7 Problems of Urban Transport

(Explained With Diagram)

While urban transport has had a tremendous liberating impact, it has

also posed a very serious problem to the urban impact in which it
operates. Buchanan gave a warning in 1963 when he wrote Traffic in
Towns, that “the motor vehicle has been responsible for much that
adversely effects our physical surrounding.

There is its direct competition for space with environmental

requirements, and it is greatest where space is limited… the record is
one of steady encroachment, often in small instalments, but
cumulative in effect. There are the visual consequences of this
intrusion; the crowding out of every available square yard of space
with vehicles, either moving or stationary, so that buildings seem to
rise from a plinth of cars; the destruction of architectural scenes;
visual effects from the cutter of signs, signals, bollards, railings, etc.,
associated with the use of motor vehicles”.

Michael Thomson’s classic book Great Cities and Their Traffic (1977)
provides a useful breakdown of the ways in which most people are
dissatisfied with the transport systems of their cities. He has given
seven problems of urban transport, interrelated with each other as
shown in Figure 5.2.

1. Traffic Movement and Congestion:

Traffic congestion occurs when urban transport networks are no
longer capable of accommodating the volume of movements that use
them. The location of congested areas is determined by the physical
transport framework and by the patterns of urban land use and their
associated trip-generating activities. Levels of traffic overloading vary
in time, with a very well-marked peak during the daily journey-to-
work periods.

Although most congestion can be attributed to overloading, there are

other aspects of this basic problem that also require solutions. In the
industrialised countries increasing volumes of private car, public
transport and commercial vehicle traffic have exposed the
inadequacies of urban roads, especially in older city centres where
street patterns have survived largely unaltered from the nineteenth
century and earlier.

The intricate nature of these centres makes motorised movements

difficult and long-term car parking almost impossible. In developing
countries the problem is particularly acute: Indian and South-East
Asian cities often have cores composed of a mesh of narrow streets
often accessible only to non-motorised traffic.

The rapid growth in private car ownership and use in western cities in
the period since 1950 has rarely been accompanied by a corresponding
upgrading of the road network, and these increases will probably
continue into the twenty-first century, further exacerbating the
problem. In less-developed countries car ownership in urban areas is
in at a much lower level but there is evidence of an increased rate in
recent decades, especially in South America and South-East Asia
(Rimmer, 1977).

Satisfactory definitions of the saturation level of car ownership vary

but if a ratio of 50 cars to 100 persons is taken then in several US cities
the figure is now over 80 per 100, whereas in South-East Asian cities
the level rarely exceeds 10 per 100. One factor contributing to
congestion in developing world cities is the uncontrolled intermixing
of motorised and animal-or human-drawn vehicles. The proliferation
of pedal and motorcycles causes particular difficulties (Simon 1996).

ADVERTISEMENTS:

2. Public Transport Crowding:

The ‘person congestion’ occurring inside public transport vehicles at
such peak times adds insult to injury, sometimes literally. A very high
proportion of the day’s journeys are made under conditions of peak-
hour loading, during which there will be lengthy queues at stops,
crowding at terminals, stairways and ticket offices, and excessively
long periods of hot and claustrophobic travel jammed in overcrowded
vehicles.

In Japan, ‘packers’ are employed on station platforms to ensure that

passengers are forced inside the metro trains so that the automatic
doors can close properly. Throughout the world, conditions are
difficult on good days, intolerable on bad ones and in some cities in
developing countries almost unbelievable every day. Images of
passengers hanging on to the outside of trains in India are familiar
enough. Quite what conditions are like inside can only be guessed at?

3. Off-Peak Inadequacy of Public Transport:

If public transport operators provide sufficient vehicles to meet peak-
hour demand there will be insufficient patronage off-peak to keep
them economically employed. If on the other hand they tailor fleet size
to the off-peak demand, the vehicles would be so overwhelmed during
the peak that the service would most likely break down.

This disparity of vehicle use is the hub of the urban transport problem
for public transport operators. Many now have to maintain sufficient
vehicles, plant and labour merely to provide a peak-hour service,
which is a hopelessly uneconomic use of resources. Often the only way
of cutting costs is by reducing off-peak services, but this in turn drives
away remaining patronage and encourages further car use. This ‘off-
peak problem’ does not, however, afflict operators in developing
countries. There, rapidly growing urban populations with low car
ownership levels provide sufficient off-peak demand to keep vehicle
occupancy rates high throughout the day.

