Fifty Years of Transport Policy 1953-2003
This report, which reviews transport policy over the past 50 years, first draws attention to the
remarkable progress that the transport sector has made over the past half-century. Extraordinary
productivity gains have been made and these gains have clearly helped to drive economic growth.
Transport is now faster and cheaper than ever, and enhanced co-operation at the international level has
allowed policies to be rationalised and harmonised. A number of inadequacies are also apparent,
however, in that transport still suffers from congestion, pollution, accidents, inappropriate pricing,
under investment and the continued lack of a genuinely comprehensive transport chain. The array of
instruments used at the policy level remains limited, with too much emphasis on the supply side and
assistance to suppliers; and at the same time, the institutional structures serving the sector remain too
fragmented.