Infrastructure needs in the Philippines must be addressed to ensure long term economic growth. After several years of fiscal pressure, the Philippines is now in a position to address these needs. Despite the current international financial situation, the country is now in a position to commit resources to improve transport infrastructure. To this effect, it is necessary to: i) make resource allocation more effective; and ii) improve governance in the coordinating departments and in implementation agencies. The suggested actions that follow address these two fundamental needs within four groups of recommendations. First, focus should be on improving infrastructure quality and service delivery. While the quantity of transport infrastructure in the Philippines in network and facility density compares well with other countries in the region, its capacity and quality does not. Some critical transport costs are higher in the Philippines than in its neighboring and competing countries. Second, the processes for allocating public resources could be improved. With additional public resources available...

Subsidy policies on public urban transport have been adopted ubiquitously. In both developed and developing countries, subsidies are implemented to make transport more affordable. Despite their widespread implementation, there are virtually no quantitative assessments of their distributional incidence, making it impossible to determine if these instruments are pro-poor. This paper reviews the arguments used to justify subsidy policies in public urban transport. Using different tools to quantitatively evaluate the incidence and distributive impacts of subsidy policy options, the paper analyzes the findings of a series of research papers that study urban public transport subsidy policies in developed and developing countries. The available evidence indicates that current public urban transport subsidy policies do not make the poorest better off. Supply-side subsidies are, for the most part, neutral or regressive; while demand-side subsidies perform better-although many of them do not improve income distribution. Considering that the policy objective is to improve the welfare of the poorest...

This report highlights deficiencies and indicates priorities for a prospective national transport strategy and action plan for further consideration by key stakeholders. The overall objective should be the development of a transport system, and an institutional framework, that facilitates rather than constrains, economic development in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A strong transport system contributes to economic growth by reducing the economic distance to markets by expanding opportunities for trade, by improving the competitiveness of national locations for production and distribution, and by facilitating mobility for a country s citizens; while minimizing the social and environmental costs of the transport sector. The report concludes by recommending actions that aim to improve the institutional framework, improve the sustainability of the transport sector, facilitate broad based economic growth, and mitigate the social and environmental detriments associated with transport. Specific policy recommendations are presented to accomplish these conclusions.

This report highlights deficiencies and indicates priorities for a prospective national transport strategy and action plan for further consideration by key stakeholders. The overall objective should be the development of a transport system, and an institutional framework, that facilitates rather than constrains, economic development in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A strong transport system contributes to economic growth by reducing the economic distance to markets by expanding opportunities for trade, by improving the competitiveness of national locations for production and distribution, and by facilitating mobility for a country s citizens; while minimizing the social and environmental costs of the transport sector. The report concludes by recommending actions that aim to improve the institutional framework, improve the sustainability of the transport sector, facilitate broad based economic growth, and mitigate the social and environmental detriments associated with transport. Specific policy recommendations are presented to accomplish these conclusions.

The services provided by investments in road networks, railways and transit systems, and ports for trade by air and water are important contributors to poverty alleviation and economic growth. Sustained transport investments can support poverty reduction directly, in terms of improving access and thus economic opportunity targeted to the rural poor, and through facilitating broad-based growth. But the impact of infrastructure investments and the services that arise from them can be undermined by poor operations and maintenance. The objective of this evaluation is to assess the effectiveness of Bank group support to countries in sustaining the provision of transport infrastructure and services and to distill lessons on the factors contributing to sustained transport. In the context of this evaluation sustained provision of infrastructure and services is defined as the extent to which the policies, institutional and regulatory framework, sector management capacity, and financial arrangements are in place to ensure that transport infrastructure is operated and maintained...

Rural transport services are often inadequate. Passenger and goods transport needs improving to stimulate rural economies and reduce poverty. Understanding existing rural transport systems and constraining factors is a precondition for appropriate policy action. The Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP) commissioned a study to develop and test a methodology for the rapid assessment of rural transport systems. The guidelines specified passenger and freight transport for distances of 5-200 km, encompassing much rural transport, but excluding within-village transport, long-distance national transport and international corridors. Rural transport systems operate on hub and spoke systems at several levels. Key rural hubs are provincial/regional towns, market/district towns and villages. The various spokes and hubs have characteristic combinations of transport, including trucks, buses, minibuses, pickups and intermediate means of transport (IMTs). The smallest spokes are footpaths while national spokes form transport corridors. The methodology surveys transport types...

The reduction of child mortality and the improvement of maternal health are two of the Millennium Development Goals. Child and maternal mortalities continue to represent severe burdens in many developing countries. Every year, 527,000 women in developing countries die of pregnancy-related complications and nearly 4 million children die during their first month (accounting for 40 percent of all deaths under 5 years of age) with nearly all (98 percent) of them in developing countries. The risks of dying from pregnancy-related complications and a child dying under the age of five are highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. The risk of a mother or an infant dying can be significantly reduced by a continuum of basic care, which should include preventive measures and a skilled attendant during childbirth with access to the necessary equipment, drugs, and other supplies for effective management of any pregnancy-related complications. Yet, many women spend excessive time trying to reach a health facility with the capacity to treat obstetric or infant complications. It is estimated that 75 percent of maternal deaths might be prevented through timely access to essential emergency childbirth-related care. This paper focuses on the ways in which transport and road infrastructure play key roles in the overall delivery of and access to health services...

