Formulating an Urban Transport Policy : Choosing between Options

As the developing world rapidly
urbanizes, the demands on transport systems also grow often
at a faster pace than the population. Given the above
tendency, an effective and coordinated approach to urban
transport requires that sound policies be put into place.
Such policies enunciate the direction that a government
wants to take; they lay the basic framework for downstream
planning as well as project identification and
prioritization. This document policy lays out the guiding
principles for more detailed downstream planning. The
objective of this guideline is to improve mobility,
environmental quality, universal access, safety, and energy
security of any urban transport policy. This guidebook is
intended to be a practical support for formulating urban
transport policies at the national, provincial, and local
levels. To this end, it highlights some of the important
issues that arise when creating an urban transport policy.
The report is organized as follows: section one gives
introduction. Section two presents a framework of possible
actions, highlighting the avoid-shift-improve classification
that has become common in professional practice. Section
three talks about the governance of urban transport: which
level of government should be responsible for it, which
sector should lead it, and how different aspects should be
coordinated. Section four highlights policies relating to
land use planning and the benefits of integrating them with
transport planning. Section five discusses the different
modes of transport and whether there is a need for policies
to promote any particular mode in preference to others.
Section six delves into issues relating to personal motor
vehicles and, more particularly, the extent to which
policies should accommodate the car within the overall
transport system. Sections seven and eight present policy
options relating to public transport and para-transit,
covering issues relating to pricing, coverage, technologies,
etc. Section nine presents options relating to non-motorized
modes. Section ten presents issues relating to parking, and
section eleven suggests a balancing of supply-side measures
and measures to contain demand. Section twelve highlights
options relating to alternative fuels. Sections thirteen and
fourteen cover the financing of urban transport and the role
of the private sector. Finally, section fifteen covers
issues relating to the process for formulating such
policies, and options for implementation.