How should planners respond to increased travel demand in the developing world’s burgeoning cities? Can transport policies contribute to poverty reduction? What is the impact of government expenditure on transport infrastructure? What are the health and education outcomes of improvements / deterioration in transport conditions?

A detailed report from the Overseas Development Institute pulls together current thinking on the nexus between transport issues and poverty reduction. An accompanying Toolkit suggests how to identify the transport needs of the poor and develop transport interventions to help build a macroeconomic environment that facilitates poverty reduction.

Rapid urbanisation means that not only are more people than ever before living and working in cities, but also that more people and more goods are making more trips over longer distances. In emergent megacities, walking and cycling are ceasing to be options.

Urban transport investments have not generally considered travel modes used by the poor. The poor are increasingly dependent on dangerous unofficial, unregulated and unregistered transport services. They spend a higher proportion of income on transport than the better off. For many, public transport is unaffordable or represents a severe financial burden – some estimates put the percentage of household income spent on transport as high as 20-30 per cent.

Policies discriminate against non-motorised transport (NMTs). Frequently the same level of tariff is demanded of imported bicycles as cars. Rickshaws and pedicabs – a major source of employment for the urban poor – are being driven off the streets by official bans.

Traffic congestion is the most visible manifestation of the failure of urban transport planning. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Bangkok where the average car spends 44 days per year stuck in traffic. Building more roads is rarely an ideal solution as it increases traffic flows, diverts scarce resources, destroys communities and adds to street crime.

The report notes that:

• where transport costs are prohibitive, breadwinners are prioritised leaving other family members unable to access distant educational or health services
• the death toll on developing countries’ roads is horrendous: road deaths per 1000 vehicles in India are 18 times greater than in Japan; poor children are particularly at risk
• whereas China’s former land-use policies enforcing close juxtaposition of workplace and residence promoted cycling, liberalisation has led to much longer journeys and increased reliance on motorised vehicles
• the Brazilian city of Curitiba has demonstrated what can be done: although the city has Brazil’s second highest per capital car ownership rate, per capita petrol use is 30 per cent below comparable cities as over half the population daily use a well organised bus system.

To emulate this success, and to remove the current anti-poor and gender biases in transport provision, the study calls for:

• public transport which the middle class will use and the poor can afford
• improved targeting of public transport subsidies
• reversing policies penalising pedestrians and NMTs
• more research on how the urban poor, especially women, currently access services and could benefit from improved access
• greater attention to road safety and enforcement of traffic laws
• better informed tax and regulatory policies which are not regressive, anti-poor and conducive to corruption.

Source(s):
‘Poverty and transport’ by David Booth, Lucia Hanmer and Elizabeth Lovell, Overseas Development Institute, June 2000

Funded by: World Bank

id21 Research Highlight: 28 June 2002

Further Information:
Overseas Development Institute
111 Westminster Bridge Road
London SE1 7JD
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7922 0300
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7922 0399
Contact the contributor: d.booth@odi.org.uk

Overseas Development Institute, UK

Other related links:
'Sustainable cities: not a contradiction in terms'

'The Changing Structure of Transport under Trade Liberalisation and Globalization and its Impact on African Development' from CDR

The World Bank focuses on Transport