Reinventing Transport

Singapore's National Day is this week (9 August). So I decided to share Singapore's urban transport story - or my slightly  unusual take on it .  It is   a unique city in various ways but its urban transport policies are well worth your attention even if you don't live in Singapore. This is a warts-and-all version of the story, and it is my own view, not any kind of official one. It's also a little wonkish in parts. [Hi all you policy wonks!] But I hope to keep your interest with some surprising twists, such as: Why was the bus-only public transport system in an awful state by the early 1970s? If the buses were awful in early 1974, how was Singapore able to impose drastic increases to the cost of motoring in 1975? You will have guessed that the buses must have been drastically improved in 1974/75. But how was that achieved? Singapore urban transport enjoyed success through the 1980s and 1990s but its core social bargain (cars for the rich; decent but bas...

If you are interested in public transport excellence please check out the new Human Transit blog. It is written by long-time transit planner Jarrett Walker. He has shone in his first 2 weeks of blogging so far. Here are a few highlights: Unhelpful word watch: to transfer (he prefers 'to change') Transferring can be good for you, and your city (Don't believe it? See if Jarrett can persuade you.) Be on the way! (aimed at urban planners especially) Chicken, egg (can transport be discussed as a 'standalone' topic?)

Jakarta's core corridor with both TDM and BRT. Neither is perfect but both are steps in the right direction. The green sign reads "zone for cars with three occupants or more" and refers to the so-called Three-in-One policy. Hundreds of growing cities across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America are motorizing rapidly. Unlike large Western or Japanese cities when cars first flooded them, today's developing cities are mostly facing this onslaught without the safety valve of a large pre-existing rail-based mass transit system. This makes traffic growth a huge challenge. Most are trying to expand roads and to build mass transit but can't keep up with demand that is exploding. Meanwhile workhorse bus-based public transport deteriorates, due especially to traffic delays. Slowing down the rate of traffic growth seems essential. But transport demand management (TDM) policies, such as congestion pricing or increased parking fees, tend to be difficult to sell poli...