Source: Jane’s Urban Transport Systems 18th Edition 1999-2000 data not available
In Bangkok and Jakarta, urban railways are at the introductory stage, and recently the first routes have been opened or are under construction. Conventionally, urban railways has been constructed and operated by city government or public organization. Since early 1990s, private-public partnership was introduced in the railway construction and management, as in other infrastructure development. Harbourlink Monorail & Sydney Light Rail in Sydney is a typical example.
3.3 Increasing Car Ownership and Impacts
3.3.1 Car Ownership Trends in the APEC Region
Growth of car ownership, though its rate varies by country, is found in most of the countries. It draws attention in the viewpoint of policies, as well as of academic aspects. Most automobiles are passenger cars, and occupy 70~80% of the entire vehicles.
shows that passenger car ownership per person varies from 0.003 in China to 0.513 in USA, and in most of developing countries passenger car ownership has grown by more than 5% annually. In particular, Korea and Chinese Taipei have shown very high growth rates of 24.8%, 15.9%, respectively, every year.
In the case of China and the Philippines, the overall car-ownership is still low, but it is rapidly growing in urban areas. Developed countries, such as Canada, New Zealand and USA, which had achieved a high car-ownership before 1980s, showed relatively low growth rate, by about 2.5% annually. In the case of the USA, car ownership rate is slightly falling, and it appears to be at a saturation level, around 0.5.
Trends of Passenger Car Ownership per Capita in APEC Member Economies
Unit: car/person
Year
Economy
1980
1985
1990
1995
Annual Growth Rate
(‘80-’95, %)
Australia
0.418
0.430
0.449
0.465
2.5
Brunei
0.365
0.426
0.479
5.9
Canada
0.442
0.475
0.469
2.1
Chile
0.052
0.054
0.072
5.1
China
0.003
Hong Kong, China
0.040
0.034
0.041
0.054
3.4
Indonesia
0.006
0.007
0.011
7.8
Japan
0.335
0.402
0.494
0.562
3.5
Korea
0.007
0.014
0.048
0.133
21.7
Malaysia
0.063
0.088
0.104
0.125
7.6
Mexico
0.065
0.083
0.094
5.3
New Zealand
0.425
0.471
0.465
0.465
1.5
Papua New Guinea
0.008
Philippines
0.010
0.009
1.8
Singapore
0.068
0.095
0.106
0.122
5.4
Chinese Taipei
0.024
0.048
0.111
0.182
15.9
Thailand
0.009
0.014
0.022
0.024
8.7
U.S.A.
0.553
0.574
0.513
0.2
Source: UN, IRF data not available
The rapid growth of car-ownership in developing countries is mainly due to the following causes:
Growth of travel demand mainly resulting from economic growth
Turning to a car-dependent life style resulting from the growth of individual income
Motorcycles and Bicycles In the cities of China and Southeast Asia, the roles of bicycles and motorcycles are remarkable. In the case of the Philippines, number of motorcycles exceed that of private passenger cars. In some countries, motorcycles are increasing faster than automobiles. In Thailand, they have increased to 920 thousands in 1995 from 630 thousands in 1992. Since a service quality of public transport is poor, motorcycles play an important role as a private transportation mode for people who cannot afford to own their cars. Traffic congestion also encourages the use of motorcycles.
Bicycles, along with motorcycles, are widely used as a non-motorized vehicle (NMV), too. According to a report of World Bank, it is estimated that about 300 million bicycles were used in China in the early 1990s and more than 100 million bicycles in Shanghai and Tianjin17.
Number of Motorcycles in Selected APEC Member Economies (1995)
3.3.2 Impacts of Car Ownership Increase in Developing Countries
In developing countries, despite of huge investment in highways, the highway extension per vehicle is rather decreasing owing to the rapid growth of car-ownership.
Generally, the growth of car-ownership results in the following problems.
Serious traffic congestion
Negative environmental impacts such as air pollution and noise problems
High traffic accidents
Community severance
Visual deterioration
Developing countries are attempting to enforce various control policies over the increase or use of automobiles. In Brunei, the high tax on imported vehicles is imposed. In Korea and Hong Kong, a congestion charge is imposed on the cars coming into the congested CBD area. In Manila, an “one-of-five no operation” system was introduced in 1996. In Korea, the “one-of-ten no operation” system was enforced by regulation once, but switched to the voluntary self-regulation system currently. Singapore enforces powerful control policy over the growth of car-ownership through a regulation. However, such vehicle growth control policies, except in Singapore, are generally evaluated to be relatively ineffective18.
Trends of Highway Length per Vehicle in Selected APEC Member Economies
3.4.1 Need for the Expansion of Transport Infrastructure
Countries in the APEC region are experiencing continuous need for the growth of transport facilities owing to improved quality of life, car-ownership growth, and an increased demand of passengers and cargo resulting from rapid economic growth and urbanization.
According to data from the World Bank, in case of the countries in East Asia, it will be necessary for them to constantly invest about 2.2 ~3.0% of GDP on transportation facilities during the period from 1995 and 2004. However, investment demand for such transportation facilities will presumably be different forms among them, depending on the characteristics of each country. In case of highly urbanized countries, the investment will focus on the capacity increase of the existing facilities and enhancement of its operational efficiency. Meanwhile, in urbanizing countries the investment will be put into the construction of new facilities, as well as operational efficiencies of the existing facilities. In countries where urbanization is still in low level, the investment to increase transport facility stock will be even more necessary.
Forecast Demand for Transport Infrastructure in East Asia(1995~2004)
Economy
Transport Infrastructure Demand
billion US $
% of GDP
China
265
3.0
Indonesia
56
2.2
Korea
106
2.5
Malaysia
22
2.4
Philippines
14
2.3
Thai
52
2.9
Source: World Bank, Infrastructure Development in Asia and the Pacific towards a New Public-Private Partnership,
1995
3.4.2 Current Situation of Urban Transport Investment
Traditionally, transportation facility service has been provided by central or local government on the ground of the nature of public properties, economy scale, PSO(Public Service Obligation), etc. Urban transportation facilities were also constructed and operated by public sector such as a government or public corporate, and most of the funds for them were raised through public financing sources such as tax or public bonds. In 1990s, for instance, Korea has successfully carried out the expansion of the transportation facilities by imposing high tax on gasoline and using them as funds for the construction.
Source: Korea Ministry of Construction and Transportation
In case of Japan as well, the taxes are imposed on fuels like gasoline and LPG, etc. as well as on automobiles, and most of taxes are earmarked for raising funds directly for transportation facilities, especially for roads.