The Urban Transport Problem

Abstract

The last fifty years have witnessed a rapid and accelerating increase in private motor-car ownership throughout the developed world. The advantage the car affords, in terms of greater mobility, convenience and flexibility, provide undoubted benefits to many members of society but, at the same time, the rapid expansion in vehicle ownership has had serious repercussions on the urban economy. The several benefits derived from car ownership, combined with the importance of the motor-manufacturing industry in the macroeconomic sense (it has been estimated that somewhere in the region of 20 per cent of the U.S. economy is either directly or indirectly dependent upon the industry) suggests that it is a mode of transport which is likely to remain with us for some considerable time to come. In this situation it is important to consider the automobile’s role in the urban economy and to consider ways in which it can play its part in urban development without generating excessive social costs to be paid by those living in our cities.