Automobiles and cities - strategies for developing countries

The problems of automobiles and their relation to mass transport in the cities of developing countries are summarized. Automobile ownership is a global phenomenon having a major impact on LDCs. While congestion is already acute in developing LDCs, the outlook is for six times as many cars by the year 2000. The most effective immediate answer to automobile congestion would be a concerted effort to improve public transportation. If the number of buses in cities of over half a million population could be doubled and public transportation given a priority on public streets it would be possible to provide 135 million more rides per day for an investment of $4 billion. This outlay would be far less than the cost of new roads or of continuing congestion. A public transport solution also might include a better organization of jitney taxis of public automobiles. Other problems, such as the haphazard location and arrangement of urban activities, contribute to traffic congestion. Therefore, transportation problems will have to be solved in part by non-transportation solutions. A positive approach to congestion will be to de-emphasize the problems of traffic movement and focus on using transport technology to help create new forms of urban settlement.