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New thinking is required
For a quarter of a century an understanding has developed of the importance of towns and cities, and of transport to them. Policy has evolved, and there is a growing consensus of what to do, and the urgency of its doing. But action often has not supported the agenda. Fresh strategic thinking that sets a new direction is required. But, it requires clarity about the type of cities people want and the interventions needed to catalyse these. It requires change in the mindset of many professionals and city managers.
Formal risk analysis needs to be at the heart of a city transport strategy
There is a preferred transport development path for Asia’s cities, and timing is critical in rapidly developing cities, because land use changes are to a considerable extent, irreversible.187 Major projects are being identified and developed. Not all such projects are ‘good’ – they can lead a city down a less sustainable development path. The ‘turbulent environment’ of rapid urbanization and short political terms makes decision-making more difficult. But this can be resolved through the preparation of a city strategy that is based on an analysis, and then management, of the main strategic risks. There are three inter-connected aspects: what to do, which must be influenced by, and supported by stakeholders; financing – this needs to be realistic and considered as a constraint on what is planned; and capacity – how to make the strategy happen.
While financing must be considered as a constraint, a whole range of options for financing should be considered. Chapter 3 canvassed a range of financing strategies. Two aspects of existing systems in Asia should be given particular attention:
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Increasing the efficiency and market-responsiveness of public transport – mainly bus operations, secured by competitively let contracts between operators and the public transport authority.
An overhaul of the major project (megaproject) development process, particularly for rail projects, to bring realism to forecasting and avoid the high financial liabilities that governments, as opposed to private concessionaires, sometimes incur.
>> Singapore transport approach (Click to open/close this example)
Singapore transport approach
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By the 1970’s the Singapore Government had invested considerable effort devising a long-term land use/ transport strategy. A quality public transport system and road pricing were essential elements, necessary to ensure efficiency and personal accessibility.
The Government increased vehicle import duties, registration fees and road tax in 1972 as the first step towards greater control of vehicle ownership and hence use. When the policy shifted towards road pricing as a more effective lever on use, the charges were reduced slightly, but still amounted to £10,000 ($18,000) on a typical 1,500cc car with a market value of £7,000 plus £300 per annum road tax in 1989.
In 1975, the Area Licensing Scheme (ALS) was introduced – a simple cordon pricing scheme, with licenses displayed on windscreens and enforced manually. This was a considerable success – traffic congestion was removed within the restricted zone. The approach was subsequently extended to the major expressways under the Road Pricing Scheme. In 1998, Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) replaced the manual-based paper system and in 1999 this was extended to arterial roads beyond the restricted zone. All vehicles are required to have an electronic in-vehicle unit (IU) that accepts credit in the form of a smartcard. Tolls are automatically paid when a vehicle passes under a gantry and a display indicates the current. balance. Tolls do not fluctuate in relation to traffic volumes but are adjusted quarterly to ensure optimum traffic speeds.
The system cost S$ 200 million (US$ 125 million) to implement, one half of which was for free fitting the IU’s. Annual revenues are about S$ 80 million, with operating costs 20% of this at S$16 million. The system was not designed to increase government revenues. ERP charges are generally less than the corresponding ALS fees, although the ERP per-pass charging principle means that those motorists who use the priced roads now pay more. Overall revenue is 40% less than previously collected from the ALS, but electronic charging gives greater flexibility to set charges that are just sufficient to keep the roads free of congestion. Once new traffic patterns stabilized, weekday traffic volumes entering the restricted zone dropped by 20-24%, and average speeds in the zone increased from 30-35kph to 40-45kph. Improvements are less clear on the expressways and these charges are being reviewed.
The charges and quota system have been effective in constraining the growth of vehicle ownership. The total fleet was projected to reach 1 million in 1990, but had only grown to 711,000 (including 380,000 cars) in 2003. However, after paying so much for vehicles, owners tend to use them more. The annual average car use is 20,200 kms per car, compared to 11,500km in London.
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| Source: www.cfit.gov.uk/factsheets |
>> Outsourcing (Click to open/close this example)
Outsourcing
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Public sector functions are outsourced to specialist private sector service providers under competitively bid contracts with the city government. This has become a fast growing new industry. Examples are the operation/ maintenance of traffic signals, parking enforcement and road maintenance and operations. The benefits are lower cost and better performance, and as such releases more public financing for other uses. As the public sector becomes more experienced in contracting, and when private companies become aware of this large potential market, such a change is likely to be beneficial in terms of cost efficiency and performance grounds. |
Source: ADB, 2007, Managing Asian Cities Study, Manila. |
A sustainable transport strategy
The starting point is what type of city is wanted and what transport development path will catalyze this. No city has the luxury of starting afresh, but clarity of outcome is necessary, together with an objective assessment of the options available, and of the transport development path for achieving the required outcomes.
