"Shifting transport finance to public transit cuts emissions and serves the urban poor better than roads"

"reinforced each other spatially to sustain economic growth. Contributed by Keijiro Otsuka and Megumi Muto. Sources: Fujita and Tabuchi 1997; Sonobe and Otsuka 2006; Whittaker 1997; Overseas Eco- nomic Cooperation Fund 1995. KYUSHU SHIKOKU HONSHU HOKKAIDO Tokyo Sapporo Osaka Main railroads Main highways Connected cities in Japan facilitate agglomeration economies in Tokyo-Yokohama (Keihin) and Osaka-Kobe (Hanshin) by road and rail Source: WDR 2009 team. 210 WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2009 buses operating on unsegregrated and con- gested roads. But suburban rail and subways require huge investments in fi xed capital, so dedicated busways (plus their more sophis- ticated relation, “bus rapid transit”) have been gaining in popularity. Busways, most common in Latin American cities, cost about $10 million a kilometer to install. Operating in Bogotá, Colombia; Curitiba and São Paulo, Brazil; and Quito, Ecuador, they are being planned or built in many other cities. A more expen- sive alternative, ranging in cost from $10 million to $30 million a kilometer, is light rail, a modern form of tram covering short distances. It usually feeds a larger system of heavy metro rail. Cities with light rail include Hong Kong, China; Kuala Lumpur; Singapore; Sydney; and Tunis. The most costly mass rapid transit option is the metropolitan subway system, which has the largest capacity. Building costs aver- age more than $100 million a kilometer, explaining why there are fewer than 200 sys- tems in the world, mostly in industrialized countries.39 But their number is growing: China, India, and the República Bolivariana de Venezuela have built subways. When cit- ies reach a certain size and density, a subway is the only transport mode capable of mov- ing large numbers of people to concentrated job centers. The benefi ts that come from enabling such density include efficiency and productivity gains—traditionally in industry, increasingly in services (see chap- ter 4)—but also lower energy consumption, less pollution, and greater compactness, which increase interaction and encourage non motorized transport for short intracity trips. Compact and densely packed cities might also meet the imperatives of climate change (see box 7.6). Public transport, successful on its own, has encouraged new developments at higher densities, which in turn permit more suc- cessful public transport while reducing the economic distance between places. Manag- ing all this takes patience and the discipline to build from the bottom. The establish- ment and strengthening of land and prop- erty market institutions—including secure property rights, fl exible land use regula- tions, and ease of land conversion—is not ments along established public transport routes • Launching general policies and pro- grams—such as freight transport man- agement and market reforms. Pricing mechanisms can be most effec- tive in optimizing private car use. Extreme but effective are Singapore’s auction per- mits to purchase cars. Add the car taxes, and the cost of a car in Singapore is four to fi ve times the world price. Amsterdam, London, and Stockholm also have schemes that price road use according to the time of day and level of congestion—substantially reducing"

"market institutions—including secure property rights, fl exible land use regula- tions, and ease of land conversion—is not ments along established public transport routes • Launching general policies and pro- grams—such as freight transport man- agement and market reforms. Pricing mechanisms can be most effec- tive in optimizing private car use. Extreme but effective are Singapore’s auction per- mits to purchase cars. Add the car taxes, and the cost of a car in Singapore is four to fi ve times the world price. Amsterdam, London, and Stockholm also have schemes that price road use according to the time of day and level of congestion—substantially reducing peak-time car traffi c and car emis- sions. The revenue streams from congestion charging could be earmarked for reinvest- ment in public transportation. But such schemes require substantial investment in technology to ensure the effi cient collection of fees. Easier to implement are simple regula- tions or traffi c plans that reduce the num- ber of vehicles in specifi c parts of a city or overall. In Tehran entry to parts of the city center is restricted to essential traffi c. Budapest and Buenos Aires have pedes- trian-only zones in the city center, easily reached by public transport. Gothenburg (Sweden) and Bremen (Germany) restrict private car links between different zones (“cells”), encouraging public transit. India’s Chandigarh built some 160 kilometers of wide- cycle paths to ease traffi c on arterial roads.37 The most popular restraint limits the use of vehicles on specifi c days accord- ing to their registration plate number, as in Athens, Bogotá, Lagos, Manila, Mexico City, Santiago, São Paulo, Seoul, and Sin- gapore. Such measures have been proven easier to enforce than expected, with wide- spread public acceptance.38 Demand management is the most cost- effective means of increasing mobility. But traffi c will increase even with the best poli- cies, especially in rapidly growing cities. Investments in public transport infrastruc- ture can connect different parts of a city and guide land use and urban expansion. Mass rapid transit includes subways, subur- ban rail, and dedicated busways, all having a capacity and performance far superior to Concentration without Congestion 211 BOX 7.6 Climate change calls for a different urban form, not slower urbanization Urbanization is associated with industrial- ization, which increases emissions of car- bon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. And increasing wealth tends to be associated with higher energy consump- tion, for instance through motorization. But to be concerned about the climate does not mean that urbanization should be slowed. If anything, economic density may need to be encouraged even more. Historical data going back to the nine- teenth century show that today’s rich countries experienced rising per capita carbon emissions as they urbanized and industrialized through the twentieth century.a Industrialization, motorization, and consequently carbon emissions in developing countries follow the trajecto- ries of developed countries in their earlier stages of development.b For instance, per capita carbon emissions in Germany dou- bled from 0.8 metric tons of carbon in 1880 to 1.6 in 1900. In the United States and the United Kingdom, carbon emissions were about 2.5 in 1900. Today’s developing countries have lower average emissions at the equivalent GDPs per capita of Ger- many, the United"