Urban Transport in the OIC Megacities
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Appendix A – Literature Review Case Studies
Appendix A1
Transport Oriented Development and Public Transport Planning in Hong Kong and
Singapore: Lessons on integration, regulation and car ownership restriction
Hong Kong and Singapore are very successful and long standing examples of integrated, public
transport oriented urban transport policies. Hong Kong and Singapore have followed distinctively
different transport policies than other Asian cities under the pressure of urbanisation, economic
development and resource constraints. Many lessons can be learned from both cities as they have
excellent examples of using synergies between different policies to provide high levels of accessibility
for all.
The cities
Although Hong Kong and Singapore have the status of a country and not a city, they are both almost
100% urbanised and therefore considered here as cities. They are both densely populated as only a
relatively small portion of their land is suitable for development. Singapore has a land area of 710.2
square kilometres and 4.8 million inhabitants, while Hong Kong’s land area is 1104 square kilometres
and its population is 6.9 million. In order to accommodate their growing populations’ needs, they have
been expanding their usable land by land reclamation over the past century so that they can
accommodate the demand for new development. The high population densities and the role of both
cities are global business hubs generate huge transport demand which is managed with innovative
and strictly implemented long term transport and land use strategies.
Singapore: Sustainable, safe and smart transport policies
Singapore has adopted and implemented sustainable transport strategies since the 1970s in order to
mitigate rising congestion levels generated by very nearly full employment coupled with a rapidly
growing economy as a manufacturing and financial hub. Sustainability, safety and smartness are three
important policy directions of the urban mobility system of Singapore. Sustainability is achieved
through the integration of land use and transport planning, transport supply measures and
incorporation of environmentally friendly technologies for vehicles. Safety measures are covering all
modes and enforcement and smart transport systems are used for traffic control, monitoring and
enforcement, information management and revenue management (Lam and Toan, 2006; Haque et al,
2013).
Probably the two key policies that contribute the most to the successful performance of Singapore’s
transport system are the integration of transport and land use planning and the control of the growth
of motorization. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) has been central to the transport strategies of
Singapore since the 1970s. Residential, commercial and economic activities were gradually
decentralised in order to create regional and sub regional centres around Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)
stations. Locating employment centres, business parks and commercial centres near residential areas
reduce people’s need to travel while resulting in a good utilisation of the MRT network. As a result,
more than 60% of the Singaporeans use the MRT for commuting and other purposes daily. For better
integration, the role of each transport mode is clearly defined, with MRT serving long distance trips
and Light Rapid Transit (LRT) and buses providing feeder services to the MRT system. At the same
time, continuous improvement of the supply of each mode but also the complementarily between
different modes (coordination of service network, stations, fares and information systems) ensure
that accessibility is provided for all and journeys on public transport are seamless and convenient
(Lam and Toan, 2006; Haque et al, 2013).