The Minneapolis business community helping make bike share happen

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ — Nice Ride Minnesota, a new non-profit created to bring public bike sharing to Minneapolis, today announces another successful round of fundraising. Augsburg College, Grant Thornton, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Seward Co-op, Wedge Co-op, Equal Exchange, Peace Coffee, Birchwood Cafe, Dero Bike Rack Co. and Aveda have all announced their plans to sponsor Nice Ride bike share kiosks.

In September, Pat Geraghty, president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, announced its title sponsorship for Nice Ride Minnesota, as one way they’re working to put the brakes on rising obesity levels. The bike share program is a strong compliment to the Blue Cross do campaign, which promotes physical activity and is also funded through settlement proceeds from its historic lawsuit against the tobacco companies. Their leadership was instrumental in drumming-up increased local support.

Nice Ride Minnesota plans to supply 1,000 bikes in about 80 self-service kiosks, beginning in May 2010. Bike share kiosks will be in downtown Minneapolis, on the University of Minnesota Minneapolis Campus, and in nearby commercial districts, including Uptown, Midtown, the Warehouse District, St. Anthony Main and Dinkytown. Subscribers will easily use the system, by swiping a membership card to unlock a bike, and then returning the bike to any kiosk in the city.

“Our supporting companies want the Twin Cities to be known for vitality and innovation,” said Bill Dossett, Nice Ride Minnesota executive director. “Thanks to our sponsors, Minneapolis will soon lead the nation on bike share. We know other companies will also see this initiative as an asset to the community.”

Companies are sponsoring the program for a variety of reasons, mostly because it aligns with each organization’s initiatives to have a positive impact in the community in which they serve.

“Active living is healthy living, which is why we’re proud to be a sponsor of Nice Ride Minnesota,” said Jeff Peterson, president of Abbott Northwestern Hospital. “Bike share is an easy way for people to make exercise part of every day.”

“Our sponsorship of the bike share program is motivated by our commitment to eco-friendly practices,” said Lee Wallace, CEO at Peace Coffee. “We’re active participants in the local cycle community and love the idea of bringing more Twin Cities residents out onto the streets alongside our bike delivery crew!”

“As a local business, we know that Minneapolis has a strong and vibrant bicycling community, and we look forward to being part of Nice Ride Minnesota’s growth,” said Marcos Lopez-Carlson, customer service supervisor at the Wedge Co-op, “We believe that increasing access to bicycles will improve the overall health of our urban environment.”

Tom Vogel, marketing & member services manager at Seward Co-op, believes bike share dovetails with the values of the Co-op’s membership. “Seward Co-op is committed to operating with intentional respect for the environment and to investing in the communities we serve. Nice Ride Minnesota aligns with Seward Co-op’s mission.”

“Aveda shares Nice Ride Minnesota’s vision for community wellness, environmental protection and sustainability,” Chuck Bennett, vice president of Aveda earth and community care. “We’re proud to be associated with such an innovative program that will help people enjoy all the wonderful attributes of Minneapolis.”

For additional information on bike sharing and to learn how you or your organization can support Nice Ride Minnesota, please visit www.niceridemn.com or contact Bill Dossett at 612-747-4659.

Contact:
Roepke Public Relations
Katherine Roepke
Melissa Bohlig
612-677-1717
press@roepkepr.com

SOURCE Nice Ride Minnesota

I just read another excellent piece on transport and suburban Melbourne, by Clay Lucas, at The Age.

So, I am going to say it.

John Brumby must be anti-public transport in Victoria.

(Many Australians would know John Brumby, but for international readers is state leader of Victoria, with the parliament seated in Melbourne, where 2thinknow is based. But I would also think this comment is constructive for other cities with much-maligned transit systems – especially some North American cities.)

It’s the only reason. Think about it:

Wasting over $1 Billion on a MYKI (ala Oyster) ticket swipe card system that should slow down entry/exit of trains and trams across Victoria and Melbourne.

Not spending aforesaid money on actual trains, trams or new routes.

More ring roads and toll-roads, although evidence suggest these have not improved transit times – especially due to feeder road bottle-necks.

Not replacing level crossings with tunnels or bridges – despite numerous deaths.

Badly designed trams with 1.5 seats instead of 2 seats.

Refusal to build new train or tram lines.

If one takes all the logical reasons, and assumes a rational reason for the recalcitrance, then there is only one reason. Most likely the reason is political.

Simply put – a poll-driven assumption that Victorians say they want transport but actually want roads. And the fact that Brumby simply doesn’t like public transport.

This may be disguised by some noble high-minded sounding excuses internally – based on practically incorrect assumptions on climate change, outsourcing or electoral boundaries; these are my guesses. But I suspect that Brumby and the Cabinet also simply don’t support public transport, but like to buy adverts on the topic.

I think that is out of touch. And I think their internal polling is wrong. I also think they are modelling a dated view of Victorians, far from the reality.

