Urban Transportation in Asian Countries Misao Sugawara 1. Introduction congestion and air pollution that are fullest extent for urban transporta- growing more serious year-by-year. tion (Figure 1). Large cities in Asia have unique The problems are so bad that they are Various traffic management means transport problems. Traffic manage- affecting economic and social func- have been introduced in some coun- ment alone is limited in solving the tions, and the people face an urgent tries to solve the problem of surface problems of urban transportation, need to improve their urban transpor- congestion. However, as experienced and introduction of guided transit tation systems. in Bangkok and other large cities, systems separate from ground-level Large cities in East Asia have their such means alone have limits (Photo transport is essential in solving these own unique transport problems. In 1). problems. This article describes some many cities, a large number of ve- Consequently, many countries want of the recent measures, including fi- hicles of sizes between buses and to introduce guided transport that is nance resources, taken to solve Asian taxis operate for public use. There are separate from surface traffic. How- urban transportation problems. also many motorcycles and bicycles. ever, in reality, such a solution is not The advance of motorisation in However, there are not many guided easy because of financing. Japan has many large cities in the developing transit systems, and even when they provided cooperation, including vari- countries of Asia is creating traffic do exist, they are not used to their ous forms of economic and technical Figure 1 Traffic Share by Transportation Mode in Large Cities Population City (million)*1 Traffic Share by Transport Mode Remarks Tokyo 8.1 • 23 Wards (1989) Osaka 2.6 • Traffic share in1989 Nagoya 2.1 • Traffic share in1989 • Share of each mode based on statistics for 1983 and 1989 Paris 2.1 • Flow within Paris and between Paris and suburbs for one day • Inflow to CBD (Central Business District) New York 7.3 for one day (1989) • Commuter to central London for peak London 6.8 hours (1989) • Population: Greater London Cairo 8.3 • Cairo residents (1987) • Population: Calcutta/Howrah Municipal Calcutta 4.1 Corporation (1981) • Between Calcutta and Howrah (1984) Lahore 3.9 • Lahore residents (1990) • Within Jabotabek and between Jakarta Jakarta 7.9 and Jabotebek • Population: BMA (Bangkok Metropolitan Bangkok 5.7 Area) (1981) • Within BMA and between BMA and Suburb Legend Railway/Subway Bus Taxi Private Car Taxi + Private Car Others*2 Private Car + Others *1 Urban population *2 Foot, bicycle, motor cycle, rickshow, etc. Copyright © 1995 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Japan Railway & Transport Review / March 1995 23 SPECIAL FEATURE – Railways and Large Cities Photo 2 Motor cycles Bangkok (Author) use of existing public transportation systems and adequate traffic manage- ment. In terms of capacity, safety, envi- ronmental issues, and energy con- sumption, it is important to induce passengers to use large- or medium- scale public transportation facilities such as railways, trams, and buses in municipal areas as much as possible. The following need doing to achieve Photo 1 Traffic Jam in Bangkok (Author) this goal: cooperation, for urban transportation 2. Improving existing 1. Elevation of the functions of public in Asia. The present situation of ur- transportation and traffic transportation facilities such as ban transportation in Asia and recent railways and buses efforts to solve the various problems management 2. Easier change-over between rail are described below. (1) General ways and buses The first solution to transportation 3. Controls on passenger cars problems in urban areas is the further 4. New fare systems to encourage use Table 1 Classification of Cities with Full-scale Rapid Transit Systems GNP per Capita: US$ Population: Millions Population 10.0 or more 7.5~10.0 5.0~7.5 3.0~5.0 2.0~3.0 1.5~2.0 1.0~1.5 0.5~1.0 GNP per Capita 20,000 or more Tokyo Chicago Philadelphia Boston Cleveland Sapporo Kobe Oslo New York San Francisco Washington Atlanta Hamburg Kyoto Yokohama Baltimore Fukuoka Berlin Osaka Sendai Nagoya Munich Stockholm Nurenburg Helsinki 15,000~20,000 Paris Toronto Vienna Milan Lyons Montreal Roma Lille Marseille Rotterdam Brussels Amsterdam Newcastle Naples 10,000~15,000 London Hong Kong Glasgow Singapore 5,000~10,000 Athens Madrid Barcelona 2,500~5,000 San Paulo Seoul Rio de Janeiro Caracas Lisbon Pusan 1,500~2,500 Buenos Aires Santiago Mexico City 1,000~1,500 500~1,000 Cairo 250~500 Beijing Calcutta Tientsin Shanghai 250 or less 24 Japan Railway & Transport Review / March 1995 Copyright © 1995 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Photo 3 Subway in Singapore - Platform at Orchard Station (Author) Photo 5 Light Rail Transit in Manila (Author) of public transportation as in advanced countries, and build- them (Photo 3). 