Economic, social, and technological forces constitute new stresses on the transportation systems of many of China's cities. There is a need to go beyond western models of transportation planning that meet the needs of motorized traffic and recover and discover models that can more appropriately accommodate low-cost modes in mixed traffic environment. Ningbo, a city south of Shanghai, is a typical case. A joint Chinese-Canadian study there found a high level of support for bicycle use on the part of the general public, low satisfaction with public transportation, ineffectual enforcement of existing regulations, poor integration between various levels of planning officials, insufficient levels of funding for low-cost travel modes, and little awareness on the parts of officials and professionals on what to do with bicycles. Changes in national priorities are needed with more emphasis placed on existing and improved environmentally friendly and economically feasible travel modes, given China's national priorities and resources. Local strategies must broaden to include a range of network and physical changes, as well as restructured management and planning, including more integrated means of decision making, and adop-. tion of strategic planning. Strategies suggested are not new, but they demand a new approach. Ensuring implementation will require political and professional change in attitudes and practices: Western models of transportation planning are environmentally, socially, and economically incompatible with present realities. In many aspects the current Chinese transportation system, which relies heavily on low-cost travel modes, is leading edge and could become an international model for future transportation planning.

The initial objective of the Ningbo Low-Cost Travel Modes Study was to document and evaluate the existing role for lowcost travel modes in meeting the needs of the urban population· and present guidelines for low-cost modes' inclusion in the overall planning process. Urban transportation system infrastructure and operating characteristics, trip and user characteristics and attitudes, and planning and administrat. ive frameworks in the city of Ningbo (province of Zhejiang), People's Republic of China, are profiled in this study. The role of nonmotorized modes is considered to be as important as public transit in essential daily trips; the restriction of private motor vehicle use is advocated in mid-sized Chinese cities (J). Such recognition would seem to ensure continued prominence for low-cost modes, but several problems have been reported over the past decade that affect the public's and policy makers' perceptions alike: