What Does An Integrated Transport System Look Like For The Mega Cities Of 2050

Around the world we are seeing the growth and merger of cities to form what are becoming Mega Cities. Packing in tens of millions of people and stretching further than some countries, these huge conurbations introduce challenges around transportation of people and goods.

Those challenges need to be resolved - and quickly. Today half of the world's population lives in cities, by 2030 that number is expected to rise to 80% or more. Those cities which have made the transition from being a large city to being a Mega City are already suffocating under the weight of traffic.

Take London as an example. The Greater London area is home to around nine million people. However if you extend the city to its furthest limits - the regions where its workers commute from (Northampton in the North, Bath in the West, and the most of the South-East coast region) that number swells to more than twenty million people.

Moving that many people around is a logistical nightmare - even for a city enjoying the benefits of an integrated transport system which covers road, rail and underground. The problem being that planners for these systems never envisaged a city growing as quickly and widely as London has done, nor the long term lack of investment in its transport services.

It isn't alone in having these problems. Across the world emerging nations are seeing large scale urbanisation of their populations, and with that comes the problem of transportation. Mumbai, Jakarta, Beijing, Mexico City; all are facing unsustainable losses in productivity as a result of their traffic problems.

From America we see a range of solutions which use technology to address problems, to the exclusion of all other options. Self-driving cars remain a pipe dream in all but carefully controlled environments. The Boring Company's underground tunnel build progresses at too slow a rate to meaningfully contribute to a solution and the thought of large numbers of flying cars criss-crossing our cities brings vision of dystopian nightmare cities from the best of our science fiction.

Resolving this problem needs a solution grounded in speedy deployment and financial responsibility. That is, it can be delivered early enough to start making a difference and doesn't saddle cities with unmanageable levels of debt.

There are two primary steps to achieving this long term goal which can be achieved quickly and at limited cost.

The first is to limit the number of cars allowed on city streets; and the second is to prioritise buses for mass transit. That means creating more bus lanes on existing roads - a process which in relative terms, is free compared to the costs of other mass transit solutions. By naturally reducing the road space available for private cars this creates its own incentive for switching to public transport. 

The effects of these changes will be to fundamentally alter city life. Reducing the number of cars allows city centres space to breathe. Stripping out roads and replacing them with public spaces, green spaces, pedestrianised precincts and cycle lanes introduces benefits in air quality and the health of the general population. Having seen images of pollution domes over cities like Beijing and Delhi, it's clear that this change is very much needed.