Cities can significantly boost their GDP by investing in public transport

Worldwide, major cities stand to gain around $800 billion per year of economic opportunity from 2030 by upgrading their public transportation networks. This is according to a study “The Mobility Opportunity” conducted by London-based consulting firm, Credo, and presented today in Singapore. Commissioned by Siemens, the study looks at transportation networks in 35 major cities around the globe and assesses how prepared cities are to meet future challenges, including population growth and higher competition. The results: If all 35 cities studied would implement relative “best in class” standards, they stand to gain an economic benefit of roughly $238 billion annually from 2030. Extrapolating to all comparably-sized cities globally with a population of around 750,000 and greater, this suggests an economic opportunity of roughly $800 billion annually. This corresponds to about one per cent of global GDP. Today the potential benefit would be about $360 billion per year.