I C U SNewsletter
Volume 14

Number3

Oct. to Dec. 2014

International Center for Urban Safety Engineering
Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo

Challenges in Urban Transportation in Yangon, Myanmar
By Hironori Kato
Professor
The University of Tokyo
Introduction
Yangon is one of the largest
economic cities in the Republic of
the Union of Myanmar. It has been
experiencing rapid motorization
since about 2010, which has caused
serious traffic congestion at manyroad sections and intersections in
the city, and led to significantly
negative impacts on regional andlocal economies. Although the socalled truck bus was one of the mostpopular public transportation options
for commuters in Yangon (Kato etal., 2010), the use of private cars
has been recently increasing rapidly.
The Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) implemented the
Project for Comprehensive Urban
Transport Plan of the Greater Yangon(YUTRA) in 2013. This project
collected large-scale data in Yangon(Figure 1) and formulated a longterm transportation infrastructuredevelopment plan, in which I

have been involved as an external
advisor.
Urban Transportation in
YangonFigure 2 shows modal shares
including all modes, excluding walk,and excluding non-motorized modes.
This implies a unique characteristic
in Yangon’s transportation wherebus is a dominant travel mode for
local people. However, the service
quality of public transportation
including bus and rail is very poor
(Figure 3).

Source: JICA (2013)

Figure 1: Map of Yangon by sub-region

Source: JICA (2013)

Figure 2: Modal shares for all trips, excluding walk, and excluding non-motorized mode

Figure 4 shows the modal shareby car ownership and by monthly
household income. The modal shareof walking is the highest in thehousehold whose monthly householdincome is less than 200 US$. Thisis, firstly, because the workplacesof low-income individuals arelocated near their residence and,secondly, because the lower-income
individuals participate less in leisureactivities at places further from theirresidence. The modal share of busesin the middle income class (200-275
US$) is higher than that in otherincome classes for both car owners
and non-car owners. The higher
income car owning households use
cars and the higher income non-car

owning households use taxis while
the lower income households tend
to walk. Finally, the modal share ofbuses in the car owner subgroup is
22.8%. They use public transportation
services even though they own cars
because they use their cars not only
for personal use but for commercial
use such as commercial taxi services,
few household members have theirown car licenses, and because theyoften do not like to spend money
fueling up.
Figure 5 shows the travel speeds
observed at major roads in Yangon.
The average travel speed along
major roads connecting suburbs with
the CBD varies from 15 to 35 km/h.
Outbound traffic from the CBD

suffers from serious traffic congestion
during evening peak hours while theinbound traffic to the CBD suffersfrom traffic congestion both duringmorning and evening peak hours.
Inbound traffic congestion during theevening peak hours may be due topoor traffic management and the low
capacity of intersections. The lower
travel speed during the morning peak
hours also leads to longer travel time
for commuters.
Challenges of Urban
Transportation in Yangon
YUTRA
summarizes
urbantransportation problems into “traffic
congestion,” “long travel time,”

Photos: Hironori Kato

Figure 3: P oor public transportation services in Yangon (Left: Over-crowded track bus; Middle: Low-skilled engineering work;
Right: Sub-standard rail system)

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ICUS Newsletter Vol. 14, No.3

Source: JICA (2013)

Figure 4: Modal share by vehicle ownership and household income level“poor public transportation service,”and “mobility gap between high andlow income individuals.”
Solutions to the urban transportation
problems in Yangon are challenging
because travel demand continues
to increase at a high growth rate
while the capacity of implementing
theappropriate
transportation
policies may be poor in Myanmar.
Top priority should be given to theprojects with high efficiency and low
cost such as optimizing/upgrading
existing facilities, namely: (1) rapid
bus transit into major corridors of
the city to increase traffic capacity

and continue to attract people to use
public transportation with a betterlevel of service, (2) improvementof the existing road/rail facilities toincrease traffic capacity and upgrade
the service quality, and (3) traffic
management including intersection
improvement such as signal
improvement and lane assignment tomake full use of the road capacity.
However in the long-term, a mass
rapid transit system as well as theurban expressway network should
also be introduced to Yangon.
Additionally, urban sprawl should
also be controlled by improving the

