Connections

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Connections is a weekly series of knowledge notes from the World Bank Group’s Transport & Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Global Practice. It covers projects, experiences, and front-line developments.

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Publication
    Advances and Challenges in 'Intelligent Transportation': The Evolution of ICT to Address Transport Challenges in Developing Countries
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-11) Wang, Winnie; Krishnan, Raman; Diehl, Adam
    Transport efficiency and safety in the advanced economies have long benefited from information and communication technology (ICT). However, these ICT applications have typically been high-cost, customized infrastructure systems. Now the era of the Internet, digital mobile communication, and ‘big data’ analysis has created a new global potential for less costly and more powerful ‘intelligent transport systems’ (ITS). The World Bank is supporting client transport agencies in deploying these new tools, including cloud-based services, open data standards, and smartphone applications, to more efficiently manage transportation assets and improve road safety. In the process, such projects have also demonstrated improvements in the traveler’s experience and the attractiveness of public transit. Moreover, the greater potential of the new technologies to reduce congestion and travel times means that the new era has also strengthened the potential of ITS to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, realizing the potential of ITS in developing countries depends on improvements in assessment practices to find what works best and in the data capabilities of domestic institutions. Significant improvements in these areas are critical to the success of ITS.
  • Publication
    Impact Evaluation to Inform and Transform Investments in Transport and ICT
    (World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015-06) Vandycke, Nancy; Legovini, Arianna; Liaplina, Aleksandra; Di Maro, Vincenzo
    A new World Bank initiative, ‘Impact Evaluation (IE) - connect for impact,’ aims to radically transform and better inform the way that transport and information and communications technology (ICT) projects are designed and implemented. Although multilateral lending to this key strategic sector comprises 29 percent of all global assistance, only 0.4 percent of impact evaluations have had transport as a subject. This initiative aims to fill the gap and bring high quality and valuable feedback to projects, improving design, enabling mid-course corrections, and informing ex-post evaluations. For the first time, this initiative will offer a systematic sector approach to generating concrete evidence of what works, what does not, where, when and why. It will greatly increase the impact and value add of investments in transport and ICT projects, which is especially important given global trends toward increasing urbanization, with 70 percent of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2050.
  • Publication
    Key Pathways to High-Speed Internet in the Middle East and North Africa: Spurring Competition and Building New Networks
    (World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015-03) Gelvanovska, Natalija; Rogy, Michel; Rossotto, Carlo Maria
    Most countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are falling behind in their quest to develop high-speed Internet for rapid socioeconomic development. Despite young adults’ rising use of social networking tools and solid progress in a few countries, most of the region’s Internet remains hobbled by monopolized, inadequate infrastructure; weak investment incentives; and high costs. High-speed (broadband) Internet can drive economic and social transformations. To realize that potential, a recent World Bank study finds that MENA countries must pursue a three-pronged approach: reduce costs by fully liberalizing access to the existing Internet infrastructure; support the resulting competition with independent national regulators working within a harmonized regional framework of regulation; and promote investments in new fiber-optic networks and other ultrafast broadband infrastructure (including Long-Term Evolution or LTE) alongside existing technologies. With these measures, plus aggressive strategies for sharing public works infrastructure and subsidies for rural access, MENA can leapfrog its current information and communication bottlenecks.
  • Publication
    Private Participation in Urban Rail: A Resurgence of Public-Private Partnerships
    (World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015-03) Pulido, Daniel; Hirschhorn, Fabio
    Cities in the developing world are relying more on public-private partnerships (PPPs) to carry out the most complex and demanding of public works initiatives - the development of new urban heavy rail, or metros, usually involving underground lines. Most of the world’s metro systems are operated and were funded and built by public agencies. But developing country governments are shying away from the high cost and complexity of such systems and are acquiring more experience partnering with the private sector on infrastructure projects. Hence, the PPP approach, tried for metros with mixed results in the 1990s, has become more attractive. In the past five years, 2010-2014, five cities in Latin America and developing Asia have initiated seven new urban heavy rail lines using PPPs. In four of these projects, the PPPs are fully bundled, that is, they encompass design, financing, construction, and operations. It is too early to judge the overall performance of these seven projects, but some recommendations can be drawn from them as well as from earlier urban rail PPPs. The central lessons are the critical importance of a robust planning and management capacity in the public sector partner and the value of strong efficiency incentives for the private sector partners.
  • Publication
    Boosting Mass Transit through Entrepreneurship: Going beyond Subsidies to Reduce the Public Transport Funding Gap
    (World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015-02) Pulido, Daniel; Portabales, Irene
    Most of the world’s urban mass transit systems cannot cover operating costs, let alone capital expenses, through farebox revenues. On average, 25 percent of metro operating expenditures are not funded by farebox income. With limited public subsidies, as well as obstacles to raising fares and political sensitivities to road user taxes, metro systems have been increasingly pursuing income from commercial activities connected with their operations. Metro systems earn commercial income, such as from advertising, naming rights, and especially real estate activities, are making inroads in their operating deficits. Commercial revenue in some systems is nearing 20 percent of fare revenue. Although reforms of transit financing structures remain high on the policy agenda, a review of ancillary income streams of metro systems around the world shows that a more entrepreneurial approach to tapping their commercial potential can help them narrow their funding gap.
  • Publication
    Keys to Attracting Private Capital for Railway Development
    (World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015-01) Ollivier, Gerald; Lawrence, Martha
    Two of the largest railway systems in the world, China’s and India’s, have intensified their focus on the private sector as an indispensable source of capital to help them enlarge their rail capacity. They will find promising options if they recognize the common characteristics of successful efforts, both in their railways and elsewhere: profitability, manageable risks shared appropriately, and shared gains. Even unprofitable rail activities, such as commuter transit, can attract private capital if adequate public subsidies are in place.