In 2thinknow City Benchmarking Data – global comparative standards of cities like Frankfurt, Curitiba, Denmark, Amsterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dusseldorf, Strasbourg and others – mainly in Europe – comprehensively outperform Melbourne.

These cities have developed integrated multi-modal transit solutions. And, at times, these cities have done so in less benign climates than faced Victoria under the Brumby-Bracks “economic honeymoon”.

Now, many Victorians have been to these cities in increasing numbers. In my casual conversations, the transport infrastructure of Singapore – one of Melbourne’s economic competing cities – is widely seen as out-performing Melbourne. This is public water cooler comment.

And, if I was a businessperson, locating a firm in Melbourne, Sydney or Singapore now I’d have to think hard about that decision. Transport, of course, is an opportunity for Brisbane – assuming they can ever sort out their new traffic problems.

Of course, Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, catches the tram. I’ve seen him, numerous times. Round of applause.

Transport is only one aspect. Of course, if you want to learn more about how Human Infrastructure promotes innovation – purchase our Innovation Cities Analysis Report. My view, is that Melbourne is falling behind.

And, just because Sydney is a political basket-case, does not mean that Melbourne can stop competing just as Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul accelerate.

I can only think that John Brumby doesn’t like trams or trains. I’m not partisan, or convinced the Liberals will do better, but transport is blocking Victoria releasing its innovation potential and damaging jobs not yet born.

And I think Brumby will find transport, and law and order, damaging electoral issues. You can’t spin your way out.

I’m a big believer in ‘correct alignment of incentives’.

My proposal, is that Victoria should pass a law that all politicians should catch public transport on sitting weeks.

If any politician has conviction – they would do just that.

Just a thought…

Keep innovating,

Christopher Hire
Executive Director

> Yet another put-upon Victorian! Well, OK, the Arts Precinct is good.

LED Streetlights, a Money-Saving Tool for America’s Cities and Towns, a Feature of “Industry Today” on Industrialinfo.com

SUGAR LAND, TX–(Marketwire – November 19, 2009) – Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) — When Ann Arbor, Michigan, suffered a 60% electrical budget cut, the city turned to the NECA-IBEW team to keep citizens safe while driving or walking on city sidewalks. Using workers from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), a contractor who is a member of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) retrofitted LED light panels inside the city’s existing streetlights.

Energy used by each lamp was cut in half, from 120 to 56 watts. The LED lights reportedly will last five times longer than normal bulbs, producing added savings through reduced maintenance costs for Ann Arbor.

As cities across America struggle financially, municipal officials must do more with less. Street lighting waste is ripe for the plucking. Almost all of our country’s 68 million streetlights are outdated and inefficient.

Municipalities can save with new, efficient LED lights; return on investment for LED replacements can come in fewer than four years. Contractors and workers who are part of the NECA-IBEW team are uniquely situated to help — which is why the Ann Arbor retrofit was featured in a recent video on ElectricTV.net.

See the ElectricTV webcast to learn how an LED overhaul made economic and environmental sense in Ann Arbor — and may for your town, too.

Founded in 1901, NECA serves the management interests of U.S. electrical contractors. With 119 chapters in all 50 states, NECA is the electrical industry leader — in labor relations, training, education, advocacy, and research.

Serving as the voice of electrical workers in the U.S. and Canada, the IBEW (founded in 1891) has 750,000 members. With the knowledge, skills, and professionalism that its members demonstrate every day, the IBEW represents the best electricians in the world.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news. For more information send inquiries to industrialmanufacturing@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at www.industrialinfo.com.

HONG KONG, November 18 /PRNewswire/ — The GSMA, the body that represents the worldwide mobile communications industry, today announced that its Green Power for Mobile (GPM) programme is working with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, to support mobile operators in exploring the use of renewable energy base stations as a means of optimizing capital and operating expenditures. Through this collaboration, mobile operators in developing markets can benefit from technical assistance programmes, market research, and knowledge sharing programmes to help them implement large scale renewable energy powered networks.

The overall goal is to make cost effective renewable energy solutions a widely used power source for off-grid locations by 2012. The initiative offers a direct way to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in off-grid parts of the developing world. IFC plans to identify and pursue green power investments that expand the mobile industry’s use of renewable energy powered networks in developing countries. IFC will act independently as an anchored investor, offering developing country mobile operators a variety of financial instruments to enable the implementation of viable business models that leverage renewable power for long term efficiency gains.

“We have estimated that mobile operators across the developing world will incur a US$14.6 billion diesel bill from powering off-grid base stations by 2012,” said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board, GSMA. “Working together with IFC, we hope to address this by helping mobile operators to expand network coverage into remote regions, deploy renewable energy base stations, reduce their energy costs and minimise impact on the environment.”

“IFC is delighted to collaborate with GSMA to enable the expansion of mobile coverage to remote regions and the under-served in the developing world, thus bridging the digital divide, based on the highest standards for a sustainable environment,” said Mohsen Khalil, Director of the joint World Bank/IFC Global Information and Communication Technologies Department, the unit responsible for the IFC partnership.

