The Globe and Mail

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan's pilot program, "Green Light for Midtown, " to reduce traffic congestion throughout Midtown Manhattan via targeted improvements on Broadway, focused at Times and Herald Squares.

My way or the highway toll

Sometimes, what you need is a really aggressive traffic cop. In New York City, her name is Janette Sadik-Khan. Under her reign as transportation commissioner, which began in 2007, Ms. Sadik-Khan has closed Times Square to vehicles between 47th and 42nd streets, transforming the city's most famous intersection into a car-free zone.

She plans to introduce congestion pricing, a 2,900-kilometre system of bike paths and, in 2012, she will introduce a “river-to-river” rapid bus corridor. “I don't hate cars,” she told Esquire magazine last year, when they named her one of the “Best and Brightest” of 2010. “We're updating our streets to reflect the way people live now. And we're designing a city for people, not a city for vehicles.”

Ms. Sadik-Khan prefers to implement her plans and get approval later. Known for simply painting in bike lanes and co-opting public space for pop-up swimming pools, she has managed to introduce rapid change in a city that never sleeps. But not every New Yorker admires her chutzpah. Her plan to introduce bike lanes throughout the city has produced much anger and is now also the subject of a lawsuit, filed by the woman she replaced as transportation commissioner.

Commuters use 'Octopus' stored value cards as they exit a Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station in Hong Kong on July 27, 2010.

The smartest smart card

A recent comparison of international transit statistics by the Toronto Board of Trade ranked Hong Kong as having the highest percentage of people who don't drive to work, with 89.2 per cent. On average, Hong Kong residents travel 3,700 km a year on transit and take 527 rides per year.

These stats are thanks, no doubt, to the so-called Octopus Card, the world's smartest transit smart card. Launched in 1997, Octopus Cards Limited claims there are more than 20 million in circulation. The cards are used by 95 per cent of the city's population aged 16 to 65, with 11 million daily transactions worth more than $12.8-million (U.S.)

While many cities struggle with the cost and consequences of implementing a smart-card system, Hong Kong has expanded theirs to be compatible with almost every city expense.

Atocha train station in Madrid, Monday March 22, 2004

How to dig the subway

If someone on the subway in Madrid calls you an Avelinos, don't be offended, it's just the local term for a transit regular. Madrid boasts the sixth longest subway system in the world, even though the Spanish city is just the 50th most populous metropolitan area.

The city's original underground was built in 1919, but underwent a period of rapid expansion in the late 1990s, when more than 150 new stations were built over 192 km, and 37.6 km of new tunnels were dug.

Between 2000 and 2003, the city also built Metro Sur, a 28-station, 40-km circular subway line that connects the densely populated suburbs south of the city, and completed a direct line from the central business district to the airport.

All of this was done for a relatively low cost, through a series of public-private partnerships. Construction companies funded the expansion in exchange for the chance to operate the new lines, from which they would receive revenues from ticket sales.

But a city dependent on public transportation can easily be paralyzed. Last year, 2 million commuters were stranded when Madrid's five major unions of Metro Madrid employees declared a general strike to protest a 5 per cent cut in their salaries.

Photo shows outgoing traffic passing a paystation at the southern exit from Stockholm City when the congestion-tax trial started 03 January 2006. — Sven Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

Easing congestion pricing

With 26 different municipalities, some of which are only connected by bridges, traffic in the city of Stockholm can run considerably less smoothly than other aspects of the Scandinavian society. In 2004, the Swedish Riksdag, or parliament, decided to experiment with congestion pricing, a price- fluctuating toll system designed to ease rush hour traffic in and out of the city.

Instead of just flipping a switch on the system, the government ran an extended introductory trial from January to July, 2006. At the same time, they drastically improved the public transportation system, with 197 new buses, 16 new bus lines and more trains during peak travel periods.

The combined effect was a 20 per cent reduction in traffic and a 10 per cent drop in air pollutants across the city. Public transport use increased by about 6 per cent. But the most impressive change was that of public opinion.

Before the trial, 55 per cent of city residents thought the introduction of congestion pricing was a “bad decision.” But in a pre-ordained referendum on the issue held after the trial, 51.7 per cent voted to keep the charge.

Screengrab of the Metlink website

The early bird gets the train

Instead of changing their subway system, Melbourne, Australia, decided to change their subway riders. Faced with extreme rush-hour crowding, the city introduced an incentive in 2008 for riders to change their daily commuting practices, with the Early Bird Metcard entitling holders to 10 free trips completed before 7 a.m.

The program costs the city $6-million (Australian) every year in lost fare revenues. About 8,000 to 9,000 passengers use the ticket each weekday. But it has drastically changed the city's patterns. More than 23 per cent of passengers have shifted the time of travel by an average of 42 minutes, reducing demand during peak time between 1.2 per cent and 1.5 per cent from previous levels. That may not sound like much, but it's the equivalent of five train-loads of people.