5. Provision of information about us- ing subways is essential in these cit- An 88-km long rapid transit system ing public transportation ies. The newly-industrialising econo- network has been decided in Taiwan, On the other hand, there is great mies (NIEs) like Singapore, Hong and the first 23-km portion (Tamshui demand for door-to-door transport Kong, and Korea already have mod- Line) is scheduled for opening and people want to own automobiles. ern subways and many people use verysoon (Figure 2). In countries where private car owner- ship is difficult, people are relying on Figure 2 Rapid Transit System Network in Taipei Metropolitan Area motorcycles at an increasing rate (Photo 2). (2) Use of trains and subways The basic solution to transport problems in big cities is to persuade commuters to use large- and medium- capacity public transport. But guided transit systems are scarce in the de- veloping countries in Asia. If there are any at all, they are rarely used for urban transport. Table 1 lists cities with full-scale transit systems and classifies them by population and per capita GNP. The per capita GNP is low in China, India, and other highly-populated countries. However, the economic ac- tivity in large cities is almost as brisk Photo 4 Track Elevation Work in Jakarta (Author) Copyright © 1995 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Japan Railway & Transport Review / March 1995 25 SPECIAL FEATURE – Railways and Large Cities day. In April 1992, the city introduced Figure 3 Typical Cross Section of Hopewell Project a law prohibiting automobiles from those roads from 06:30 to 10:00, un- less containing three or more persons. As a result, the congestion on the Thamrin and Sudirman streets was alleviated to some extent, but neighbouring roads became more crowded. (4) Changeover between trains and buses The line density of railways is small because of their large capacity. There- fore, it is important to integrate feeder services to use the railways more efficiently. In other countries, efforts are being stage. The urban planning in Singapore made to use the existing national rail- took the form of first building ways for urban transportation. For (3) Traffic management and regu- densely-inhabited new towns along example, Indonesia is converting the lation of automobiles the major roads and then allocating a 160km portion of its national railways The most common methods of traf- bus terminal at an effective point in in and out of Jakarta into a double- fic management are exclusive lanes each of them. Feeder buses were in- track electrified railway including a and preferential lanes for buses. One- troduced within the new towns to 9-km long elevated section as part of a way traffic and reversible lanes are carry people to the bus terminal, and plan to improve urban transportation also effectively used in some places. regular buses were used to carry them (Photo 4). Singapore has a unique toll on pas- on from the bus terminal to the busi- Similar plans are being proposed in senger cars entering the downtown ness center of the city. The regular Kuala Lumpur. In addition to having area. The number of passenger cars buses in the integrated transporta- a double-track electrified railway, increased drastically during tion system were later replaced by the Malaysia plans to build a light rail Singapore's economic development, subway completed in 1987. The sub- network in five directions, using in creating terrible traffic jams. To solve way stations are conveniently con- some cases the existing right of way of the problem, the government intro- nected to the bus terminals. The new the Malayan Railway. Construction duced tolls to control passenger cars system in Singapore is considered an work is under way on some parts. entering the city as early as the excellent model of a transportation In Bangkok where traffic conges- 1970s. system integrating subway and bus tion is rapidly increasy. A new project When the toll was first introduced, services. was approved in November 1990 to passenger cars with four or more Integration between trains and use land owned by the State Railway people were allowed to enter the city buses is also a main theme in the pro- of Thailand (SRT) to build elevated freely, but those with three or fewer posed railroad improvement project railways thereby building new urban people were forced to pay a toll . The in Indonesia for the metropolitan railways and expressways as a unit. control was made even stricter in Jakarta area. The SRT has railways in four direc- 1988. Today, all cars, whether pas- tions leaving Central Station, and senger cars or taxis, must pay $3 they are building four-level elevated (US$ 2.40) per car and attach the re- 3. New transit systems in structures. The third level will be ceipt (permit) to the windscreen be- used by new urban railways next to fore entering the business center in Asia the state railways while the fourth the city.