Urban Transportation in Asian Countries

Large cities in Asia have unique transport problems. Traffic management alone is limited in solving the problems of urban transportation, and introduction of guided transit systems separate from ground-level transport is essential in solving these problems. This article describes some of the recent measures, including finance resources, taken to solve Asian urban transportation problems. The advance of motorisation in many large cities in the developing countries of Asia is creating traffic congestion and air pollution that are growing more serious year-by-year. The problems are so bad that they are affecting economic and social functions, and the people face an urgent need to improve their urban transportation systems. Large cities in East Asia have their own unique transport problems. In many cities, a large number of vehicles of sizes between buses and taxis operate for public use. There are also many motorcycles and bicycles. However, there are not many guided transit systems, and even when they do exist, they are not used to their fullest extent for urban transportation (Figure 1). Various traffic management means have been introduced in some countries to solve the problem of surface congestion. However, as experienced in Bangkok and other large cities, such means alone have limits (Photo 1). Consequently, many countries want to introduce guided transport that is separate from surface traffic. However, in reality, such a solution is not easy because of financing. Japan has provided cooperation, including various forms of economic and technical Misao Sugawara