twin Towers. Petrol heaven. They are a pretty stunning sight, and I haven't been fair to them here, but couldn't quite fit them into one shot they are so tall (at 452 metres dwarfing Auckland's paltry 328 metre high Sky Tower)...

... and these towers will be closely followed by Kuala Lumpur's motorway infrastructure as a symbol of KL's prowess and "World Classness". But these are in a never ending state of construction. As soon as one section gets congested, another "alleviating" motorway gets built, higher and higher above each other, and they draw more and more traffic... Is this the type of "World Class" that Auckland aspires to?

...and drag huge amounts of traffic into local streets which struggle to cope. And so do people wanting to get from "A" to "B". KL does have a rudimentary public transport system. I struggled to get anywhere easily in it. The best option was the highly regulated taxis: "Don't Haggle" on the doors. Taking a taxi anywhere within + or - an hour or two of peak travel is hopeless. Better to walk. But again - the walking experience is very poor. Pedestrians are way down the pecking list.... So what has all this got to do with travel demand management....

This is a picture of a bit of the Sapporo, Japan cityscape. It was taken shortly after peak morning traffic. What you can see though - is that there are remarkably few cars on the streets. Also, you become aware that there are no - or very few - cars actually parked on the street. I was struck by how clear of parked cars the street network is throughout the parts of Japan I visited. I was also struck by the absence - as far as I could tell - of hotted up Celicas and their like. Why was this?

I have already run a posting about Narita, Tokyo transport planning. But let's get a bit local here. This is a residential dwelling on a Sapporo street. Strange about the windows, but notice that the cars are not on the street. I've been researching "travel demand management" in Japan. Here's what I have learned so far. Basically if you live in a big city, the costs can be very discouraging, in fact, they're meant to be. If you want a car in Japan let's look at what's involved in that car purchase and the cost of owning and operating it: The Parking Space You must have a registered parking space and submit certification of such (Shakoshomeishou) to the police. The rental of the space varies, from a couple of thousand yen/month in the sticks, up to maybe over 100,000 yen/month in the plush areas of Tokyo. To get a parking space, some are found through estate agents (fudosan), others are rented directly from the owners. If it's from the fudosan, except for the guarantor, most of the other terms for flat hunting apply. (ie you can't assume you can park it on the street! at 65 Y/$NZ, this equates to $1,500/month for a compulsory parking place in Tokyo! NB: small car = small parking space requirements = less cost.) Paying Taxes When you buy a car, you'll have three main taxes to pay. One is an Acquisition Tax, another is a Weight Tax, and the third is an Annual Tax every May. The first two you pay when you buy the car. Basically, the bigger the engine, the more you pay. The Acquisition Tax is around 5% of the price of the car. The weight tax for cars with engine sizes up to 2 litres are about 56,700 yen, greater than that is 75,600. Passenger cars with a 300 something or 33 in the upper right corner of the license plate (including nearly all US cars) are the highest. A 50-something on the license plate indicates a medium-size car, and the "Kei" cars with an engine of 660cc have a yellow plate and are lowest. The May annual tax for Kei cars is the lowest as well at about 5000-yen, but for larger cars the tax quickly escalates to 34,500-39,500 yen for medium cars to 45,000 yen for 2.5 litre cars and 56,000 yen for 3 litre cars. You also need to pay consumption tax when you buy fuel, and many petrol stations don't display their prices. Prices can vary and may be up to 15 yen/ltr. cheaper at some stations, a big difference. (Need to check if Acquisition and Weight taxes are payable on 2nd hand cars. In any case the Annual Tax is about $80NZ for 660cc cars, and about $550NZ for medium size cars. Message? buy a small car.) Car Insurance There are two insurance programs, one is the mandatory insurance (kyosei hoken) which just covers the car, and the optional insurance (jibaiseki hoken) covers injuries/damages you may get/cause. You can decide the extras, theft, vandalism, disaster damage, lost wages, etc. Getting it would be a good idea, if the person driving that Mercedes you just knocked decides to have a heart attack, you'd be in trouble. The costs vary according to your age, if your family also drives it, how many offences you may have had, if the car has an airbag, etc. (Insurance... mandatory 3rd party kyosei hoken) Shaken Many people come to Japan and are surprised that all the cars are clean, well maintained, and always running efficiently. The sensitive Japan "experts" will tell you that it's because Japanese take such pride in their work, have such dignity to drive cars that only look like new, etc. All of which are true. But the real reason is different, and you'll pay dearly for it. Cars that are 3 years old have to have a mandatory maintenance check (Shaken), which is repeated every other year. The costs again vary according to the size of the car, but basically you'll be paying 120,000-160,000 yen or so for a smaller car, and more for a larger. Also, when the car is very old, it has an official value of zero and you may actually have to pay someone to take it off your hands! After that it'll be either scrapped or sold to dealers in Asia. (Mandatory maintenance check "Shaken" on cars 3 years old every other year - 120,000 for smaller car - equivalent to $1,850NZ every 2 years. Don't even think about lowering a car, or putting on a noisy muffler - would fail its "Shaken").

Now that's what I call "travel demand management" that is serious. It also explains why so many second hand Japanese imports come to NZ - the land where you get to own and drive a car - especially a hotted up and lowered and noisy one - for almost nothing, and where Govt is prepared to subsidise where you park it and drive it to an almost unlimited extent. We are reaping what we are sowing. We are turning into the Kuala Lumpur of the South Pacific. Is that the "world Class" image we really want?