The Role of Central Government in Sustainable Urban Transport Development

Urban transport problems in China are not only locally specific—such as congestion,traffic noise and tailpipe emissions,but also spill over to the national level and even international level through their impacts on economic growth,agricultural land preservation,financial system stability,energy security,and CO2 emissions.Because of the spillover effects,the central government should re-examine its role and responsibilities in urban transport.The World Bank suggests that the central government should play an active role in overall urban transport policy directions,public transport policy,fiscal support to reward best practices,benchmarking and evaluation,transport financing reform,and pilot demonstration programs.Developing an efficient public transport system will be the central task of China's sustainable urban transport strategy.To achieve the social objective of public transport more effectively and to ensure service quality,the commercial foundation of public transport services should be maintained.Both central and local governments should make effort to ensure the public sector and the markets play their complementary roles in public transport development and service provision.