Through the relationship, GPM will offer a Feasibility Study service to mobile operators with an interest in increasing their use of green power solutions. The service involves a technical and financial analysis of an operator’s base station network to identify priority candidate sites and optimum renewable energy technology, to forecast capital expenditure and return on investment, and assist with implementation planning. GPM will also be developing training curriculums to provide further technical assistance and educate mobile operators in the process of implementing renewable energy base stations.

GPM has also set up a dynamic and evolving database to monitor the progress that the industry is making towards reaching the GPM target of powering 118,000 new and existing off-grid base stations in developing countries using renewable energy sources by 2012. The industry database of green base station deployments includes details on equipment used, approximate payback period, challenges and successes, and can be viewed at http://www.wirelessintelligence.com/green-power.

An industry report which will be published twice a year will provide a regular update of developments within the sector featuring operator case studies, vendor points of view, interviews, technology analysis and best practice guides – the first issue can be found at http://www.gsmworld.com/documents/gpfm_report_09_annual_review.pdf

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry.

For more information, please visit Mobile World Live, the new online portal for the mobile communications industry, at http://www.mobileworldlive.com or the GSMA corporate website at http://www.gsmworld.com

About IFC

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, fosters sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilising private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. IFC’s new investments totalled US$15 billion in fiscal 2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial crisis. For more information, visit http://www.ifc.org.

SOURCE GSMA

Data Shows 10 Percent Increase in Internet Access Boosts Economic Growth by 1.3 Percent

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ — The future of the Internet is everyone’s concern. As a gateway to abundant resources that can help raise global living standards, the continued evolution and success of the Internet is essential. This was the message delivered today by business leaders to the UN-linked Internet Governance Forum (IGF), taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Addressing over 1,000 participants during the opening ceremony of the forum, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Secretary General Jean Rozwadowski said: “Harnessed appropriately, the Internet has an important role to play in helping to address an array of challenges ranging from economic recovery to climate change.”

Mr. Rozwadowski went on to underscore that a holistic, but distributed, approach to Internet governance was the only way to ensure that the right decisions are made. “No one group can or should address Internet governance issues alone,” he said.

Business is a major investor, innovator and developer of Internet technologies, infrastructures, applications and services that enable users to reap the benefits of the Internet.

Subramaniam Ramadorai, Chair of the ICC initiative Business Action to Support the Information Society, and Vice Chairman of Tata Consultancy Services, stressed that developments in networking and mobile technologies and applications must be underpinned by investments in infrastructure and increased technical literacy. They must also be supported by informed policy frameworks at national level that promote innovation.

“Regulatory frameworks should avoid hampering a company’s ability to compete, which in turn slows innovation,” Mr. Ramadorai said during his opening speech at the forum. “In India we have seen that when policies and regulation support the ability of companies to compete, innovation and entrepreneurship thrive.”

Around the world, partnership programmes and initiatives are helping people in cities and rural areas extend use of the Internet for their economic and social benefit. Business is a key partner in these efforts.

Research by the World Bank published in July this year revealed that a 10 percent increase in high speed Internet connections leads to a 1.3 percent growth in the economy – data that supports ICC’s belief that informed policy choices that enable connectivity and new pathways such as mobile Internet access are a very powerful way to extend economic opportunities.

Herbert Heitmann, SAP Chief Global Communications Officer, and Chair of the ICC Commission on E-Business, IT and Telecoms said: “Many of us already take the opportunities and efficiencies of the Internet for granted. However, there is still a huge untapped potential in this market, one which holds the key to future economic growth on a global scale.”

The economic impact of mobile access to the Internet has been most significant in some of the most rapidly developing parts of the world, according to research published earlier this year by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

For example, the use of mobile technology in a fishing village near Pondicherry now allows fishermen on land to access optimal fishing zone information, which they use to alert their colleagues out at sea – increasing the day’s catch up to 10-fold.

Meanwhile, the radio taxi industry across urban India has experienced 50 percent annual growth in the past few years, as a direct result of equipping drivers with mobile phones and using GPS to track cars, according to the ICRIER report.

Another study, commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks, shows that increased access to broadband in the US has accounted for 10 percent of recent productivity growth. The report, published in February this year, adds that if the US had five more broadband lines for every 100 people, the country’s GDP would be 0.5 percent higher than its current 2009 level.

“Mobile access to the Internet provides people, even in the remotest areas, access to vast resources of knowledge and information, and makes best practices available to everybody,” said Lauri Kivinen, Head of Corporate Affairs of Nokia Siemens Networks.

“It also broadens the geographic scope of potential markets, increases choice in the marketplace, and provides access to goods and services that may have been previously unavailable or unknown,” he added.

Business believes that effective Internet related policies create an environment that enables innovation and development, attracts investment, helps build infrastructures for future users and spurs economic recovery and growth. Informed policy frameworks are pro-competitive and consider issues such as the free flow of information, data protection, and security.

