GEOG 80 – Transport Geography

Professor: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue

Urban Transportation
A. Urban Form
B. Urban Dynamics
C. Urban Mobility
D. Urban Transport Problems
Urbanization

• Dominant trend of economic and social change.

• Especially in the developing world.
• Growing size of cities.
• Increasing proportion of the urbanized population:
• More than doubled since 1950.
• 3.16 billion in 2005, about 49% of the global population.
• 50 million urbanites each year, roughly a million a week.
• By 2050, 6.2 billion people, about two thirds of humanity,
will be urban residents.
• Due to demographic growth and rural to urban migration.
World Urban Population, 1950-2005 with Projections
to 2020 (in billions)
Cities of More than 10 Million Inhabitants, 2007
Possible Urban Movement Patterns
Organized
Disorganized

Monocentric Polycentric
A – Urban Form

What is Urban Form…?

Urban Form refers to the-

■ physical layout and design of the city
■ spatial imprint of an urban transport system
■ adjacent physical infrastructures.

Jointly, they confer a level of spatial arrangement to cities.

Urban form or city form defined as- the spatial pattern of

human activities at a certain point in time.
Factors Influencing City Form
A.1 The Radiocentric city

■ Geographical possibilities of spreading in all directions.

■ Radio centric - Radiate outward from a common
centre.
■ Inner Outer ring roads linked by radiating roads.
■ Core has business area.
■ Industrial area interspersed within the residential.
■ Example : Washington DC, Pre-industrial Baghdad in
Iraq.
A.1 The Radiocentric city
A.2 The Grid Iron city

■ It is composed of straight streets crossing at right

angles to create many regular city blocks.

■ This form is typical of cities built after the industrial

revolution – because only then did cities place such
importance on economic activity.

■ A city grid iron plan facilitates the movement of

people and product throughout the city
A.2 The Grid Iron city
A.3 The Linear city

■ Initially proposed by Soria Y Mata.

■ Expand the city along the spine of transport

■ The Linear City concept is a conscious form of

urban development with housing and industry
growing along the highway between existing cities
and contained by the continuous open space of the
rural countryside.
A.3 The Linear city
Variations of Urban Form
Steep urban form with
central focus of intense land
Value
use and value
Sprawled urban form with
multiple focus points and
even more land values
Concentric Zone Model
Concentric Zone Model

■ Developed in 1925 by Ernest w. Burgess

■ Cities grow radially outward away from a single centre.

■ Different land uses are distributed like concentric rings

around the city centre.
Sector Model
Sector Model

■ Developed in 1939 by Homer Hoyt ,states that a city

develops in sectors, not rings

■ The land use zones are influenced by radial transport

routes.

■ High-rental and low-rental areas repel one another.

Multiple Nuclei Model
Multiple Nuclei Model

■ A model of urban land use in which a city grows from

several independent points rather than from one central
business district.

■ Certain functions require specialized facilities or sites, e.g.

a port district needs a suitable waterfront.

■ Similar functions may group together for agglomeration

economies.
Group Activity

■ Make an organize traffic flow inside the Marinduque State

College.
C – Urban Mobility

■ 1. Urban Movements
■ 2. Urban Transit
1. Urban Movements

■ Land use
• Specific movements are linked to specific urban activities and
their land use.
• Involves the generation and attraction of an explicit array of
movements.
• Factors:
• Recurrence, income, urban form, spatial accumulation, level of
development and technology.
■ Urban movements
• Obligatory: linked to scheduled activities (such as home-to-work
movements)
• Voluntary: free to decide of their scheduling (such as leisure).
Main Purposes of Urban Trips

3%
20%

Work
Shopping
School
Business (Work)
15%
49% Business (Personnal)
Home
Other
5%
3%
5%
Typical Urban Day Trips by Modes, Origins and
Destinations

1:30 AM 10:45 PM 10:30 PM

Shopping mall Delivery Return Delivery
2:30 AM
8:30 PM
Return Restaurant
Drive alone 7:00 PM 1:30 PM
Drive alone 5:30 PM Walk
Drive alone

7:00 AM Home Work 12:30 PM

Walk
Garbage
pickup 8:00 AM 8:15 AM
Carpool Drive alone

10:00 AM
Passengers 10:05 AM Parcel
School Parcel Drop off
Freight (drop off child) Pickup
Urban Travel by Purpose and by Time of the Day in a
North American Metropolis