Source: JICA (2013)

Figure 5: T ravel speeds observed at major roads during morning, afternoon, andevening

efficiency of land-use patterns in
the CBD as well as by developing
strategicallylocatedsatelliteindustrial cities so that travel
time could be reduced and traffic
congestion in the CBD could beeased.
References
Japan International Corporation
Agency (JICA) (2013). Draft
Report of Project for
Comprehensive Urban
Transport Plan of the Greater
Yangon (YUTRA), unpublished.
Kato, H., Saito, N., Inagi, A.,
Myint, U.A. (2010) Regulatory
framework and operational
system of urban bus
transportation in Yangon,
Myanmar, Transportation
Research Board 2010 Annual
Meeting, Washington D. C. (U.
S.), January 2010.
Kojima, M., Futose, T., Binh. P.L.,
Kato, H. (2015) Urbantransportation in Yangon:
Evidence from large scale
surveys, Transportation
Research Board 2015 Annual
Meeting, Washington D. C. (U.
S.), January 2015.

ICUS Newsletter Oct. to Dec. 2014

Page 3

Quick report on Kamishiro fault earthquake in Nagano prefecture
By M. Numada

On September 22, 2014 at 22:08 PM,
a severe earthquake with magnitude(Mw) 6.7 and depth 5 km hit Northern
Nagano. JMA intensity 6+ was
observed in Nagano city, Otari village
and Ogawa village while intensity 5+
was observed in Hakuba village andShinano town. This earthquake caused
no deaths but unfortunately 10 and 36
people were, respectively, severely
and slightly injured. 80 houses weretotally collapsed, 160 houses werehalf collapsed and 1787 houses werepartially collapsed.
I visited Hakuba village in Nagano
prefecture where severe damage
occurred (Figure 1). The earthquake
occurred before the snow season.
However, when I visited, heavy snow
covered the area to a depth aroundhuman height.
Evacuees had just started to movefrom the public gymnasium forevacuation (photo 1 and 2) to theirtemporary houses for two years(Photo 3 and 4).
Though the evacuees could moveto the temporary houses from thegymnasium, as a matter of course, thehousing is small in size compared totheir own housing, and cold due to thewinter weather.
As the evacuess have to find a newplace to live during the two year stayin temporary housing, tough decision

making will be needed especially forvulnerable people such as the elderly.
Before I visisted Hakuba, I
researched the local conditions andcollected information on the damaged
area and what kinds of response wereconducted by organizations fromnational to local level.
Although plenty of information isprovided to grasp the overall situationin Hakuba, it was difficult to follow
the process of responses. Much
information provided by the web
sites of public organizations is notwell structured and contain the same
information but with different details,
different release time, and different
format etc. Therefore, time-line
analysis is needed to understand the
response of different l organizations.

Photo 1: Outside of the public
gymnasium used by evacuees

Photo 2: Inside view of the gymnasium

Photo 3: Temporary housing

Figure 1: Location and JMA intensity

Photo 4: Moving of furniture insideeach family space.

Sinkholes in Pokhara, Nepal
Prof. Kuwano of ICUS, together
with Associate Prof. Kiyota andother members re-visited the sinkholesite at Pokhara, Nepal, in November

2014. Nearly 200 sinkholes appearedon the fields of rice and other crops
in November 2013. About 50 families
had to evacuate since the sinkholes

Sinkholes filled with soil. (June 2014)

Grasses covering the filled sinkholes. Somefilled holes had collapsed. (November 2014)

also appeared beside houses. Whenthe site was first visited in June 2014,
almost all the holes had been alreadyfilled by the locals, as reported in the
ICUS Newsletter 14-1. However,many of the filled holes were found to
be collapsed and a number of holes had
reappeared in the field, indicating thatthe internal erosion was still ongoing.
3D laser scanning was performed toobtain detailed topography of the area
and also a surface wave survey was
conducted to detect cavities and theloosened parts in the ground.