ICC BASIS is a strong supporter of the IGF that will take place over the next three days. The forum was set up three years ago as an open platform for businesses, governments, civil society and technical organizations to discuss Internet policy issues.

The IGF enables the development of Internet related policies by allowing participants

• share ideas and listen to others’ perspectives on an equal footing
• exchange best practices
• build human and institutional capacity

The forum’s original five-year mandate expires at the end of 2010, and ICC BASIS is publicly backing continuation of the IGF and its founding principles.

* World Bank report “Information and Communication for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact” can be seen at www.worldbank.org

* The ICRIER’s study “India: The Impact of Mobile Phones” can be seen at www.vodafone.com

* The NSN’s study “Economic Impact of Broadband: An Empirical Study” can be seen at www.connectivityscorecard.org

    For further information, please contact:
    Dawn Chardonnal
    ICC Communications Manager
    Tel: +33 (0)1 49 53 29 07
    Email: dawn.chardonnal@iccwbo.org

About ICC

The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member companies in over 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of private enterprise.

A world network of national committees keeps the ICC International Secretariat in Paris informed about national and regional business priorities. More than 2,000 experts drawn from ICC’s member companies feed their knowledge and experience into crafting the ICC stance on specific business issues.

The United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and many other intergovernmental bodies, both international and regional, are kept in touch with the views of international business through ICC.

For more information please visit: www.iccwbo.org

About the ICC Commission on E-Business, IT and Telecoms (EBITT)

Business leaders and experts drawn from the ICC membership establish the key business positions, policies and practices on e-business, information technologies and telecommunications through the EBITT Commission. With members who are users and providers of information technology and electronic services from both developed and developing countries, ICC provides the ideal platform to develop global voluntary rules and best practices for these areas. Dedicated to the expansion of cross-border trade, ICC champions liberalization of telecoms and development of infrastructures that support global online trade. ICC has also led and coordinated the input of business around the world to the World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva 2003, Tunis 2005, and continues this effort in the activities established in the Tunis Agenda through its initiative, Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS http://www.iccwbo.org/basis)

SOURCE International Chamber of Commerce

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

The demand for water in urban areas in Fukuoka, which has scarce water resources, continues to increase year by year due to trends in population centralization and increased urbanization. The agency provides municipal water services that include transporting water from the Chikugo River to the Ushikubi water treatment plant, which purifies water for drinking and distributes water to reservoirs in eight cities, eight towns and Kasuga-Nakagawa Waterworks Agency. The agency also manages the Seawater Desalination Plant, which serves a population of 2.3 million residents in the surrounding urban areas.

With the support of Nihon-Suiko, an engineering consulting firm, Fukuoka District Waterworks Agency is developing an asset management system based on IBM Maximo software. The system, scheduled to go live in April 2010, will monitor the conditions of facilities assets at the water treatment plant and the Seawater Desalination Center. Assets include electric equipment, engineering and construction devices, pipelines and water pumps. Exa, an IBM Business Partner, implemented the system.

IBM’s smarter water management system gives Fukuoka District Waterworks greater visibility into their maintenance operations and physical infrastructure, with near real-time status of equipment and maintenance history.

According to the maintenance management and renewal plan for the next 40 years, Fukuoka District Water Works Agency’s efforts will reduce the estimated cost for renewals and repairs by 125.6 billion yen compared to renewing the facilitates based on standard lifecycles. In the future, the agency expects this level of detailed, real-time asset management to reduce costs still further.

“Water management is an issue faced by every business, city and government on the planet,” said Sharon Nunes, Vice President for Big Green Innovations at IBM. “These issues can be understood and managed by collecting and analyzing data, and IBM is applying expertise in smart systems and data analysis to help companies like Fukuoka District Waterworks Agency more effectively deal with these issues.”

IBM has developed a number of smarter water offerings under its ‘Big Green Innovations’ initiative, part of a $100 million investment in 10 new businesses based on ideas generated during Innovation Jam, an IBM-led effort to gather ideas from thousands of clients, employees and thought leaders around the world. The Big Green Innovations team at IBM has concentrated its efforts on water management, alternative energy and carbon management.

For more information on the Fukuoka District Waterworks Agency, visit: http://www.f-suiki.or.jp/english/

For images, videos, and more information related to IBM and water, visit http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/26906.wss.

For background information about IBM’s efforts around building a Smart IT Infrastructure, visit http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/smartplanet/topics/itinfrastructure/20081215/index.shtml?&re=spf

IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Maximo and Tivoli are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol (® or (TM)), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml

    Media Contacts:
    Saeko Hibino (Japan)
    IBM Media Relations
    03-3808-5187
    saekoh@jp.ibm.com

    Libra White (US)
    IBM Media Relations
    408-404-6786
    libra@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM

And why 2thinknow view a Rail Renaissance as likely.

1. Speed.

German ICE trains are faster than air over 1000km. Around 4 hours CBD to CBD.

2. Clean.

Environmental impact around 10% of cars over the distance, according to numerous environmentalists.

