Travel characteristic cities of developing and developed countries

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the systematic components of travel characteristics in cities of both developing and developed countries. The results may assist in the review of urban transport studies, in testing the consistency of forecasts and in discussions about alternative plans for urban form and transportation. The results suggest that there is a basic similarity in the travel characteristics and the general behavior patterns in both developed and developing countries. This implies that stable and predictable effects follow from the fundamental restraints of time budgets, money budgets and system supply. The travel characteristics described in the paper suggest the existence of a basic mechanism relating the demand for, and the supply of, urban transport facilities, and the arrangement of land uses in urban areas.