4. Difficulties for Pedestrians:

Pedestrians form the largest category of traffic accident victims.
Attempts to increase their safety have usually failed to deal with the
source of the problem (i.e., traffic speed and volume) and instead have
concentrated on restricting movement on foot. Needless to say this
worsens the pedestrian’s environment, making large areas ‘off-limits’
and forcing walkers to use footbridges and underpasses, which are
inadequately cleaned or policed. Additionally there is obstruction by
parked cars and the increasing pollution of the urban environment,
with traffic noise and exhaust fumes affecting most directly those on
feet.

At a larger scale, there is the problem of access to facilities and

activities in the city. The replacement of small-scale and localised
facilities such as shops and clinics by large-scale superstores and
hospitals serving larger catchment areas has put many urban activities
beyond the reach of the pedestrian. These greater distances between
residences and needed facilities can only be covered by those with
motorised transport. Whereas the lack of safe facilities may be the
biggest problem for the walker in developing countries, in advanced
countries it is the growing inability to reach ‘anything’ on foot,
irrespective of the quality of the walking environment.

5. Parking Difficulties:
Many car drivers stuck in city traffic jams are not actually trying to go
anywhere: they are just looking for a place to park. For them the
parking problem is the urban transport problem: earning enough to
buy a car is one thing but being smart enough to find somewhere to
park it is quite another. However, it is not just the motorist that
suffers. Cities are disfigured by ugly multi-storey parking garages and
cityscapes are turned into seas of metal, as vehicles are crammed on to
every square metre of ground.

Public transport is slowed by clogged streets and movement on foot in

anything like a straight line becomes impossible. The provision of
adequate car parking space within or on the margins of central
business districts (CBDs) for city workers and shoppers is a problem
that has serious implications for land use planning.

A proliferation of costly and visually intrusive multi-storey car-parks

can only provide a partial solution and supplementary on-street
parking often compound road congestion. The extension of pedestrian
precincts and retail malls in city centres is intended to provide more
acceptable environments for shoppers and other users of city centres.
However, such traffic-free zones in turn produce problems as they
create new patterns of access to commercial centres for car-borne
travellers and users of public transport, while the latter often lose their
former advantage of being conveyed directly to the central shopping
area.

6. Environmental Impact:
The operation of motor vehicles is a polluting activity. While there are
innumerable other activities which cause environmental pollution as a
result of the tremendous increases in vehicle ownership, society is only
now beginning to appreciate the devastating and dangerous
consequences of motor vehicle usage. Pollution is not the only issue.

Traffic noise is a serious problem in the central area of our towns and
cities and there are other environmental drawbacks brought about
through trying to accommodate increasing traffic volumes. The vast
divergence between private and social costs is one, which has so far
been allowed to continue without any real check. Perhaps more
disturbing is that society is largely unaware of the longer-term effects
of such action, and while the motorcar is by no means the only culprit,
it is a persistently obvious offender.

Traffic Noise:
It is generally recognised that traffic noise is the major environment
problem caused by traffic in urban areas. Noise became a pressing
problem late in the 1950s and in 1960 the Government set up a
committee to look into the whole issue. This committee, headed by Sir
Alan Wilson, pointed out with reference to London that traffic noise
“is the predominant source of annoyance and no other single noise is
of comparable importance”.
Traffic noise is both annoying and disturbing. Walking and other
activities in urban areas can be harassing and, perhaps more
important, traffic noise penetrates through to the interior of buildings.
Working is therefore more difficult since noise disturbs concentration
and conversation. High noise levels can also disturb domestic life as
sleeping and relaxation become affected.

Traffic noise tends to be a continuous sound, which is unwanted by the

hearer. It is caused as a result of fluctuations in air pressure, which are
then picked up by the human ear. Whilst other noise phenomena such
as aircraft noise and vibrations from a road drill produce a more
intense sound, traffic noise is a much more continuous and an almost
round-the-clock discomfort. Noise is usually measured on a weighted
scale in decibel units, an increase of 10 dB corresponding to a doubling
of loudness.

The Wilson Committee published studies, which showed that a decibel

noise level of 84 dB was much as people found acceptable and they
proposed legislation which would make any engine noise more than 85
dB, illegal. They proposed that there should be a progressive reduction
in acceptable limits, but this has not been achieved. In fact, heavy
lorries produce a noise level still well in excess of the above acceptable
level.

The noise from motor vehicles comes from various sources. The
engine, exhaust and tyres are the most important ones but with goods
vehicles, additional noise can be given off by the body, brakes, loose
fittings and aerodynamic noise. The level of noise is also influenced by
the speed of the vehicle, the density of the traffic flow and the nature
of the road surface on which the vehicle is operating.

