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The Japanese economy continued to grow remarkably rapid in and after 1955.
The target of traffic policy, therefore, had been to dramatically reinforce
the transportation capacity by preparing enough facilities to serve for further
development of industry as an effective infrastructure. Growth, however, began
to be hampered around the time of the oil crisis due to the restrictions arising
out of economic and social conditions and as a result, a revision of policies
has been considered to be necessary.
The planned improvements in the transportation facilities are consistent
with the fixed capital investment plans in the Economic Plan for the Second
Half of the 1970s adopted by the Government in May, 1976. The goal of the Economic
Plan is the steady but stable growth of the Japanese economy and the assurance
of an ample and full life for the people in spite of the structural changes
in the world economy, the increasing supply shortages of raw materials and the
rapidly developing expectation for a better quality life.
The development of the transportation facilities is also consistent with
the Third Comprehensive National Development Plan approved by the Cabinet in
November, 1977. The goal of this Development Plan is to provide an environment
which assures the people of living space for a healthy life and culture which
is harmonous with nature and which gives the people a feeling of stability.
It takes into consideration the limited land resources in Japan and is designed
to take full advantage of regional characteristics and historical and traditional
culture.
Conventionally, there was an extremely high relationship between the volume of freight transported and both the gross national product (real) and mining and manufacturing production, and between the volume related to passengers carried and both the real GNP and personal consumption expenditures. In recent years, however, transportation demand has increased much slower than the increases in those economic indicators, and the gaps are gradually widening. According to the Third Comprehensive National Development Plan, the volume of transport for 1975 through 1984 and 1985 through 1990 is generally expected to increase more slowly than the economic growth rate. However, since the volume of transport demand is already at a high level, even if the rate of increase drops, the net volume of increase will still be considerably large. Also, Since the tenor of demand is also changing, the quality of transportation services should be upgraded.
Up to now, the funds needed for the preparation of an efficient transportation
system have been great. It is now, however, expected that a considerable amount
of money will be required just to maintain the vast capacity of the transport
industry, and an additional large sum of capital will be needed to upgrade the
system to meet the current demands for a higher quality of transportation service.
In reality, however, the capital needed to maintain and upgrade transportation
services has become difficult to obtain due to the dismal profit picture for
transportation service companies, and due to difficult governmental financial
position. Along with these restrictions on capital financing, there are also
various other limitations such as difficulties in securing energy, the availability
of traffic corridors, problems with environmental preservation, and an increasing
public voice demanding that transportation facilities harmonize with and adjust
to regional communities. All of these factors have been making it difficult
to proceed with further development of traffic facilities. It is, therefore,
essential to make investments for the future by selecting the field (s) to be
developed and concentrating investments in it. Also, efforts should be laid
on instrumentation of preliminary environmental analysis, when necessary, concerning
the effects of the work; improvements in energy efficiency; and energy saving
plans.
The basic guidelines for the traffic policy for the immediate future should
be made with emphasis placed on the following two points: First, the present
allocation of public funds associated with transportation activities and the
management system should be sufficiently reviewed and steps should be taken
to increase efficiency, especially with a view to working out the effective
use and the redevelopment of existing traffic facilities. Secondly, it is essential
to assign maximum effect roles of each of the transport facilities in each of
the respective fields so that management may be more efficient
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