Capitalism, Socialism, and Urban Transportation Policies and Travel Behavior in the East and West

Abstract

Urban transportation systems in the Soviet Union, Europe, and North America are very different. The dominance of public transport in the Soviet Union contrasts strikingly with the almost exclusive reliance on the automobile in the United States. European countries lie between these two extremes, with the capitalist countries of Western Europe much less auto-oriented than the United States, but more auto-oriented than the socialist countries of Eastern Europe. Although some of this variation can be attributed to differences among countries in per capita income and resource availability, much of the variation is due to public policy. Governments in virtually all countries have expressed their preferences in urban transportation by differentially subsidizing and taxing the various modes of transportation, and also by promoting or discouraging the types of land use and urban development that depend on and foster alternative transportation systems. Socialist governments have strongly supported public transport. By contrast, the more market-oriented a country's economy, the more it has neglected public transport, and instead subsidized highway construction, auto use, and suburbanization.