Republic of the Philippines

SURIGAO DEL NORTE STATE UNIVERSITY

Narciso Street, Surigao City 8400, Philippines

For Nation’s Greater Height’s

9.2 – Transport Planning and Governance

Transport planning focuses on the public provision and financing of
transportation assets, particularly roads and public transit systems.
1. The Purpose of Planning
Transport planning usually addresses specific problems or broad transport
concerns at a local level and has been traditionally a preoccupation of lower-tier
governments (state, county, municipal). Because of this fact, transport planning is
most developed in the urban sphere, and it is there where most experience has been
gathered. The planning process, however, has several similarities with the policy
process.
The planning process was seen as a series of rigorous steps undertaken to measure
likely impacts and propose engineering solutions. There were four major steps in this
standard approach; trip generation, trip distribution, modal split, and route selection.
They involved the use of mathematical models, including regression analysis, entropy-
maximizing models, and critical path analysis.
There are many reasons why the results of these models should be treated with
caution:
 They are only as good as the data they manipulate, and many times the data is
inaccurate or incomplete.
 They are based on assumptions that the mathematical relationships between
variables remain constant.
 They can be manipulated to produce the outcome that would be the most preferred
by the actors promoting policy or a project.
 Because the predictions were rarely subjected to subsequent evaluation, their
validity is largely questioned, and the modeler is happy to predict the future since
projections rarely question the validity of the methodology.

The Prediction of Future Outcomes Common Flaws in Forecasting

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SURIGAO DEL NORTE STATE UNIVERSITY
Narciso Street, Surigao City 8400, Philippines

For Nation’s Greater Height’s

2. Contemporary Transport Planning

Planning is commonly scale-specific and multidimensional. In cities, traffic problems
have increased significantly since the 1970s, despite a great deal of urban transport
planning. Planning is still a multi-step process, but it has changed considerably:

 Goals and objectives. While the goal of traditional transport policy, improving
accessibility, is still useful, it must be considered in the context of other desirable goals.
For instance, improving safety and health, reducing vehicle emissions, improving
equity, enhancing economic opportunities, improving community livability, promoting
mobility are all valid.

 Options. Given the possible range of goals that transport planners must consider, it
becomes necessary to provide a set of possible options. Several objectives may be
desirable, and thus it is important to consider what they imply. Several scenarios may
have to be considered, and they must become important components of the planning
process.

 Identification of actors, institutions, and stakeholders. Given that transport

planning has the potential to influence so many elements of society, it is important that
those affected by the transport problem and its potential resolution should be identified
so that they can be engaged. This would be a much broader list of affected parties
than merely those involved in transportation activity itself and requires recognizing a
role for citizen participation. Failure to do so runs the risk of a project to meet significant
opposition from stakeholders perceiving that they have been left out or that can be
negatively impacted.

 Predicting outcomes, identifying benefits, and assessing costs. The stage of

predicting the outcomes for each of the options is a critical step in the process. Models
continue to play an important role, but whereas the traditional models were based on
the number of trips, increasingly modeling is becoming more activity-based. Transport
is seen in the context of scheduling household decisions in time and space.
Demographic and social data are used extensively, and mathematical models have
become more sophisticated. Nevertheless, there are roles for other types of analyses,
including non-objective forecasts. The predicted outcomes must then be assessed as
to their benefits and costs. These may be expressed in monetary terms, but many
transport planning situations call for measurement in other terms, such as visual
impacts, environmental dislocations, and employment impacts.

 Choosing a course of action. Evaluation of the scenarios must consider the costs
and benefits from the frequently conflicting perspectives of the stakeholders and
actors. Extensive public consultation may be required. The information must be
disseminated and explained so that an informed public can participate in the debate.

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 Republic of the Philippines
SURIGAO DEL NORTE STATE UNIVERSITY
Narciso Street, Surigao City 8400, Philippines

For Nation’s Greater Height’s

The models and data inputs used in transportation planning are of little
relevance when applied to the mobility of freight. For example, demographic
data, such as household size, the backbone of passenger analysis, are
irrelevant for freight flows within the manufacturing sector. However, it matters
for home deliveries. The bi-polar daily peak of traffic movements applies only to
passengers, freight movements being distributed in a different profile over a 24-
hour period. Therefore, a more comprehensive freight planning process is
emerging.