3. Safe.

Mid-distance trains, in developed countries, are a generally safe transport option. Especially applicable for solo travellers.

4. Work-time.

Unlike cars or planes, rail work-time is increased. Work-time on planes is limited due to take-off, landing & wait.

Eurail working times in first-class are excellent, due to laptop connections & emerging t-mobile wireless.

5. Carriage & Convenience.

Luggage is less a problem on rail. Less hassle than modern airports travelling coach/economy or business class. Greater weight. Less packing concerns. And finally, no one has to pad you down, remove your shoes, or search your bags. Not yet anyway.

Rail can be a bliss in many cases, compared with airports.

6. It’s a journey.

The sense of travel, of a journey made. A theme of British Royal Geographical Society travel writer, Christopher Portway.

Captured well in Portway’s recent book – Flat Feet and Full Steam: Around the World in Every Way

7. Social.

European trains have some degree of socialising to them, and there is a sense of mystery. Planes can have that, but trains have an edge over other modes.

Portway again, writes an excellent yarn for railfans here – The World Commuter: Great Journeys by Train (Summersdale travel)

Add to that…

Policy-wise, 2thinknow also like trains & rail for these reasons.

1) Reduced road congestion & road pollution.

2) Increased freight opportunities in the supply chain.

3) Modal redundancy, allowing multiple transit modes.

Trends.

Trends are showing a return to rail over mid & long-distance travel.

The leaders in this are Europe or Asia. Warren Buffett purchased rail stocks last year.

The 2thinknow View is that trends — climate change, social patterns & infrastucture focus among others — support an infant rail resurgence.

However, in many English-Speaking countries rail & transport policy needs a review.

Do you think rail’s time has come? Let us know.

2thinknow accurately predicted the September 2008 shock & economic crisis in October 2007, & ASX share market peak, using our proprietary nascent trend analysis.

2thinknow view local innovation as the key. Change Trends. Creative Companies. Innovation Cities & Regions.

For some great examples of trains, check out this slide-show on slideshare.

Safe, Cleaner, Practical.

Despite increasingly shrill voices on the right-wing think-tanks, calling for less public transport, rail has clear benefits, visible to all.

Most countries around the world can see the benefits. China, Japan, France, Austria, all are investing in rail. Why do you love trains?

Here at 2thinknow, next are 7 reasons why global trends support a rail renaissance.

$18 Billion Australian dollars, (about USD $16 billion) before the inevitable incompetence, corruption and budget overruns at the implementation stage.

And like so many large projects, political jockeying may lead to a White Elephant. Yet we do have a choice…

Eddington ran airline BA, and is a respected business figure, but perhaps the questions he was asked do not reflect the questions he should have been asked.

Here’s an alternate vision for Melbourne that will cost far less, and may actually save money or be cost-neutral in its initial stages.

The Insight: Cost of Maintenance

Too often, Government look for million dollar solutions to thousand dollar problems. Government bureaucrats love big bottomless software or infrastructure projects, but seem to forgo maintaining properly what they already have.

Corporates too love refurbishing, rebuilding and re-branding. Complex, multi-million dollar office moves or refurbished retail centres, new plants or infrastructure often cover a fundamental lack of profitability or productivity, quite nicely.

Disconnect between hammer, nail and wall

Too often the solution to a minor problem (wall) becomes a project (hammer) disconnected from the solution (nail). In the case of Government, MYKI ticketing is a recent example.

In business school, you learn the myth of pouring money into ’sunk costs’, but once started these projects will not be terminated without much controversy and attention. Some of it, career-ending.

So onwards big projects roll, like the disastrous Customs software, with no useful end-outcome, and no chance of the project working. MYKI seems the same.

‘Project momentum’ is why common sense must come before the project starts.

It’s not my money, let’s spend it….

I once recall sitting in a meeting with 12 people, 6 of whom were clueless, building part of a system to decide, using economic modeling, surveying, whether a government should paint or repair infrastructure.

The insight is that the Government (and corporates) often look for big solutions to small problems, rather than logical solutions.

And part of this is a broader social trend towards disposable living, consumerism and an economic theory that economic good times come from spending and waste. And that somehow, this largesse and waste trickles-down into the pockets of the poor.

So even though there is massive waste, this somehow magically makes us all wealthier. It must be luxurious to not really understand economics, but be responsible for it.

A better question is what is the opportunity cost of doing bad projects, badly run; in terms of project opportunities foregone, using the same money on better projects more useful to citizens?

20th Century thinking

A waste-driven, industrial approach is out-of-date. It is industrial, numbers-driven and lacking in vision. In defining the problem, and choosing Eddington; Brumby and others are stuck in an industrial approach to a post-industrial problem.

It is a problem that we lack vision in Victoria. The same old industrial solutions are trotted out; instead of real innovation.

We need radical ideas, which when you think about it, only seem radical because we forgot how sensible they were.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was hotly contested for 30+ years in Parliament of NSW, but that icon is still with us.

