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PART 2. TRANSPORT TRENDS

Chapter 1. Outline of Transportation in Fiscal Year 1993 and Recent Trends

Section 1. Trends in the General Economy and Transport Activities

1. Trends in Passenger Transportation
(1) Domestic Transportation
　　 In fiscal 1993, the total volume of domestic passenger traffic rose by 0.6% from the previous year, recording 82.3 billion persons. In terms of passenger-kilometers, the volume of domestic passenger traffic recorded a 0.2% year-one-year increase amounting to 1355.8 billion passenger-km, a portrayal of sluggish growth.
　　 Comparing by means of transport, performance results were sluggish for railways, automobiles, airlines and passenger ships. In particular, airlines posted a decline for the first time in eight years.
(2) International Transportation
　　 In 1993 (calendar year), the number of Japanese people departing from Japan registered 11.93 million persons, a record figure for the second consecutive year as the strong Yen worked in its favour. On the other hand, the number of foreigners arriving Japan fell by 4.8% from the previous year to 3.41 million, which was the first drop in seven years. [Table11]
2. Trends in Cargo Transportation
(1) Domestic Transportation
　　 In fiscal year 1993, the total volume of domestic cargo traffic in tonnage dropped by 4.4% from the previous year to 6.4305 billion tons, and in tonnage-kilometers it dipped by 3.8% to 535.66 billion ton-km, falling remarkably below FY1992 results.
　　 Comparison by means of transport shows that railways, business vehicles, private automobiles and coastal shipping posted a decline. Conversely, airlines recorded an upturn, though slight.
(2) International Transportation
　　 In calendar 1993, the world volume of maritime cargo traffic (ton base, ton-mile base) was a record-breaking figure. As for the maritime trading volume (ton-base) of Japan, exports rose for the third successive year, while imports saw an upturn.[Table12]
3. Trends in Transport Indices
　　 In fiscal 1993, the transport index of the transport industry at large posted a fall in growth. The transport index of aggregate transport activities also suffered from negative growth for the first time since 1965.

Section 2. Trends in Facility Constructions

1. Basic Standpoint on Constructing the Social Infrastructure related to Transportation
　　 The Ministry of Transport aiming to develop the country uniquely, accelerate the globalization process, and build an environment to deliver comfort and prosperity in everyday life. To bring these to fruition, the task is to improve, expand ,and promote the efficiency of the social infrastructure related to transportation to the utmost standard, without failing to harmonize different interests.
2. Trends in Transport-related Investment in Fiscal 1993
　　 Transport-related public investment totalled 17.56trillion in fiscal 1993, a year-on-year increase of 12.7%. On the other hand, private investment in transport facilities (construction-base) in fiscal 1993 fell by 12.3% from the previous year down to 3.2049 trillion, an acute downturn which is in sharp contrast to the constant uptrend of previous years.[Table13][Table14]

Section 3. Steps towards Deregulation

　　 The Ministry of Transport has been exerting every effort to further the deregulation process. In April 1993, the head office to promote reforms on affairs of permissions was established to trim the number of cases within the purview of authorization (standing at 1,966 cases on March 31 1992) by 20% in the following 3 years, opted to be as one of the primal objectives.
　　 As a result of such efforts, the number of authorized cases were cut down by 346 cases, and other cases subjected to deregulation (which practically reduces the burden on citizens even if there are no cutbacks in terms of number of cases) amounted to 202 cases, and thus a total of 548 cases were subjected to reorganization and rationalization before the Cabinet resolved the reform outline, namely "Policy alternatives for promoting future administrative reforms", in February 1994.
　　 The Ministry believes that it is crucial to encourage deregulation constructively so as to provide superior transport services in the coming years. The deregulation promotion project whose strategic details are to be determined within fiscal 1994 is one of the areas in which the Ministry intends to labour, while giving further consideration on issues of safety and user-convenience.

Section 4. The Development of Transport Policies to Realize Friendly Transportation

1. Realizing Considerate Transport Services for The Elderly and Disabled
　　 There is much room to introduce measures universally, such as the construction of facilities which enable the elderly and the disabled to use public transport safely without straining them physically.
　　 Therefore, businesses are being given directions based on guiding principles for constructing public transport terminal facilities, and surveys are being conducted to formulate model transport projects. Additionally, assistance is provided through the Transport Amenity Promotion Foundation to construct facilities and introduce lift-equipped buses at transport terminals.
2. Measures to Curb Couumuter-congestion in Large Cities
　　 In order to relieve congestion during rush-hours, it is necessary to develop city-railway services and to propagate off-peak commuting; the latter is to be encouraged especially by establishing the "Council to promote Comfortable Commuting", in line with campaigns during the "Comfortable Commuting Promotion Month" (November).