Comparative study of transportation demand management policies in some Southeast Asian cities: past experiences, social feasibility, and future prospects

Abstract

Several major Southeast Asian cities are experiencing severe traffic congestion in their road networks that leads into the emergence of many multidimensional problems, such as air pollution and environmental degradation, substantial economic lost due to longer travel time, and psychologically distressing circumstances during daily trips. Many studies pointed out that this situation has a root in the disproportionate growth between the demand side and the supply side of transportation. In fact, some earlier studies of urban transportation system in ASEAN cities had suggested respective authorities to integrate Transportation Demand Management (TDM) into their urban development policies. Some measures were suggested to restrain ownership and use of private cars and to promote public modes of transportation in order to minimize such an imbalance. This study explores the past experiences of five ASEAN cities, namely Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Manila, in considering and implementing TDM in their urban transportation development. It begins with Singapore, which is widely known as a rare example where TDM successfully works in curbing congestion, and then moves to contrast experiences from the other cities. Recognizing the fact that TDM is hardly acceptable to the society, the study subsequently steps further into investigating potential explanatory factors pertaining to social feasibility of some TDM strategies in the study area, except Singapore. Focusing exclusively on car users, the study reveals that acceptability of some TDM measures in the study area could not be explained satisfactorily only on the basis of people's socioeconomic features. Some qualitative-psychological aspects, such as social norm, perceived effectiveness, and personal outcome expectation, problem awareness, and important mobility aims are found to play significant roles. Consequently, these aspects need to be considered for future TDM program implementations.