Here’s a 3 point, 2thinknow Radical Innovation Action Plan for Melbourne and Victoria.

Here’s radical idea – #1 – Maintain it!

Once upon a time, the Government simply would have had carpenters, fitters & turners and others on the payroll, given them some paint, timber and nails and fixed our infrastructure. At a much lower cost.

Common sense so often is lost in big project, where a system is so profoundly nonsensical and lacking in concern for the community it serves.

So often, simply repairing what is there, with a well-trained full time staff of carpenters, painters, steelworkers and maintenance men would be simpler.

So often the Government or Corporates, buy a new asset, but outsource all maintenance (almost as an afterthought) to a variety of contractors, who do not care about the longevity of the asset. In corporations, this short-termism is disguised in continual balance sheet asset retrofits and purchases, depreciated over time.

The asset needs maintaining, is not maintained, runs down and soon we are off to Germany buying new assets with complex parts that can only be imported. We used to repair infrastructure locally. A ride on most Yarra Trams is a good example of this lack of maintenance, and ‘buy it, don’t maintain it’ culture.

Maintenance must be done by long-term staff who care. Not corporate relationships using by the hour, often ‘cash-in-hand’ staff bidded for at/below minimum wage to increase the profit to the contractor.

Logically, a private firm with private infrastructure and costs, plus a profit margin, is more expensive than maintaining merely a pool of Government labor.

Outsourcing maintenance to these lowest-bidder private contractors is flawed. It is broken. And so often the contractors are overpaid, the end-workers are underpaid, and thus do the bare minimum.

Work safety conditions also may not be met by people who are working illegally, as are many Melbourne office cleaners on student visas for example.

But Government top-level bureaucrats prefer expensive outsourcing to private companies so they can blame the contractor if something goes wrong. Think MYKI…

Oh Myki, not so fine, not so fine, you blow my mind… Hey, Myki! CHORUS, please.

So many problems I have seen in Government could be fixed at a cheaper cost by a few competent full-time workers, rather than a complex tender.

But because the work-ethic of so many Government departments is flawed, those bureaucrats are reluctant to hire more people who will also become bureaucrats.

In short, someone actually has to do the work. And complex solutions with big budgets, whilst doing work that is actually unnecessary, cover the fact that nothing has changed for the citizens.

In Brumby’s case for example, reduced numbers of actual physical (not scheduled) train (reported by 7’s Today Tonight) and tram services, are covered by various ‘future plans’, that never actually get implemented. Although announcements make the news regularly.

Brumby (unlike Bracks) does plan to do something, but it seems that it is destined to be the wrong thing, and at a great price in taxpayer dollars.

“I’ve got a shiny new infrastructure, it’s over-budget, so let’s cut maintenance…”

When they do actually approve and complete projects, often Governments scrimp on later project phases including primarily maintenance, or training.

This is because these phases are low-hanging fruit, and the minister can point at the finished station or tunnel and say — see what we built? (Oh and I’ll be gone before it falls apart.)

If they build the Harbour Bridge now they would not bother to all the cost to paint it regularly, as that would be deemed too ‘low-tech’ a solution.

Yet we have not had to replace the Harbour Bridge.

Radical, Unpopular: Idea #2 – Sack Bureaucrats

The perception overseas at times, is that average Australians are lazy, and will dodge work at every opportunity. Certainly there is a culture of looking busy in Government.

The 2thinknow solution is brutal. Sack 80% of the bureaucrats, the HR managers, the committee members, the analysts, the accountants.

Who needs them? Really? I have time and time again seen Government office buildings occupied by a herd of pointless time-wasting office workers. They do not always start this way, but it is a cultural problem…

Idealists sometimes enter (especially State) Government and soon discover the ‘don’t make a rod for your own back’ culture leads to risk averse situations where doing the bare minimum and pretending to be busy is the norm.

I have time and again seen Government workers on salaries exceeding $50,000 per annum playing solitaire or reading the Trading post, whilst claiming they are busy!!!

In NSW I saw it outside the General Manager of a department, clearly visible. Yet an ‘egalitarian’ culture prevents open discussion of lack of performance, and most likely he was doing the same. One of my favourite bureaucrats was always in the field, never in the office he was running.

Of course, there are some excellent Federal and State departments, like the Attorney General’s, DFAT, Austrade, some sectors of Defence, Dept of Premier and Cabinet.

But most transport, basic social services or health ministeries are a sad joke. And many people within them are frustrated at the culture.

Meanwhile the Government refuses pay rises and resource increases for front-line ambulance paramedics, teachers, drivers, nurse and police. These are the public servants who actually do work, but they constantly lose them to the private sector.

And inside the numerous office towers of State Government, overflowing with public servants, a small number of Government workers carry the others workload.

A close family friend once told me the ratio in social services in NSW was 1 in 6. 1 worker carries 5 others. Something that seems about right, in my experience.

Pity, if you are that 1 worker who does the work. Consultants do the work of the rest, as I used to do.

