An Introduction to Urban Transportation Problems

Before 1914 there were very few urban transportation problems, except in a few large cities like Paris, London and Tokyo where congestion had been the rule for more than a century. The great bulk of the population lived in towns or villages, seldom larger than 50,000 inhabitants, and of more or less regular shape with a diameter of something like 1 or 2 kilometres. To go from one place to another in the town usually involved distances of less than 1 km, which could easily be walked in ten minutes or less. There was little traffic congestion (as we know it today) and there were to traffic lights. Pedestrians were not therefore forced to stop en route. The introduction and spread of the bicycle in the first half of the 20th century allowed towns to grow to twice, or even three times their former size, since people could cycle at 15 k.p.h. instead of walking at 5 k.p.h. This development had, of course, already occurred to some extent with the limited use of horses and horse-drawn carriages.