Research policy and review 20. The World Bank's urban transport policy: authorised version, revised version and the apocrypha

Since their incursion into urban transport policymaking in developing countries during the early 1970s, World Bank economists have played a pivotal role in shaping the research agenda. The publication of the World Bank's revised policy statement, therefore, provides an opportunity to gauge changes in its policy directions over the past decade and assess challenges to what is now the new orthodoxy. Initially, attention is focused on key elements in the World Bank's original policy statement with its unfashionable emphasis on short-term incremental planning, congestion pricing, deregulation, and privatisation. Then an examination is made of the salient features of the World Bank's restated policy: managing the demand for road use, improving efficiency by traffic management, public transport, and investment decisions. Finally, counterarguments to this restated policy are outlined. With this background we are in a position to assess the differing arguments and to make a plea for researchers to evaluate the predilection of World Bank economists for buses rather than rail rapid transit, and deregulation and privatisation instead of state control.