Geographical Study on Social Maturity and Urban Medium-scale Transportation System in the Metropolitan Region

本研究旨在探讨日本都市圈的社会成熟度及其对交通系统的影响。首先，收集都市圈社会成熟度的数据，明确日本都市圈已经成熟，不得不面对少子化、老龄化社会等几个社会问题。每一项信息和材料都表明，几十年来社会和经济状况发生了巨大变化。从产业构成、收入、消费行为和生产情况来看，这一时期的都市圈发生了巨大的变化。在这种情况下，区域运输系统有望实现可持续发展。由于运输需求的稳定或下降，区域运输系统难以管理其业务。当日本经济高速增长时，这些交通系统促进了大都市地区的发展。随着机动化的扩散，公共交通失去了运输需求，但大都市区内的交通仍需要公共交通作为交通工具。中型运输系统已被引入以满足这种需求。这种运输系统具有灵活地调整各种运输需求的能力。新交通系统的模式因其引入的地区条件而异。名古屋都市圈是几个实验性交通项目启动的地方。引导公交系统和高速地面交通就是在这个都市圈建设的例子。目前，由于客流量不足，该项目的持续管理并不容易。儿童的减少和老龄化社会对首都圈公共交通系统的需求越来越大，但公共交通系统的管理很难保持在良好的状态。少

The purpose of this study is to investigate the social maturity and its influence on the transportation system in the metropolitan region in Japan. First of all, data indicating the social maturity of the metropolitan region were collected to clarify that Japanese metropolitan regions have matured and had to face with several social problems such as less children and aging society. Every information and material indicates that social and economic condition has greatly changed for several decades. Industrial composition, income, consumer behavior and production show that the metropolitan regions have experienced a drastic change for this period.Under these circumstances, regional transportation systems are expected to be sustainable and survive. Because of the stable or declining demand of transportation, regional transportation systems have difficulty to manage their businesses. These transportation systems contributed to the development of the metropolitan regions when Japanese econom … More y expanded at a high growth rate. With the diffusion of motorization, public transportation lost transportation demand, but transportation poor need it for moving means within the metropolitan regions. Medium-scale transportation systems have been introduced to satisfy such a need. This kind of transportation system has a flexibility to adjust variable transportation demand. The mode of new transportation system varies depending on the regional condition where it is introduced. Nagoya metropolitan region is the place where several experimental transportation projects have been initiated. Guide way bus system and High Speed Surface Transport are the examples that were constructed in this metropolitan region. At present, it is not easy to sustain the management of the project because of the shortage passengers. Less children and aging society need convenient public transportation system in the metropolitan region, but it is difficult to keep the management of public transportation system in a sound and good condition. Less