Vehicles, which are accelerating or travelling on an uphill surface,

produce more noise than those moving in a regular flow on an even
road. The regulations now in force lay down the limits of 84 dB for
cars and 89 dB for Lorries. Buses, particularly when stopping and
starting, motorcycles and sports cars as well as goods vehicles produce
higher noise levels than the average private car.

7. Atmospheric Pollution:
Fumes from motor vehicles present one of the most unpleasant costs
of living with the motor vehicle. The car is just one of many sources of
atmospheric pollution and although prolonged exposure may
constitute a health hazard, it is important to view this particular
problem in perspective. As the Royal Commission on Environmental
Pollution has stated, “there is no firm evidence that in Britain the
present level of these pollutants is a hazard to health”.

Traffic fumes, especially from poorly maintained diesel engines, can be

very offensive and added to noise contribute to the unpleasantness of
walking in urban areas. No urban street is free from the effects of
engine fumes and these almost certainly contribute towards the
formation of smog. As traffic volumes increase, however, atmospheric
pollution will also increase. In the United States, with its much higher
levels of vehicle ownership, there is mounting concern over the effects
of vehicle fumes. In large cities such as Mexico City, Los Angeles, New
York and Tokyo, fumes are responsible for the creation of very
unpleasant smog.

Ecologists believe that the rapid increase in the number of vehicles on

our roads which has taken place without (as yet) any real restriction is
fast developing into an environmental crisis. Exhaust fumes are the
major source of atmospheric pollution by the motor vehicle.

The fumes, which are emitted, contain four main types of

pollutant:
(i) Carbon monoxide:
This is a poisonous gas caused as a result of incomplete combustion;

(ii) Unburnt hydrocarbons:

This caused by the evaporation of petrol and the discharge of only
partially burnt hydrocarbons;

(iii) Other gases and deposits:

Nitrogen oxides, tetra-ethyl lead and carbon dust particles;

(iv) Aldehydes:
Organic compounds containing the group CHO in their structures.

Hydrocarbon fumes are also emitted from the carburettor and petrol
tanks, as well as from the exhaust system.

The Royal Commission provides some interesting statistics on the

extent of air pollution. In 1970 an estimated 6 million tonnes of carbon
monoxide were emitted into the atmosphere. If estimates of vehicle
ownership are correct, then by the year 2010, this volume would
increase to 14 million tonnes. This figure, however, assumes the
current state of engine and fuel technology. A further and more
detailed estimate of emissions is given by Sharp in Table 5.3.

 
Fears of urban pollution by motor vehicles, are greater in the United
States and Japan. In day-time Manhattan, for example, readings of
pollutants of 25-30 parts per million have been recorded – exposure
has the same effect as smoking two packets of cigarettes per day. USA
has imposed certain restrictions on vehicle manufacturers and more
stringent levels are proposed, but as in the earlier case of traffic noise,
increasing vehicle ownership levels are liable to offset some of the
benefits which accrue.

Other Environmental Problems:

Traffic presents many other implications for the urban environment.
Some of these issues will be outlined in this final section. It should,
however, be stated that individual opinions often determine what
constitutes an environmental problem. The British Transport
Federation, for example, regard visual impact as one of the most
important local environmental factors to be taken into consideration
in the design and planning of urban motorways.

They state that “visual problems…are a result of the fundamental

conflict in scale and form between a vast linear motorway and the
smaller scale and tightly knit pattern of streets and buildings in the
adjoining areas”. Elevated motorways are particularly conspicuous
when they are closely aligned to houses, shops and other small
buildings, which are dwarfed in contrast.

This problem is most sensitive in relation to houses since views of

motorway traffic can be a constant distraction and coupled with traffic
noise serve as a round-the-clock reminder of the motorway’s presence.
The loss of privacy is just one part of this problem. Elevated
motorways can also obstruct daylight and sunlight entering nearby
houses and recreation or shopping areas.

Buchanan raises other visual issues: “the intrusion into parks and
squares; the garaging, servicing and maintenance of cars in residential
streets…; the clutter of signs, signals, bollards, railings and the rest of
the paraphernalia which is deemed necessary to help the traffic flow;
the dreary, formless car parks, often absorbing large areas of towns
and whose construction have involved the sacrifice of the closely knit
development which has contributed so much to the character of the
inner areas of our towns”. These are just some of the added
consequences of our living with the motor vehicle and due to the
uneasy partnership which exists the relationship produces its own
form of blight within the urban environment.