Nobody in Australia in consulting will say all of this, as we all depend on public service consulting. But the reality is it is time to ‘call a spade a spade’. Let us all put personal interest aside. Can we not think here of the ‘greater good’ beyond our own petty interest?

Many people in Government are unhappy doing ‘busy-work’ but the culture of politicization, endless meetings and pointless projects drains them and leaves them listless. Also ‘dead-wood’ colleagues will knife you if you ‘rock the boat’.

This has all been reported before in the media at various times. It is ‘on the record’.

Answer: More Workers, Less Managers

The answer is Government do not need so many managers. Once upon a time to be a manager you had to have staff. Excess managers is just a way of disguising entrenched wage inflation, by giving promotions.

Why do excess managers matter? When all you have is a manager, a PC and a phone, all you need is a consultant and a report. Who does the work?

In short, why do we need so many managers, when so few people actually do the work?

In areas of the Victorian State Government culture is so bad that a scythe should be taken through them immediately by an independent auditor of bureaucracy.That is, a toe-cutter only cutting head office people, not people who do work for citizens.

The cost savings of releasing or selling massive office towers rented or owned by Government, as well as reduced phone, IT, HR, services, recruiting and other overheads would be gigantic.

And the upward pressure on corporate wage inflation would ease in the mid-term, as workers are released to be soaked up by buoyant jobs sector for white-collar workers in private sector jobs.

Radical Idea 3 – Hire people to Work

Finally, let’s hire some of these sacked bureaucrats and ‘dispensed-with’ consultants back. Not as managers, but as people who do a decent days work.

Bring back a hierarchy, with people working at the bottom. Carpenters, repair men, steel makers, painters, cleaners. Put them on the Government payroll, and have managers who manage them to do work.

Don’t assume they can do the job, hire them, write procedures, and train them.

Give them good conditions, a degree of job certainty, clear tasks to do, let them work outdoors, and quite a few will jump at the chance.

Also shift policing, nursing and teaching back to important front-line based professions, increasing on-the-ground police, teachers, nurses and their wages and conditions.

In 1999 I was warned by an Inspector in the State Rail in NSW about the loss of drivers to private freight operators. This was common knowledge within the department. Yet 5 years later, the NSW Ministers were ’surprised’, by a sudden shortage of drivers.

With rising house prices and debt, it is not enough to bury your head in the sand and overpay Government office workers, yet underpay front-line staff like train drivers.

Pay and conditions, as well as clear work tasks motivate people.

After all, not everyone wants an office job. And not everyone needs an office job either.

We all Know This… I have talked about this to people in Government

The very good people I meet in Government know it’s broken. In a private moment they will accept it and even joke about it. They know how much groups like Allens Consulting Group were paid to do essentially pointless economic modeling.

Inside, no one wants to breach their own interest. Those who cannot stand it any longer, merely leave.

And the Government pays consultants as it is too unpalatable to address its own work culture, and trim its own bureaucracy.

The reality is consultants are good for one off jobs, where they bring world-class expertise, but they should not be duplicating the jobs of a public servant who is paid to do the job but is incapable. A job often not required if there were less cubicle-jockeys.

The Goverment must return to paying people to do actual work, not sit in cubicles, attend meetings and read the Trading Post in between.

A final piece to a Government Solution – the lawyers

Governments must have the political bravery to enact a law capping liability for personal injury. This is another reason for outsourcing, outsourcing risk and blame.

Capped liability, with certainty, would benefit both the defendants and the Government.

I recently had a close family friend who lost a case, when clearly he was using a machine that caused injury to his brain. He now has to pay legal fees, and suffered the indignity of being called a liar.

My friends legal case lasted many years, until he lost; and his phone was tapped by the insurer according to his understanding, which having worked for insurers I have no reason to doubt.

Another family friend hit by a driver whose insurer is refusing to pay. This case is in its 3rd year in NSW.

Fixed payments for injuries based on satisfactory proof would free up the legal system, and with some caveats for exceptional suffering should be introduced.

Moral hazard would need to be addressed, perhaps by payout ranges and risk criteria, but the current situation is hardly more satisfactory, and capping injury may reduce fraud.

Alternate 2thinknow plan for Melbourne infrastructure

1) Maintain the infrastructure we have, instead of forgetting it

2) Sack the bureaucrats in office towers

3) Hire people to do actual work

With the savings of these basic steps to the Government, perhaps the Government could use cheaper public debt (not the dubious Public Private partnerships) to fund a rail line to Doncaster, or even Caroline Springs.

And perhaps also create multi-level parking on the edge of the city served by shuttle trams.

The ideas and possibilities are numerous. But we need to fix the Government first. Brutal, swift and with some consideration of what needs to be done.

Then do simple, discreet projects; not monolithic dinosaur projects.

Ideas can be done once we get back to basics…

And here’s another simple idea, cancel the tram superstops, maintain the trams and return to a tram on every corner.