35
Shopping
30 Social / Recreation
Work
25 Total trips
Percentage

20

15

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Home-to-Work Trips Modes, United States, 1985-1999

100%

80%
Works at home
Other means
60% Walks only
Bicycle or motorcycle
40% Mass transportation
Carpool
Drives self
20%

0%
1985 1989 1993 1997 1999
Modal Split for Global Cities, 1995

100
90
80
70 Private Motor Vehicle
60 Transit
50 Walking / Cycling
40
30
20
10
0
Chinese American Australian West High Income Low Income
Cities Cities Cities European Asian Cities Asian Cities
Cities
Mode Share for Commuting, New York, 1980-2000

100%
90%
80%
70%
Other non walk
60% Taxi
50% Bus
40% Subway
30% Automobile

20%
10%
0%
1980 1990 2000
2. Urban Transit

■ Context
• Dominantly an urban transportation mode.
• The great majority of transit trips are taking place in large cities.
• Conditions fundamental to the efficiency of transit systems:
• High density and high mobility demands over short distances.
• Shared public service:
• Benefits from economies of agglomeration related to high densities.
• Economies of scale related to high mobility demands.
■ Transit systems
• Many types of services established to answer mobility needs.
• Variety of transit systems around the world.
Private Vehicle and Public Transport Market Share,
1990/91
100.0%
American Cities
90.0%
European Cities
80.0%
Private Vehicle Market Share

70.0%

Asian Cities
60.0%

50.0%

40.0%

30.0%
0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0%
Public Transport Market Share
2. Urban Transit

■ Metro system
• Heavy rail system, often underground in central areas, with fixed routes,
services and stations.
• Uniform frequency of services (peak hours increase).
• Fares are commonly access driven and constant.
■ Bus system
• Scheduled fixed routes and stops serviced by motorized multiple passengers
vehicles (45 - 80 passengers).
• Services are often synchronized with other heavy systems (feeders).
• Express services (notably during peak hours).
■ Transit rail system
• Fixed rail (tram rail system and commuter rail system)
• Frequency of services strongly linked with peak hours.
• Traffic tends to be imbalanced.
• Separate fares and proportional to distance or service zones.
Largest Subway Systems in the World by Annual
Ridership and Metropolitan Population, 2000

Subway Ridership (billions)

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Sao Paulo
London
Hong Kong
Osaka
Population
Paris
Ridership
New York City
Seoul
Mexico City
Tokyo
Moscow

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Metropolitan Population (millions)
2. Urban Transit

■ Shuttle system
• Privately (dominantly) owned using small buses or vans.
• Routes and frequencies tend to be fixed (can be adapted).
• Service numerous specific functions:
• Expanding mobility along a corridor during peak hour.
• Linking a specific activity center (shopping mall, university campus,
industrial zone, hotel, etc.).
• Servicing the elderly or people with disabilities.
■ Paratransit system
• Flexible and privately owned demand-response system:
• Minibuses, vans or shared taxis.
• Commonly servicing peripheral and low density zones.
• Door-to-door service, less loading and unloading time, less stops
and more maneuverability in traffic.
2. Urban Transit

■ Taxi system
• Privately owned cars or small vans offering an on-call, individual
demand-response system.
• Fares:
• Commonly a function of a metered distance/time.
• Can be negotiated.
• When competition is not permitted, fares are set up by regulations.
• No fixed routes:
• Servicing an area where a taxi company has the right (permit) to pickup
customers.
• Rights are issued by a municipality.
• Several companies may be allowed to compete on the same territory.
Components of an Urban Transit System

X
X X
X X X
X

X
X X X X
X
X

X
X X
X
X
X
X X

Metro station Transit rail station Bus stop Shuttle stop Paratransit Taxi service
X
Express stop boundary
Transfer
Estimated Ridership of the World’s Largest Public Transit
Systems, 1998

