To address the problems of increasing motorization, air pollution and deteriorating public transport and conditions for appropriate usage of non-motorized transport (bicycling and walking) experienced by most developing country cities, UN-Habitat’s activities in urban transport focus on the action priorities identified in both Chapter 7 of Agenda 21 and the transport provisions of the Habitat Agenda specifically:

• Promoting human settlements development strategies that better integrate land use planning, environmental quality and transport to minimize trip distances and reduce negative development impacts;
• Promote public transport and non-motorized transport as either a substitute, or complementary mode for travel, to the private car;
• Increase the efficiency of existing transport operations through improved planning and management of all modes of transport;
• Improve mobility levels for the urban poor through promotion of affordable urban transport plans, programmes and technologies;
• Decentralize urban transport infrastructure investment decision-making, planning and management to the local level.

Besides normative activities and demonstration projects in transport policy and for extending infrastructure systems, there are also transport-related components under other MTSIP focus areas and activities. Particularly, for informal settlements the transport of basic goods and services is often times a prerequisite for improving the lives of slum dwellers beyond promoting passenger transportation and non-motorized travel.

In the context of the Water and Sanitation Programme, a first aspect is the delivery of water. In the absence of pipe networks, dwellers are frequently forced to haul water containers over long distances. Investing in cost-effective and appropriate technological solutions such as bicycle trailers can lower the cost of water access, free up time of residents – often times women - for pursuing income activities and generate employment opportunities for small-scale transport providers.

Another important and related area is solid waste collection. Due to physical and institutional constraints in informal settlements, establishing large scale and capital-intensive solid waste collection systems is usually not a viable option. Consequently, intermediate and low-cost collection opportunities such as bicycle trailers have to be expanded. As in the case of water delivery, the value of small-scale institutional arrangements at neighborhood level is not only their immediate function for removing solid waste from communities, but also their potential to serve as a basis for up-scaling such approaches at a later stage.