This paper is aimed at providing guidance on transport issues for those involved in designing multi-topic household surveys such as the Living Standards Measurement Studies (LSMS) surveys. The inclusion of a few key questions can provide critical information for better designing transport programs and policies aimed at improving access, affordability and quality services. Questions on transport access, quality, mode, distance, time, and cost can help to understand the constraints that the population may face in accessing jobs, markets, schools, health clinics and other social services. All of this can be broken down by subgroups such as income, geographic area, gender, employment, etc. further strengthening the relevance of the analysis and contribution to policy decisions. The paper covers background on transport and multi-topic household surveys, key transport policy concerns and data needs, approaches to analysis, issues of survey design, and prototype questions that could be included in existing surveys.

This publication is part of a series aimed at promoting good policies and practices on rural transport in Africa. A recent review of the status of Rural Transport Knowledge Products and Practice (Riverson, 2012) identified a number of knowledge gaps and recommended the production of working papers to address these. One of these gaps was the absence of robust tools, including relevant indicators and instruments, to measure the impact of rural transport projects on rural growth and poverty reduction. This paper addresses this gap. The focus on impact monitoring appears relatively straightforward but in reality requires a distinction between effects and impact, terms used interchangeably in the literature. Similarly, there is a range of technical terms and definitions applied to Monitoring and Evaluation, presented in annex four. A monitoring and evaluation system is an essential element of planning, design and implementation of a rural transport project1 as it serves to assess whether it has achieved its objective and its development goal. Thus...

Cities emerge from the spatial concentration of people and economic activities. But spatial concentration is not enough; the economic viability of cities depends on people, ideas, and goods to move rapidly across the urban area. This constant movement within dense cities creates wealth but also various degrees of unpleasantness and misery that economists call negative externalities, such as congestion, pollution, and environmental degradation. In addition, the poorest inhabitants of many cities are often unable to afford a minimum-size dwelling with safe water and sanitation, as if the wealth created by cities was part of a zero-sum game where the poor will be at the losing end. The main challenge for urban planners and economists is reducing cities' negative externalities without destroying the wealth created by spatial concentration. To do that, they must plan and design infrastructure and regulations while leaving intact the self-organizing created by land and labor markets. The balance between letting markets work and correcting market externalities through infrastructure investment and regulation is difficult to achieve. Too often...

This report provides: a high-level understanding on women's travel patterns that builds the foundation for understanding the ways in which they use public transport and the degree to which this is met by the public transport systems; and a first-cut view on women's priorities in public transport and potential ideas for addressing them. The purpose of this report is to initiate a dialog on these questions and begin to develop a picture of the role transport currently plays in women's lives with an understanding of the further role it can play, given women's specific needs. This study was carried out in Mumbai. Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and is the commercial and entertainment capital of India. Throughout this report the authors has used the term 'women' to refer to women and girls above the age of 16 as several of our survey respondents are students between the ages of 17 and 21. However, there is a need for a deeper understanding of the public transport needs of school- children; many of them use public transport to go to better schools that are father away from their homes. The study was on public buses and trains...

This report summarizes the findings of a long and meticulous journey of data gathering and analysis to quantify the health losses from road deaths and injuries worldwide, as part of the path-finding Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. It is important, first, to acknowledge the profound contribution made by the lead authors and global team of injury prevention professionals to estimate the disease burden of road trauma, before absorbing their findings and recommendations. Without their dedication and tenacity, the way forward would be less certain. The first GBD study, published nearly two decades ago, signaled an emerging road safety crisis in developing regions of the world. It triggered a remarkable program of global advocacy that culminated in the United Nations decade of action for road safety and global plan to bring road safety outcomes under control in these regions by 2020. However, limited investment has been mobilized so far to implement the UN initiative. The second GBD studies, and related analyses presented in this report...

The province of Papua of the Republic of Indonesia was provided special autonomy under law 21-2001 in recognition of the fact that 'the management and use of the natural wealth of Tanah Papua has not yet been optimally utilized to enhance the living standard of the natives, causing a deep gap between the Papua province and the other regions, and violations of the basic rights of the Papuan people.' The goal of special autonomy was to help Papua and Papuans catch up to the rest of Indonesia in terms of living standards and opportunities. Yet, now almost a decade later, and after the split into two provinces: Papua and West Papua, progress toward this goal has been slow. In recognition of this, the Indonesian central government issued presidential instruction 5-2007 on the acceleration of development of Papua and West Papua instructing all relevant technical ministries to devote special attention to the two provinces and to coordinate their programs with the governors of both provinces. Transport is a key piece of the development puzzle and is a high priority for all levels of government in Papua and West Papua. Yet...

