The macro trend of urbanisation that started several decades ago shows no sign of abating, and indeed, in some cases, is accelerating. The densifi cation of cities brings myriad challenges, not least of which is the lack of supporting infrastructure – arguably this is more prevalent in emerging economies than in developed countries where there is a stronger approach to centralised town planning and a robust set of by-laws and enforcement that allows greater control over transport infrastructure in particular.

In addition to urbanisation, a strong driver for increased demand for transportation services is population growth. The United Nations projects that the world’s population will grow by 918 million by 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050 (vs. 2018 fi gures). The proportion of urban dwellers from 2018 is estimated to be 55% in 2018 and this will rise to 68 percent by 2050.