ICUS Newsletter Oct. to Dec. 2014

Page 5USMCA2014 Student Report2015.1.12

On November 3rd-6th, the 13th
International Symposium on New
Technologies for Urban Safety ofMega Cities in Asia (USMCA 2014)
was held. Five students from ICUS
attended this symposium: Ryosuke
Yabe, Yudai Aoyagi, Yuki Horiuchi,
Kenjiro Yamamoto, and Punyawat
Jiradilok. This was the first time for us
to go to Myanmar, and we were excitedand nervous when we arrived at Yangon
International Airport.
As soon as we arrived at the airport,
we moved to Sakura Tower and joined
the symposium welcome party. At
this party we talked with participantsof USMCA2014 from other Japanese
universities like Hokkaido University.
After the welcome party, we moved toour hotel, and we were very surprised tosee our rooms. They were so different
from those in Japan, We found many
blotches on the mirror and there were
cockroaches and lizards. One of ourrooms even had a bird’s nest.
On the second day the conference washeld at Sedona hotel, which is one of thebiggest hotels in Yangon. Presentations
by researchers and Professors were givenon this day. Our tasks were assisting theorganizer, taking pictures, and helping at
the ICUS booth. In addition, we attended
the conference after finishing our tasks.
Once the evening section finished, we
joined the banquet where we could eat
many kinds of delicious Myanmar food.
On the third day, the conference
was held at Yangon Technological
University (YTU). All of us had to givea presentation on this day. The picture on
the right is the presentation held by Yudaisan. He was given the Excellent Young
Researcher Award. His presentation wasvery nice, and he was asked questions
by many people. After all presentations
were completed, we had a farewell party
at a Chinese Restaurant. At the restaurant
we could talk a lot with students from
YTU, and we could see the daily livesof students from Myanmar. We enjoyed
the traditional dance and making new
friends. This is the picture of the YTU
students and us. We thank all YTU
students for organizing the conference

at YTU.
On the last day, we did somesightseeing of Yangon City. We visitedmany places, but the most memorable
place was the Shwedagon Pagoda.
Although there was bad weather thatday, we thoroughly enjoyed the Pagoda
visit. We were very impressed by theelegance and gorgeous architecture of
the Pagoda. The picture on the right was
taken at the Pagoda. Kenjiro san cameinto contact with a child from Myanmar.
The child concealed the stick used forringing the bell and Kenjiro san tried torecapture it.
We had a very enjoyable time in
Myanmar and we thank all of the people
who attended the symposium. It wasvery precious for us to have a chance togive a presentation in English and to talkwith many kinds of people. Finally, we’dlike to extend our gratitude to all ICUS
members, especially Ms. Yoshimotoand Mr. Kodaka for organizing
USMCA2014.

USMCA2014 in Yangon, Myanmar
During 3 - 5 November 2014, the13th International Symposium on New
Technologies for Urban Safety ofMega Cities in Asia (USMCA2014)
was held at Sedona Hotel Yangon andYangon Technological University(YTU) in Myanmar. The Symposium
was jointly organized by YTU and
ICUS with four sponsors and three
supporting organizations (see Table
below). Since SATREPS in Myanmar
has been temporarily accepted by thegovernment of Japan, a special session
was set in the symposium to announce

Page 6that both Myanmar and Japan have beenworking together to launch the project
officially in 2015. The symposium
was opened with addresses from
H.E. Dr. Ko Ko Oo, Union Ministerof Science and Technology, H.E.
Mr. Tateshi Higuchi, Ambassador ofJapan to Myanmar, and Prof. Kimiro
Meguro, Director of ICUS. During the

symposium, a total of eleven keynote/plenary speeches, and seventy four
papers were presented. The symposium
was successfully closed with the givingof Excellent Young Researcher Awards
to five researchers who gave excellent
presentations. We hope that you will
join us for USMCA2015 scheduled forOct. 29-31, 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Table: Sponsors and supporting organizations of USMCA 2014