New York

Manila

Paris

London

Sao Paulo

Buenos Aires

Beijing

Mumbai

Seoul

Hong Kong

Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto

Shanghai

Moscow

Mexico City

Tokyo-Yokohama

0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000

Estimated Annual Journeys (billions)
 Millions

2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000

0
19
70
19
80
19
81
19
82
19
83
19
84
19
85
19
86
19
87

Bus
19
88
19
89
19
90
19
91
19

Heavy Rail
92
19
93
19
94
19
95
19
96
Light Rail

19
97
19
98
19
99
20
00
20
01
20
02
Trips by Public Transport in the United States, 1970-2002
Group Activity

■ In addition to providing economic benefits to society, list

five examples of other advantages provided by the
availability of good transportation.
■ If you are an inventor like Orville Wright, what vehicle are
you going to propose and what are the features. What are
you going to call this vehicle.
D – Urban Transport Problems

■ 1. Geographical Challenges Facing Urban Transportation

■ 2. Automobile Dependency
■ 3. Congestion
1. Geographical Challenges Facing Urban Transportation

■ Context
• Most important transport problems often related to urban areas.
• Urban productivity:
• Dependent on the efficiency of its transport system.
• Move labor, consumers and freight between several origins and
destinations.
• Growing complexity of cities:
• Accompanied by a wide array of urban transportation problems.
• Some problems are ancient like congestion (Rome).
• Others are new like environmental impacts:
• Notably CO2 emissions linked with the diffusion of the internal combustion
engine.
1. Geographical Challenges Facing Urban Transportation

■ Traffic congestion and parking difficulties.

■ Public transport crowding and off-peak inadequacy.
■ Difficulties for pedestrians.
■ Environmental impacts and energy consumption.
■ Accidents and safety.
■ Land consumption.
■ Freight distribution.
2. Automobile Dependency

■ Causes
• Advantages of automobile use:
• Performance, comfort, status, speed, and convenience.
• Illustrate why car ownership continues to grow worldwide.
• Factors of growth:
• Sustained economic growth (increase in revenue and quality of life).
• Complex individual urban movement patterns.
• Peripheral urban growth.
■ Factors of dependency
• Underpricing and consumer choices:
• Most road infrastructures are subsidized (considered a public service).
• Drivers do not bear the full cost of car usage.
• Car ownership is a symbol of status
• Single home ownership.
2. Automobile Dependency

• Planning and investment practices:

• Aims towards improving road and parking facilities in an ongoing attempt
to avoid congestion.
• Transportation alternatives tend to be disregarded.
• In many cases, zoning regulations impose minimum standards of road
and parking services and de facto impose a regulated car dependency.
3. Congestion

■ Congestion
• Occurs when transport demand exceeds transport supply in a
specific section of the transport system.
• Each vehicle impairs the mobility of others.
• Types:
• Recurring congestion (specific times of the day and on specific segments
of the transport system).
• Random events (accidents and weather conditions).
Recurring Congestion

10 3
Traffic
9 2
Congestion
8 Capacity 1
7 0
6 -1
5 Unused Capacity -2
4 -3
3 -4
2 -5
1 -6
0 -7
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Average Hourly Traffic on George Washington Bridge,
2002

20,000 Eastbound
18,000 Westbound
Total
16,000

14,000

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0
AM M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M M
12 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A 8A 9A 10A 11A 12P 1P 2P 3P 4P 5P 6P 7P 8P 9P 10P 11P
The Vicious Circle of Congestion

Congestion Public
The number pressures to
of increase
movements capacity
increases
New
The average capacity
length of Movements
movements are more
increases Urban sprawl
easy
is favored
Total Traffic Delay in Selected American Cities, 1986-1990
(in 1,000 hours per day)

0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000

Los Angeles

New York

San Francisco

Washington

Chicago

Houston

Detroit
1986
Boston 1990
Traffic Conditions in Major American Cities, 1982-2003

100%
90%
80%
70% Extreme
60% Severe
50% Heavy
40% Moderate
30% Uncongested
20%
10%
0%
1982 1990 1997 2003
3. Congestion

■ Ramp metering
• Controlling access to a congested highway by letting
automobiles in one at a time instead of in groups.
■ Traffic signal synchronization
• Tuning the traffic signals to the time and direction of traffic flows.
■ Incident management
• Making sure that vehicles involved in accidents or mechanical
failures are removed as quickly as possible from the road.
■ HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes
• Vehicles with 2 or more passengers (buses, vans, carpool, etc.)
have exclusive access to a less congested lane.
■ Public transit
• Offering alternatives to driving.