Typical Car and Truck Trips Distribution by Time of the Day

Trips by Public Transport in the United States, 1903-2019

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 Republic of the Philippines
SURIGAO DEL NORTE STATE UNIVERSITY
Narciso Street, Surigao City 8400, Philippines

For Nation’s Greater Height’s

3. Transport Demand Management

In rejecting the former paradigm of building capacity, transport planners have
turned increasingly to manage both demand and the transport system.
Managing the demand for transport is made up of a large number of small interventions
that cumulatively can impact car use, but in particular, improve the livability of cities.
A sample of well-practiced and successful interventions includes:
 Park and ride. Parking spaces are provided, usually close to an expressway, where
drivers can board public transit (e.g. buses or light rail) that provide service to the city
center.
 Traffic calming. Measures that seek to reduce the speed of vehicles in urban areas,
such as speed bumps and street narrowing. For residential streets, the goal is to make
their use by car drivers unattractive because of the obstacles. For thoroughfares, the
objective is to reduce the average speeds. The measures indicate the need for much
greater attention to street design and layout.
 Priority lanes for buses and high occupancy vehicles. Lanes on major
thoroughfares and expressways that are reserved for buses, taxis, and passenger
vehicles with several occupants. The goal is to encourage the use of buses and high
occupancy vehicles that can be seen to travel at higher speeds along the reserved
lanes by other drivers who may be stuck in traffic jams.
 Alternate work schedules. Encouraging work hours other than the dominant 9 to 5
schedule. One of the most salient problems in transport planning is that demand is
concentrated in two main peak periods.
 Promoting bicycle use. In some countries, particularly the Netherlands, the bicycle
is an important mode of travel. It is a green and healthy mode, but in automobile-
dependent cities, the bicycle does not share the roads easily with trucks and cars.
Encouraging greater use of the bicycle requires significant planning adjustments, such
as the provision of bicycle lanes and bike stands.
 Car sharing. Encouraging drivers to share car use with neighbors or co-workers.
Information technologies have enabled to extend car-sharing schemes to a wider
base.
 Enhancing pedestrian areas. In most cities, vehicles dominate the streets. In many
areas of high population density, the quality of life (enhanced safety, less pollution,
etc.) and the visual attractiveness of streetscapes can be enhanced by excluding
vehicles from streets altogether or limiting access to public transport vehicles.
 Improving public transit. For half a century or more public transit use as declined in
most cities. Yet it is the only alternative to the car in these cities, and thus enhancing
the use of transit has become a major planning objective. Improvements include
making transit more attractive by improving bus schedules and improving the
appearance and comfort of transit vehicles and stations.
 Parking management. Restricting on-street parking and charging higher rates for
parking. This also applies to the parking of delivery vehicles, which has become an
important issue with the growth of e-commerce and the associated home deliveries.

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 Republic of the Philippines
SURIGAO DEL NORTE STATE UNIVERSITY
Narciso Street, Surigao City 8400, Philippines

For Nation’s Greater Height’s

4. Pricing
While planning interventions may have a positive cumulative effect in shaping
transport demand, some economists suggest that a more direct approach involving
imposing more stringent cost measures on car users is necessary. It is widely
accepted that car users pay only a small proportion of the actual costs of their vehicle
use. Economists argue that users should bear the external costs. As intuitively
rational as this argument may be, there are several problems with its application:
 First, there are difficulties in measuring externalities, with considerable variations
in estimates between different studies. Different types of use, speeds, engines, vehicle
weight, or driving conditions, making it challenging to produce broadly accepted
values. Decision-makers have difficulty in agreeing to impose charges when there is
a diversity of evidence about external costs.
 Second, there are practical difficulties in collecting these costs. One of the easiest
and most widely used methods is a gasoline tax. It is a crude approach, however,
because it imperfectly distinguishes between driving conditions and engine type. A
fuel-efficient vehicle may have just as high consumption in heavy urban traffic as a
less efficient vehicle in a rural setting. The growth in the use of alternative fuels such
as electricity will further challenge fuel taxes.
 Third, is the political difficulty of imposing such additional costs on the public. Free
access to roads tends to be seen as a right, and it is intensely unpopular to propose
any new forms of revenue generation that hints at additional taxation.
The use of pricing mechanisms may be less in other countries, but the trend
towards the greater application of some forms of tolling is accelerating. Cordon
pricing has been applied in several jurisdictions where access to certain areas,
usually the CBD, is tolled. A famous application was the decision to charge private
vehicles for entry into Central London in early 2003, a program that has proved to be
successful, despite a great deal of opposition.
Another form of charging is the imposition of tolls on new highways and
bridges. In North America, the public had become used to the notion that highways
are free of access, a legacy of the Interstate Highways Act, primarily funded by
Congress. The legislation now permits private companies to build and operate private
roads and bridges and to collect tolls to cover costs. A similar trend applies to
developing economies such as China, where many new roads and bridges are toll-
based.
With congestion or “fair” pricing, certain lanes of a highway are tolled but at
variable rates. When traffic is moving freely, the charges for the tolled lanes are nil.
But as traffic builds up and speeds are reduced, the costs of using the reserved lanes
increase. The collection of the tolls is electronic, and drivers are informed of the current
charges by large signs. Drivers are given a choice, therefore, to stay in the slower
lanes for free, or move to the tolled lanes at a cost that is proportionate to the speed
on the congested lanes.