Myanmar Engineering Society (MES) / The Foundation for the Promotionof Industrial Science / Nippon Koei Co., Ltd. / Suntac Technologies Co. Ltd.
Supporting Embassy of Japan in Myanmar / Japan International Cooperation Agency
Organization (JICA) Myanmar Office / Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE)
Sponsor

ICUS Newsletter Vol. 14, No.3

Title: Prof. Taikan Oki of ICUS was elected as the firstJapanese AGU Fellow in Hydrology Section!
By Dr. Kei Yoshimura, IIS/AORI, The University of Tokyo

Contents:
Prof. Taikan Oki of ICUS was elected
as an AGU Fellow of 2014, and wasawarded with 61 other new AGU
Fellows on December 17th 2014 during
the AGU Fall Meeting at Moscone
Center in San Francisco. Women wore
evening dress and men wore tuxedo for
the Ceremony and during the Honoree
Banquet, like at the ceremony for the
Academy Awards. There were morethan 80 tables, 10 persons per table,at the spectacular Honoree Banquet,and several Ph.D. graduates under
supervision of Prof. Oki gathered fromvarious parts of the world and cerebrated
the honor together (Photo 1).
Photo 2 is from the webpage of Prof.
Steve Burges, Professor Emeritus at
The University of Washington, Seattle,of his retirement. During the Honoree
Banquet, Prof. Burges and Prof. Soroosh
Sorooshian, currently at UC Irvine,
remembered the photo, came to ourtable, and took another photo (Photo3) a quarter of a century after the first
photo. Prof. Oki said “When I took thefirst photo, I had not yet decided to go
for the Ph.D. course, and I was not surewhat I'll be. It was the opportunity when
Soroosh was the Chief Editor of WRR
and suggested me to submit my research
results of Master's thesis. The article
was published in 1991, and I was firstly
invited by Prof. David Turboton andPhoto1

Photo2

Photo3

participated in the AGU Fall meetingin the same year. I don't remember how
I spent AGU week in 1991, but still
remember I felt so lonely and very muchalienated. Nor I did not know the section
lectures, section luncheon, and awards
ceremony at that time. This time, I was
feeling very much comfortable to be withmy colleagues, friends, and students,

including those not in SF. I herewith
sincerely thank for your outstanding
services in advancing global hydrologythat enabled my career as a hydrologist
at the international level and led to theapproval as an AGU Fellow this time”.
The honor of AGU Fellow is given
to individual AGU members who havemade exceptional scientific contributions
and attained acknowledged eminence inthe fields of Earth and Space Sciences.
Since the establishment of the AGU
Fellows program in 1962, and inaccordance with AGU bylaws, no morethan 0.1 percent of the total membershipof AGU is recognized annually. There
are only 2% of AGU Fellows even now
among AGU membership of more than
62,000.
Prof. Oki’s citation for this award
is "For interdisciplinary researchand leadership bridging hydrology,
climate, and sustainability throughnumerical modeling and scientificanalysis", and the honor reflects Prof.
Oki’s extraordinary achievements inhydrological science, climate change
research, and sustainability studies, andalso his leadership pioneering a newacademic field, such as global hydrology
and world water resources.
Prof. Oki is the first Japanese AGU
Fellow in the Hydrology Section. It is anhonor for his research group - current andalumni members, and also for ICUS.

See more at: http://honors.agu.org/honorsfellow/ 10591-oki/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014EO300008/pdf
http://news.agu.org/press-release/american-geophysical-union-announces-2014-fellows/
http://honors.agu.org/fellows/class-of-2014/page/3/

ICUS Newsletter Oct. to Dec. 2014

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