>> Private Financing (Click to open/close this example)
Private Financing
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Much has been learned in the last fifteen years of when and where transport concession projects should be pursued. These are particularly critical to future strategy, since not all such projects contribute to sustainable policy. Concession projects can distort strategy, and starve public financing from more worthwhile investments – virtually all megaprojects require large public support of one form or another, particularly for rail. The evidence is compelling that private sector entrepreneurs and financing can be beneficial and provide needed infrastructure in the public interest, even or particularly when government capacity itself is not strong. Private financing provides needed infrastructure today that would not otherwise be possible; and providing the economy is expected to grow robustly, such that repayment tomorrow remains affordable, this approach is strongly supported. |
Source: ADB, 2007, Managing Asian Cities Study, Manila. |
The core transport strategy
Accessibility is the basic requirement and congestion its enemy. Accessibility requires consideration of all modes – walking, cycling, public transport, private cars – and for freight, trucks. The worldwide evidence is that controlling congestion requires car restraint at times or places where congestion is severe, together with the development of an acceptable alternative. For most developing cities buses provide that alternative, requiring a combination of efficient operations and priority over other traffic to insulate bus services from the congestion that remains, and thereby increasing its efficiency and moderating bus fares. Efficient public transport operations are achieved by a range of approaches. All should involve a formal contract between the public transport authority and operator. Competitive tendering of concessions is one common model.
For many developing cities, the priorities should be:
- Introduce traffic restraint measures early – when it will be most acceptable.
- Bus priorities, and where possible the development of busways along radial corridors. The competitive procurement of bus services.
- Securing and enhancing provisions for pedestrians and cyclists.
- Focussing road investment on circumferential roads supporting decentralized employment nodes, completing the road hierarchy such as building missing secondary roads, and on removing bottlenecks.1
- National governments to set fiscal incentives and standards for vehicles, technologies and fuels, andprogressively increasing them to reduce vehicle emissions of green house gases (GHG’s), especially through carbon-based energy consumption.
As cities develop and demand increases with growing incomes, and as capacity improves, strategies can evolve by:
- Extending and deepening traffic restraint through technological developments and management change.
- Upgrading busways, where possible to bus rapid transit.
In exceptional cases rail transit may be justified, but this requires special assessment. Seeking and procuring private sector skills and financing.
Ensuring land use zoning reinforces efficient transport networks by decentralizing employment nodes and zoning high densities around transport stations, for example.
>> Hydrogen for transport (Click to open/close this example)
Hydrogen for transport
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Hydrogen could potentially offer complete diversification away from oil and provide very low carbon transport. Hydrogen would be best suited to road vehicles. The main ways of producing hydrogen are by electrolysis of water, or by reforming hydrocarbons. Once produced, hydrogen can be stored as a liquid, a compressed gas, or chemically. Hydrogen could release its energy content for use in powering road vehicles by combustion in a hydrogen internal combustion engine or fuel cell. Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water in a process that generates electricity. They are almost silent in operation, highly efficient, and produce only water as a by-product. Hydrogen can produce as little as 5% of the emissions of conventional fuel if produced by low-emission technologies.
There are several hydrogen projects around the world including:
European Union – trial of hydrogen buses; China – hydrogen buses to be used at the 2008 Olympics; Iceland – had the first hydrogen filling station in 2003 and targets a hydrogen fuel economy by 2030; California – plans to introduce hydrogen to 21 Interstate highway filling stations.
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Source: ADB, 2007, Managing Asian Cities Study, Manila. |
>> Reducing emissions from tricycles in Puerto Princesa (Click to open/close this example)
Reducing emissions from tricycles in Puerto Princesa
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USAID’s Asia Environmental Partnership included a clean air program which focused on reducing emissions from the increasing number of tricycles in Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan in the Philippines. At the core of the program was the introduction of a “50/50 scheme” which aimed to reduce the volume of tricycles on the city streets by 50%. The scheme divided tricycles into two groups, identified by stickers. The first group was allowed to operate only on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays; while the second group was allowed to operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. A two-week trial was suggested to counter resistance by tricycle drivers and operators, and most found that daily incomes doubled. The plan was complemented by public awareness campaigns, roadside inspections, and the promotion of proper vehicular maintenance among drivers to reduce harmful emissions. Government promised to explore alternative livelihood opportunities to lesson economic dependence on tricycles. Commuters who faced longer waiting times were appeased by raising the franchise cap to 4,000 by giving franchises to 1,000 unregistered tricycles. The program was found to be extremely effective, significantly reducing congestion, and lowering hydrocarbon and CO2 emissions by as much as 40% and 30% respectively. The League and Cities of the Philippines are now exploring the potential for replicating the scheme in at least 10% of cities nationwide. So far, three cities are implementing components of the program. The lessons highlighted a participatory, consensus-based approach which sought the support and engagement not only of the tricycle drivers and operators but also the city’s political leadership and civil society groups. |
Source: USAID. 2005. “Puerto Princesa’s Clean Air Program” A Best Practices Case Study: The Philippines |
>> Beijing north-south corridor bus rapid transit (BRT) system (Click to open/close this example)
Beijing north-south corridor bus rapid transit (BRT) system
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The Beijing bus rapid transit (BRT) system was developed by a partnership between the Energy Foundation and the City. It extends from the center to the south, the first 2km on shared road space, the rest on a fully segregated right-of-way. The busway comprises 2 single-lanes in the road median, with centre stops and left-opening bus doors (there are no overtaking lanes at stops). Buses are frequent and the average speed is 24kph. Fares are 2RMB, about 25 US cents, bought at stops, pre-boarding. Smartcards are usable for a small discount. Stop design is functional and efficient, and passengers access via overbridges or signalised pedestrian crossings, and boarding at the same level as the bus. Buses are articulated single-deck. The internal capacity, being constrained by wheel-arches, is said to be 200 passengers. The busway appears to have a capacity of about 8,000pphd. The future of BRT in Beijing is uncertain, since there are not many sufficiently wide corridors. |
Source: ADB, 2007, Managing Asian Cities Study, Manila. |
Megaprojects should be undertaken with great care
Expressways and rail systems are costly and risky; this is particularly the case for rail projects. They are ‘exceptional’ projects, and development should be undertaken with great care. Their approval requires a sequence of decisions from strategic pre-feasibility to final financing. Their assessment must focus on their intended compatibility with the city development and transport strategies and outcomes, and the risks that influence these. International experience and benchmarking are essential parts of this process, before the final decision is committed.