Weren’t trams designed to navigate the Hoddle grid? Isn’t this better than some new costly underground rail tunnel?

How many times now do you see people walking multiple blocks from say Coventry St into the city (St Kilda Road trams breakdown or are overcrowded regularly) ?

And in Collins St it is no longer worth catching a tram 2 or 3 blocks thanks to delays or super-stops which cause large gaps and confusion. I typically walk from Exhibition St end to Swanston or even, Queen St.

On the weekends there are regularly cancellations and trams stopping at Arts Centre for one reason or the other. Less services, same taxpayer money.

Perhaps we could even make the city mostly car free, with parking in surrounding inner-city areas using high rise or underground parking lots. These can be run by private enterprise if desired, and would be profitable.

Other cities around the world are trying ideas. Not having workers start work earlier or later, as the clueless Kosky tried to implement. Changing peoples lives to cover a lack of commitment to actually providing decent public services.

Perhaps make public transport public and free once it is improved, and remove all the bureaucrats regulating it.

How about free wireless broadband throughout the entire city? The far-flung former Soviet poor city of Tallinn, Estonia has done it, why not richer Melbourne?

Further there are so many green ideas from European cities, and continental Europe is implementing them.

In my next research trip, this April for 2thinknow, I will be gathering more of these ideas. Surely we can implement a few ideas, else what is the point of sending bureaucrats on expensive trips via Eurostar as this Government has done?

Victoria, under Brumby is becoming the ‘will talk, but can’t do’ state.

A New Victoria, can we have it?

A plan like this, an honest simple plan, is what a real man of vision would do.

And a real Government, with like Kennett, the guts and brains to do the important things, not waste more public money.

Hopefully Baillieu is the man. Brumby does not seem to be.

And it is time for political generational change in Melbourne.

Brumby is a dead man walking in terms of innovation.

Well, this is true, in Germany, and much of Europe.

The ease of implementation of the Deutsche Bahn (D-Bahn) system, allows for the enquiry into, and booking of complex train routes.

Whilst no mechanical system is perfect, those with some human knowledge of conditions on the ground in Germany, can plan and map routes across Europe using the German website for D-Bahn.

German Trains Worldwide Benchmark

In public transport the Germans are leading the way. How?

Specific details of which trains are on which routes.

Reservations of long-distance seats.

Various frequent-traveller discount programs, like Bahncard.

E-ticketing for domestic trains, using a boarding pass tied to a credit card.

Mobility information before travel for the disabled or less mobile.

Predictable, accurate timetabling.

Consistent connections between trains.

Clean, mostly safe, trains.

Not always modern trains, but consistently well-maintained.

An increasingly integrated transport system.

Lest we just say, oh those Germans have always had good trains… Remember that they have had the massive expenditure of integrating all former East-German cities.

Integrating communist era rolling stock, signal systems and trains is something that was not easy. Such integration would not happen in other free-market economies like the UK or Australia, without mammoth mistakes and front-page disasters.

Leipzig, a Great Example of what’s possible in under 1 Generation

If you want to see what an excellent job the Germans have done, go to Leipzig.

Leipzig was ranked the 5th place Innovation City worldwide in the Global innovation Review 2007. Part of this is an ability to implement innovation, due to strong infrastructure support.

As a simple example, the World Cup was held in Leipzig venues, and was managed very well by all accounts of visitors.

20 years ago, even 5-10 years ago Leipzig was nowehere near as integrated.

2thinknow Research into German Systems

I am returning this April to Germany to research trains and IT integration, as is done in the German booking System for Deutsche Bahn, as well as the use of new technologies in air travel booking that the Germans are using.

Having been to every Australian city and many more in Europe and America, the closest rival to the German system is the French System, especially Eurostar & TGV.

In the Americas Boston and San Francisco have amongst the best public transport of major cities, by US standards. But Germany is ahead.

German’s World Class Trains

Germans should be the benchmark on integrated multi-function, consistent public transport.

Integrated, multi-function transport is increasingly important when many Governments are concerned about “emissions” from cars. Trains are more environmentally friendly in most cases, than individual journeys by car, or plane flights.

But more critically, public transport enables innovation by reducing the friction on trade, allowing free uninhibited movement of people, goods and services, and enhancing cultural exchange.

What is one reason why German Public Transport Works?

Notably, whilst Germany has private basis for some transport, their is a public mindedness operating, a sense of “for the public good” imbued in the system.

This focus, is a part of the cultural factors, that lead German systems to differ from Australian or UK systems. The Australia and UK approaches are typified by heavy outsourcing and confused, inept public planning, and poor ministerial oversight.

In Germany, functioning public transport is a critical component of their world-beating approach to technology-based innovation.

Germans recognize that environmentally, culturally and economically public transport adds value.

2thinknow have identified a number of factors that contribute to the success of a public transport system, through global analysis and comparisons of transport systems.

It is not just the technology, it is the broad integrated socio-cultural approach of the Germans to public transport, that makes them world-top-of-the-class in this field.