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Since the late 1960's, motor vehicle transportation has developed at a
rapid pace. Motor vehicles have come to play a very important role in people's
lives and in the economy because of their flexibility and mobility and their
adaptability to specific cargos.
However, various problems have arisen with the increase of motor vehicle
traffic volume problems such as worsening traffic congestion, increased traffic
accidents and environment problems, which have an adverse affect in urban areas
on people's quality of life, and which lessen feelings of "richness" or "comfort"
in daily life.
On the other hand, public transportation utilizes space more efficiently
and causes less strain on the environment than private passenger cars. Consequently,
utilization of railway has been increasing, particularly in large cities and
regional core cities.
It has become more important to mitigate problems generated by use of motor
vehicles in this age of a maturing motorized society, the average rate of car
ownership has reached 1.5 cars per household. It is necessary to achieve smooth
motor vehicle traffic through efforts to either improve or construct roads or
to reduce illegal parking. However, it is not possible to solve the fundamental
problems solely through enforcement of these policies as long as the number
of motor vehicles continues to increase. Hence, it is necessary to offset the
use of private cars through greater utilization of public transportation and
to enforce the above-mentioned policies.
Looking toward the next century, it is clear that with the accelerating
concentration of activity and population in Tokyo and large and medium-size
cities in the area, such matters as mitigation of rush-hour transport congestion
in these cities, diversification of structure, and taking appropriate measures
to support the increasing numbers of aged and handicapped people are becoming
more important. Public transportation is expected to play a role different from
that of private cars, in addressing these issues.
In the overview in PART 1, we will first analyze changes in use of the various
means of transportation from the point of view of the increasing use of motor
vehicles in CHAPTER 1. Then, we will identify various problems generated by
such changes in CHAPTER 2. In CHAPTER 3 we will consider the right direction
in which to proceed in order to solve these problems, to respond to users' needs
for upgrading and diversification of infrastructure, and to meet various social
needs as we move toward the next century.
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