Course Work Example on Urban Transportation

Urbanization has become one of the primary contemporary processes of the ever growing global population who lives in the cities. The current population living in the cities is 1.7 million, and it is expected to increase to 3.5 billion by 2050. Due to this trend, the urban transport system is an important factor to consider easing the movement of the passengers and goods. The Urban transportation system is a highly complex concept because of the modes involves a multitude of origins and destinations, and there is a large variety of traffic. In the past urban transportation focused on the passengers as the cities were viewed as a place where human beings should interact with intricate traffic patterns connected to commuting, leisure, and commercial transactions (Moore & Pulidindi, 2004). Currently, the urban transport system is complex and is connected to the urban form and spatial structure. Urban transit is a crucial dimension of mobility, notably in high-density areas.

Public transportation system is the one which triggers development hence they are the bones which support complex economic and social fabric. Transportation technology allows people to move to where natural resources are high concentration. It also allows modern cities to exploit the advantages of concentration to more effectively provide better goods and services, to carry trade of those goods and services with other regions, which allows economic specialization and efficiencies. Socially and economically vibrant urban sectors cannot exist without a system of moving goods, people, and services. The demand for urban transportation will continue to grow and change in the long run. In-migration of people to the cities will lead to growth in metropolitan regions, and the current metropolitan residents will continue to diminish for small cities to emerge. Some metropolitan areas will suburbanize while others have significant boundaries which incorporate the process of urbanization. Highways will continue to get the biggest share of the total fund invested in the transportation network but share significant share has to be preserved for the development of transit, pedestrian, and bicycle facilities.

Flaws

The urban transport is not well designed and gets congestion during peak hours. The congestion leads to spending a lot of time which could have been used in more economical to engage in economic activities. This leads to loss of resources due to congestion such as human capital, and fuel consumed during this period. During these hours the transport cost rises to an unbearable level making the cost of living to be very expensive. In some regions, there are limited means of transport and the passengers can only use the only available means of transport (Urban Development Strategy, 2017. The cost of maintaining the road is very as high as they have to be maintaining as well as cleaning them. The expansion of roads may be insufficient to retain critical social facilities such as schools and hospitals. Has the population surge in search of these necessary social facilities in the cities, some towns might lack that sufficient resource to retain such facilities.

The increases in demand for transportation in the towns will make it harder for the emergency team to respond to disasters. In some areas, especially the remote areas within the town are likely to experience difficulty in accessing emergency management services (Urban Development Strategy, 2017. The number of vehicles is also rising at a high rate, and it has led to the emission of greenhouse gas leading to change in nature and the environment of the city. The most development is likely to take place around the busy urban areas because people want to invest in busy centers. Also, there is a limited choice of housing because the residential areas have to be developed in designated areas.

References

Moore, T & Pulidindi. (2004). Understanding Urban Transportation Systems. Retrieved from http://www.nlc.org/sites/default/files/understanding-urban-transportation-systems-gid-mar11.pdf

Urban Development Strategy. (2017). Strengths & Weaknesses. Retrieved from http://greaterchristchurch.org.nz/background/background-2007/proposedoptions/strengthsweaknesses