Citation

Romualdi JP. Transp. Plann. Tech. 1974; 2(3): 195-204.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1974, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/03081067408717075

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

After a decade of rapid road building in the fifties, the United States entered a decade in which the rescue and revival of public mass transport was the stated objective. During the sixties and continuing into the seventies, the emphasis of this official public policy has shifted from concern about congestion and inept land use, to the desire to meet air quality standards, and finally in response to petroleum fuel shortages. Yet, in spite of some significant gains in rescuing numerous municipal bus systems and providing needed capital improvements for many existing systems, the overall impact on U.S. urban mobility patterns has been relatively slight. The development of the concern about mass transport in the U.S. is reviewed in this paper, and the failure of the proposed technological panaceas is discussed. Future developments in terms of the evolution of existing systems are discussed in the light of recent successes, and a pattern of future urban transport is postulated. This paper was originally presented at the Symposium on Urban Public Transport at the University of Melbourne, Sept., 1973.