ABSTRACT
Globally there is mounting concern regarding the problems of urban transport and much of the investment in transport, arguably a disproportionate share in many Developing Countries, is related to these problems. In many of the advanced economies a high proportion of the population is urban (Table 6.1) and while in many Developing Countries the proportion is much lower it has in recent decades been increasing very rapidly and in absolute terms, as in countries such as Brazil or India, amounts to a large number of people. Many of the world’s largest cities are in Developing Countries and some of these have been growing at an alarming rate (Table 6.2) in relation to their resources, transport included. The number of ‘millionaire’ cities increased from 108 in 1972 to 204 in 1992 and is expected to be 400 in the year 2000. At the end of the Second World War none of the world’s super cities (more than five million inhabitants) were in the Third World but by 1980 20 out of 30 were and by 2000 will number 41 out of 57 (Dalvi, 1986). In Nigeria, to take one example, in 1953 some 3.2 million (10.6 per cent) lived in towns but by 1990 this had increased to 40 million (39 per cent).