Many inhabitants of rural areas in developing countries lack adequate and affordable access to transport infrastructure and services. Improving rural people's access to essential services requires better mobility through transport infrastructure and services as well as the location, price, and quality of facilities. This report focuses on improving rural mobility by facilitating the provision of affordable means of transport and transport services. To deliver significant economic and social benefits, investment in transport must take an integrated approach. Rather than focusing solely on expanding road networks, it should also pay attention to smaller roads, paths, and tracks; the use of private and commercial means of transport; and the importance of transport hubs and markets. Transport planners need to take a holistic approach that involves all stakeholders in a participatory process of assessing needs within a clear policy framework based on the interdependence and complementarity of different means of transport. In addition...

A pro-growth, pro-poor transport strategy (PGPTS) responsive to the second generation poverty reduction strategies (SGPRSs) and the millennium development goals (MDGs) are essential instruments to promote transport development that facilitates economic growth and poverty reduction. However, the national poverty reduction and transport strategy reviews, undertaken by Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP) member countries, and the MDG review, have shown that the existing transport strategies are deficient in many respects in supporting this objective. The strategies have not been successful in delivering adequate access to the rural and urban poor in Africa to reach economic opportunities, and to social and administrative services. The purpose of this framework document (guidance note) is to highlight possible options for the development of a PGPTS. It identifies the questions that need to be asked and the choices that need to be made in framing such a strategy. It offers, at each stage, a checklist of issues for consideration and some examples of good practices. Its aim is to encourage policy-makers and planners to adopt a structured approach to assessing gaps...

The strategic objective of Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP) long term development plan is to anchor transport policies and strategies in national strategies for poverty reduction, so as to enable the transport sector contribute fully to pro-poor growth and poverty reduction. To this end, many SSA countries have conducted the Poverty Reduction and Transport Strategy Review (PRTSR) workshops to assess and review the coherence and link between their poverty reduction strategies and transport strategies and policies. This report presents the processes and the outcomes of the three workshops held between July and September 2007 that reviewed Ethiopia's road sector policy/programs and PASDEP. The first workshop was conducted from 26 - 28th July 2007. In this workshop, stakeholders extracted relevant information from the A Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP) regarding goals, objectives and targets as well as the difficulties on access and mobility. They also identified the interventions concerning transport infrastructure and services in the priority economic and social sectors...

Transport is not 'gender neutral'. Men and women hold different socio-economic roles and responsibilities that are associated with different patterns of transport access, needs, and use. Yet, there is often not much recorded evidence on the differences in gender travel needs between men and women, in urban areas in particular. Transport planning has not routinely addressed these differences and sex-disaggregated data on transport needs and patterns is very limited. The present regional report summarizes the findings and recommendations of four separate case studies on gender and transport conducted in Casablanca, Morocco, Sana'a and rural Yemen, and Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarem in the northern part of the West Bank, during between September 2008 and September 2009. The main objective with summarizing the case studies into a regional report is to provide a regional overview relevant for a better understanding of how transport infrastructure and services are facilitating or constraining mobility by gender in the MENA region. In particular...

Cities emerge from the spatial concentration of people and economic activities. But spatial concentration is not enough; the economic viability of cities depends on people, ideas, and goods to move rapidly across the urban area. This constant movement within dense cities creates wealth but also various degrees of unpleasantness and misery that economists call negative externalities, such as congestion, pollution, and environmental degradation. In addition, the poorest inhabitants of many cities are often unable to afford a minimum-size dwelling with safe water and sanitation, as if the wealth created by cities was part of a zero-sum game where the poor will be at the losing end. The main challenge for urban planners and economists is reducing cities' negative externalities without destroying the wealth created by spatial concentration. To do that, they must plan and design infrastructure and regulations while leaving intact the self-organizing created by land and labor markets. The balance between letting markets work and correcting market externalities through infrastructure investment and regulation is difficult to achieve. Too often...

The Europe 2020 strategy and the legislative package from the European commission provide European Union (EU) member states a framework and means for moving towards a greener and more competitive low carbon economy that makes efficient use of resources and is resilient to climate risk. The integration of both mitigation and adaptation actions into Romania's national policies, programs, and strategies will be a critical step in shifting its development path towards a climate resilient, low carbon, and green economy. In this context, the Government of Romania has requested the World Bank to provide advisory services on climate change, including operationalizing its national climate change strategy and action plan, identifying and integrating climate-related actions in new operational programs, building a solid analytical base for impact assessment and climate-related decision making, and enhancing climate-friendly practices and monitoring system. This report is a deliverable under component B of the advisory services; support the preparation of the climate change-related actions under the 2014-2020 operational programs. This report presents the results of the rapid assessment process for the transport sector. This includes both general transports (which previously fed into the sector operational program for transport (SOP-T) and urban transport (which previously fed into the regional operational program (ROP).

The World Bank committed $30.6 billion in transport-related projects during the past decade, making it one of the largest sectors. The evaluation looks into the Bank's experience in the sector, and assesses the institution's interventions, the impact of rapid transport sector expansion, and its readiness to meet the challenges ahead.