Article 1: Regulation on transportation in central London city proves to be effective in reducing traffic congestion. This case study on sustainable traffic improvement in central area of London, United Kingdom is drawn from ‘Colby – Sustainable Development’ by Caroline Allison from Colby College. The city government levies a license system for private cars travelling in and out of central London. The price for the license is charged on daily basis and the results for this action is a 33% decrease in trips of private vehicles and an increase on usage of public transportation. Though the primary goal for this development is to decrease the level of traffic congestion in central London, other benign effects were also achieved. More people got out of their own cars and shift to public transportation, as well as shaping a better image of London for tourists. The idea of ‘end use’ is best explained here. London is seen here to have a higher end use, as there is positive government revenue generated and better city image.

Source: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/Allison.htm

Article 2: Transmilenio project improved transportation condition in Bogota, Columbia. This case study talks about the successful development on public transportation in Bogota, Columbia. It is written by Guy, Crawford from IDS. (Institute for Development Studies) The Transmilenio project is mainly powered by a Bus Rapid Transit program as well as improvement in related public transportation infrastructures. The project proves to be affordable and affective in achieving its goals, which is reducing the travel time in, through and out of the city and emission. What’s more, the number of traffic accidents and related fatalities has decreased by 94% along the main roads. With a single ticket system poorer commuters who live in further suburban communities were also able to ride with a uniform fare. This also provides an incentive for people to move out of central city. Though poor people are more likely to live in a less developed location (Development’s downside), the Transmilenio helps them to better commute and have better connection with other parts of city.

Source: https://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/LHcasestudy05-BogotaBRT.pdf

Paragraph 3: London’s and Bogota’s approach in sustainable development in transportation both prove to be effective. These two approaches are based on two different sector of transportation. One is regulation on private car use within central city while the other is about improving the public transportation facilities. From two different approaches they achieved a similar outcome, which is shift people to mass transit, reducing the congestion and emission and shaping a better city image. I used to live in Beijing, China, which has a different approach in reducing traffic congestion. This approach is consists of three actions, exceptionally low public transportation fares, plate-end-number regulation on road (license plate with certain last digit were unable to use the roads once a week) and restriction on number of car registrations. Beijing is now largely expanding its metro service coverage as the capability of roads is reaching its limits. In general, all of these approaches prove to be very effective in terms of traffic reduction. An integration of these approaches would help building a better transportation system in urban areas.