Urban Transportation Characteristics and Urban Mass Transit Introduction in the Cities of Developing Countries

Abstract

JICA has been conducting urban transportation master plan studies in more than 50 cities in developing countries, which established comprehensive traffic database including person trip, traffic volume, and users’ stated preference. This paper analyzes the relationship between urban socio-economic indicators and traffic patterns particularly in the cities of developing countries and identifies their urban transportation characteristics based on the above traffic database. Special attention is paid on the “two-wheeler cities” in Asia which have different trend from global tendencies. The criteria to introduce urban mass transit system are also identified in conjunction with level of socio-economic development of cities.