Tailoring cities to their traffic needs
With the diversity of Asian cities, there is not one single transport agenda that suits all cities. The main determinants of the agenda are a city’s existing condition, its prospects and ambition, and its means to effect change. The table below shows four types of city and their transport related prospects and ambition, and outlines the most appropriate transport agenda for each.
City size and transport
All cities start as towns and grow in size. When small, the transport system is necessarily modest. As the city grows, trip lengths require the bus system to progressively take the strain and traffic restraint to progressively be applied to control traffic congestion. As bus demands grow then busways become desirable. Once public transport has use of part of the roadway, then it is possible and desirable that it be progressively improved by grade-separation to overcome bottlenecks, and/or to a higher-quality bus rapid transit system.188
>> Part-Financing Metro Development by Project Development - Hong Kong (Click to open/close this example)
Part-financing metro development by project development - Hong Kong
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Both the Mass Transit (MTR) and Kowloon Canton Railways (KCR) -- the two rail systems of Hong Kong -- have used property to help finance the capital investment cost. Rail-associated developments in Hong Kong include: major office buildings in Hong Kong and Kowloon CBD’s, major residential developments built on podium structures over the rail depots with 5,000 apartments in each, and other miscellaneous buildings along each line. The MTR estimates that the profits from the property portfolio have contributed about 15% of the capital cost of their systems (US$3.2 billion).
The two rail corporations have been allowed to develop sites over and adjacent to their railways, primarily over stations and above maintenance depots. Land assembly is not an issue in Hong Kong since the government has compulsory purchase powers over lands required for rail construction. However the two rail corporations were required to pay full market price for the development rights to each site.
The developments were undertaken in partnership with professional property developers who were chosen competitively. The rail corporations provided the site. The developer finances and constructs the buildings.Once chosen, the developers were required to make a substantial payment to the rail corporation. Downstream profits were shared, as agreed during negotiations. Once agreements were signed, the arrangement substantially reduces the risks for both the rail corporation and the passengers. They are protected against down-turns in the property market. The development partner bears the construction and commercial risks. |
Source: Scurfield, R.G., 1991, Financing Transport Infrastructure and Services, Scurfield, World Bank-EDI,. Quoted in ‘Urban Transport in Asia –An Operational Agenda in the 1990s, 1994, World Bank: Washington, D.C. |
Metros - the mega movers
For the exceptional corridors189 and in affluent cities, fully segregated metros are the rational choice, providing much higher capacity and generally a higher quality service that is more reliable, faster, and more comfortable. The following conditions are likely to be needed for metro investment to be potentially rational. However, these simply are screening criteria and not proof of justification or affordability.190
>> Urban transport benchmarking - an initiative in Europe (Click to open/close this example)
Urban transport benchmarking - an initiative in Europe
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The concept of benchmarking has been used widely by many different types of organisations seeking to learn more about their operational shortcomings. The process of benchmarking involves comparing operational performance in similar institutions, organisations or enterprises in order to gain some understanding of the best practices employed within a given industry. Once performance differences across an industry are understood, then each participating organisation has the potential to integrate best practices within the scope of its own operations to attain measurable performance improvements. The benchmarking process is usually centred upon performance indicators, which operate by means of self-analysis and help to identify key differences between participating organisations. Once the benchmarks have been established, it is up to individual participants to implement the process changes that should improve performance levels.
An urban transport benchmarking initiative is now going on in Europe. It develops and compares the common and thematic data indicators among participating cities. The indicators provide a common data set of the general features of each of the participating city’s transport systems. The thematic indicators are grouped: behavioural and social issues in public transport; city logistics; cycling; demand management; public transport organization and policy. The themes are chosen by individual participating cities so that the benchmarking reflects their interests. |
Source: http://www.transportbenchmarks.org. Quoted in World Bank (2006) China: Building Institutions for Sustainable Urban Transport |
>> City typology and the transport agenda (Click to open/close this example)
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