PLANNING A NEW VEHICLE AND ROADWAY SYSTEM FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Mechanized vehicles are needed in developing countries, because even though mass transit may be the most important means of transportation, mass transit cannot reach everywhere. The automobile is not affordable--the average price of an automobile is 30 times and its annual operating cost is 4 times the annual average wage of the workers in Shanghai, China. A new vehicle should be developed. Using socioeconomic data from San Francisco and Shanghai, a new vehicle was planned with the following attributes: a top speed of 22 mph would provide a similar capability for going to work, shopping, and visiting friends as the automobile does in San Francisco; a two-passenger vehicle with an optional two-seat compartment would satisfy most trip purposes; vehicle dimensions of 3.6 ft long, 3.0 ft wide, and 4.7 ft high would minimize investment and be technologically feasible to build. A price of $874 would be affordable to the general public. To produce such a vehicle at such a price is possible. The new vehicle, being small, cheap, requiring little space to park, can be specialized in neighborhood access and connection to mass transit. It enables mass transit to be specialized in line-haul services--concentrated on major routes with fewer stops. As a result, mass transit services would be more frequent and faster. A spoke and hub system could be developed. The spokes represent extensive local roads for the vehicle. The hubs are mass transit stations with frequent and fast buses or trains running through them. The vehicle together with mass transit would form an efficient transportation system.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1990/1266/1266-028.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=PLANNING+A+NEW+VEHICLE+AND+ROADWAY+SYSTEM+FOR+DEVELOPING+COUNTRIES&author=S.+Wong&publication_year=1990
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1266, Urban Public Transportation Research 1990. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Wong, Shui-Ying
• Publication Date: 1990

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 269-282
• Monograph Title: Urban public transportation research
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1266
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Costs; Design; Developing countries; Development; Miniature automobiles; Planning; Public transit; Research; Technological innovations
• Uncontrolled Terms: Research and development
• Geographic Terms: San Francisco (California); Shanghai (China)
• Old TRIS Terms: Miniautomobiles
• Subject Areas: Design; Finance; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Research;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00602767
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309050189
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Dec 31 1990 12:00AM