Traffic & Congestion

29
Apr

2014

Google’s Self-Driving Cars Conquer City Streets

For those who love driving, the future looks more and more bleak. Yesterday, Google gave its followers an update on its self-driving vehicles.

According to its official blog, their autonomous vehicles have logged over 700,000 miles (1,100,000 kilometres) so far. The video posted below shows some of the incredible advances that have been made which now allows the vehicles to operate safely in complex urban environments. For example, the onboard computers and sensors can now detect hand signals from cyclists and construction cones.
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Right now the vehicles appear to operate only on predetermined routes with very high levels of map detail. However, the team plans expand their routes and have their vehicles operate throughout the city of Mountain View by summer’s end.

They understand that mastering the streets in a mid-size town of 74,000 is no small feat, but they still have a long way to go before autonomous cars can handle more tricky traffic scenarios typically seen in major metropolitan cities.

So until then, drivers like those in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (see below) will still need to rely on their quick reflexes and gusty driving techniques to conquer local traffic conditions.
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Innovations / Traffic & Congestion
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30
Sep

2013

Bumper Foam: Maximizing Parking in Bangkok’s Skytrain Stations

If you’ve ever been to Bangkok, you’ll notice something right away: cars, a lot of cars. The city of 9 million suffers from near round the clock gridlock. The government reckons that the road system can accommodate 1.6 million vehicles, but just last year alone over 7 million were registered — more than 4 times what the road network can handle!

Just your typical daily traffic in Bangkok. Image by Nicholas Chu.

Just your typical daily traffic in Bangkok. Image by Nicholas Chu.

So to avoid driving, many commuters take Bangkok’s elevated rapid transit system: the BTS Skytrain. For those who can afford it, park and ride is a popular option.

Not surprisingly, parking can sometimes be problematic, especially at the more popular stations like Mo Chit.

BTS Sky Train Mo Chit Depot

Parking Lot at Mo Chit station. Image by Flickr user Julius.Hibbert.

Since finding a parking spot during peak hours is incredibly difficult, locals have developed a very ingenious method of maximizing this limited resource. For those who park on the side of a roadway, as per local etiquette, drivers are expected to leave their cars in neutral so their cars can be pushed around by other motorists looking to park. And for those who park on a slope, you’ll need to slip rocks under your wheels to prevent it from sliding.

If you think that’s not bizarre or creative enough, many drivers have actually attached foam padding onto their bumpers so the cars aren’t scratched when being moved!

Foam bumpers. Image from news.voicetv.co.th.

Foam bumpers. Image from Matichon.

Foam bumpers. Image from Matichon.

While I’m not sure if this concept will ever fly in North America, I’m personally always fascinated by how simple solutions can be used to solve everyday problems without the need to reinvent the wheel.



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Just For Fun / Traffic & Congestion
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24
Jul

2013

Video: Beijing Subway Line 13 Rush Hour

For all the people out there who complained about traffic this morning while coming into work, take a look at this video of  Xierqi Station on Beijing’s Subway Line 13. It might just make your commute feel a little less hectic and slightly more comfortable.



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Traffic & Congestion
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08
Dec

2011

Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City

We often talk about the detriment of traffic. When we’re stuck in it, we hate it. It pollutes, it’s noisy, and it takes time out of our day.

But in this timelapse video of HCMH, Vietnam, photographer Rob Whitworth finds a way to showcases the splendor of the chaos — transforming the confusion and seemingly unruly patterns of everyday traffic into a magical urban spectacle.

Traffic in Frenetic HCMC, Vietnam from Rob Whitworth on Vimeo.



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Just For Fun / Traffic & Congestion
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31
Oct

2011

Mimes As Traffic Cops in Caracas?

Traffic cops in Caracas, Venezuela. Seriously.

If Caracas can use ski lifts as public transit what are the chances they could do something even more bizarre to ease one’s daily commute?

Plenty apparently.

Carlos Ocariz, mayor of the Caracas municipality of Sucre, has deployed 120 mimes into Venezuela’s most congested city. The mimes are tasked with taming the city’s notorious traffic and silently shaming (and mocking) drivers and pedestrians into following traffic laws.

Admittedly, the concept is strange but it’s not without precedent. The program was inspired by Bogota, Colombia’s own mime-as-traffic-cop scheme and has since spread to other South American cities like Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Originally conceived and implemented in the mid-2000’s by Bogota’s trailblazing former mayor Antanas Mockus, the program was so popular and effective that the number of mimes-as-traffic-cops grew from an initial 20 to over 400.

According to the Harvard Gazette, Mockus called it “a pacificst counterweight . . . With neither words nor weapons, the mimes were doubly unarmed. My goal was to show the importance of cultural regulations.”

He goes on:

“The distribution of knowledge is the key contemporary task. Knowledge empowers people. If people know the rules, and are sensitized by art, humor, and creativity, they are much more likely to accept change.”

Amen to that.

As we’ve discussed before (here and here, for example) people are creative, emotional and fun-loving creatures. It’s far easier to change people’s behaviour by playing to those aspects of their personalities rather than punishing them with burdensome policy, regulations and utterly ineffective public service campaigns.

Arguably, there are few things more frustrating in the realm of contemporary western policy, politics and planning than the complete humourlessness of the whole exercise. It’s as though our current planning regime has concluded that creativity and humor are incompatible with modern, professional urban life.

I categorically reject that model and opinion because it entirely misunderstands humanity.

Cities are built for humanity. A city, its infrastructure and its policy should therefore live to service the needs, wants and desires of humanity, not the other way around.

Just because your local planner, policy-maker or politician is without humour and creativity, doesn’t mean your entire urban existence needs to be as well.

Image via the Harvard Gazette.



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Traffic & Congestion
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