This is another example of one of the city in Brazil. They are also aiming to integrate public transport with urban development. So they have designated a public transport corridor, along which they encourage a very dense commercial development alongside of the roads. So instead of they have a very big CBD here, the CBD is all along the public transport corridors. This kind of integration helps the sustainability and viability of the mass transit development.
This is one of the terminals. The mass transit is a bus system. And this is an articulated bus. This is a trunk line. This is the terminal. If you get to that bus stop, you can easily take many other feeder services, which can carry you to many other destinations. This is a kind of interchange facilities, which also helps people use the mass transit system.
This is another example. This is the civic center, where you can find all kind of services and facilities. So before you go to the office, you can do everything that are related to public services. That will also encourage the use of mass transit. This is the case in Japan: integration with bus terminal, railway station and commercial and office complex. This kind of integrated approach is very important, not only from transportation viewpoint, but also for an effective urban development.
And now, I would like to summarize what are the lessons we learn from the experiences of the cities. First, at the planning period, it requires for how to approach a consensus on route system and timing of implementation. In most of the cities in Asia, it took long time before the government really implemented the system. In Singapore, discussion started in the 1960s, and it took nearly 20 years for them to complete the system. That means all cities are struggling and it takes time, that's why we need good planning, involving all people concerned in the mass transit system. Otherwise, rapid decisions sometimes have to go back to the start. Especially for HCMC, we have to look at many aspects in the planning stage. At the stage of operation and management, concern is on the availability of operation and management recourses. But with regard to the mass transit, we see in other cities technically sound. The problem is always management.
With regard to the funding, we are facing many controversial issues. We have to think of the affordability of the people. For the public transport, fares should be set at reasonable levels. At the same time we have to consider the financial viability of the projects. And access of external funding is also another issue. So this is actually a dilemma of the government, but there's no solution. But it is best and most important that the government should be ready to what extent the government is going to subsidize the development of the mass transit.
So this is the summary of my presentation and what we can suggest for the next steps. For HCMC, since there are quite a number of studies, we have to consolidate all these studies and formulate the firm consented long-term policy and strategies.