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 Republic of the Philippines
SURIGAO DEL NORTE STATE UNIVERSITY
Narciso Street, Surigao City 8400, Philippines

For Nation’s Greater Height’s

5. Governance in Transportation
Governance concerns the ownership and management of assets and
resources to fulfill goals such as profit or welfare through the exercise of authority and
institutional resources. It concerns the public as well as the private sectors but tends
to apply differently depending on if public or private interests are at stake. In both
cases, a significant concern is performance, which is how effectively available assets
are used. The governance of transport infrastructure is particularly relevant because
of the strategic, economic, and social importance of transportation and the
cross-jurisdictional character of many infrastructures such as highway, rail, and
telecommunication networks. Transport is not of mere convenience, but a fundamental
infrastructure that must systematically and continuously be available to its users.
Effective governance is complex to assess since it is not linked with a specific
governance structure, but generally conveys several advantages:
 Confidence. It provides a level of confidence that an activity, such as a terminal or a
logistics zone, is effectively managed. This can involve daily operations as well as the
planning, design, and funding of new infrastructure. Effective governance is linked with
consistent and reliable services as well as a good level of responsiveness and
feedback when an unexpected issue arises.
 Capital costs. Lowers capital costs as investors and financial institutions have
confidence that the allocated capital will be effectively used in the development and
expansion of productive assets generating returns.
 Competitiveness. Improves the capability to compete through the retention of existing
users and the attraction of new ones.
 Stability. It confers a long-term resilience of the organization, which provides a level
of stability in capital markets and the financial institutions supporting them. Many
transportation infrastructures have a long life span that can be more effectively
managed with a stable governance structure.
There are two main components of transport governance; ownership and
operations. Ownership involves who is the owner of the terminal site and facilities
(including equipment):
 Public ownership is common because of the economic and strategic importance of
many types of terminals. In several jurisdictions, passenger railroads are owned by
the national government, and the passenger stations are thus under the control of the
state-owned railway company, such as is the case in China, Europe, and North
America. Public ownership of airports is also prevalent, although, in the United States,
this takes place at the state or municipal levels of government. Under public
ownership, investment in infrastructure and planning future expansion is carried out
by the public authority using public monies or public guarantees for capital borrowed
from private markets. The private sector is then offered leasing opportunities in which
terms and duration can be negotiated.
 Private ownership is less evident in transport terminals. There are numerous
exceptions for certain modes, such as road freight (distribution centers), rail freight
transport in North America (terminals and rights of way), and where privatization has

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 Republic of the Philippines
SURIGAO DEL NORTE STATE UNIVERSITY
Narciso Street, Surigao City 8400, Philippines

For Nation’s Greater Height’s

taken place in ports and airports in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Here,
private capital is used to provide infrastructure.
Operations involve the day-to-day management and carrying out of terminal
activities:
 Public control of operations is typical in many ports, such as Singapore and Hampton
Roads, in many state-controlled railroads such as China, and at publicly owned
airports such as in the United States. Here the public authority provides the handling
equipment, contracts with the labor force, and operates the rail, airport, and port
terminals.
 Private companies manage and carry out operations in privately owned terminals.
They are also active as operators in many publicly owned facilities under a concession
agreement. The latter is a growing trend in ports and airports, where facilities are
leased to terminal operators for fixed terms. The types of concessions vary
considerably, in terms of duration and conditions.

Lifespan (Life Cycle) of Main Container Terminals of the

Transport Assets World’s Major Port
Holdings, 2019

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