Asian Transport Outlook (ATO) was initiated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to strengthen the knowledge base on transport in the Asia-Pacific region. The ATO is developed in support of the planning and delivery of ADB Transport Sector Assistance. The ATO also supports Asian governments in transport policy development and delivery. ADB is working with other interested parties in developing the ATO as an instrument to track the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the Paris Agreement and other relevant international agreements on sustainable development in the transport sector.

The ATO covers 51 economies in the Asia Pacific region, including all developing and developed ADB members in the region.

The initial design of the ATO was initiated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2020. During Phase 1 (November 2020 – May 2021) an initial set of 463 indicators was identified, divided over eight workbooks. A substantive start was made with the population of a National Transport Database, from primary and secondary data. A start was also made with the documentation of the institutional frameworks, policies, and financing of transport in the ATO economies.

Following Phase 1, an Interim Phase (June 2021 – September 2021) was implemented during which an Urban Transport Database was developed covering 460 cities and which included 80 indicators. A baseline report was developed for the Aichi 2030 Declaration on Environmentally Sustainable Transport as well as a status report on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Transport Sector in the ATO economies.

Phase 2 of the ATO (November 2021 – November 2022) expanded information in both the National Transport and the Urban Transport Database. The national indicators have been streamlined to exclude pending indicators and projection indicators and which will be added back once data is available. To further broaden the knowledge base on transport a cost database was developed. To gain insight in the development of the transport sector in Asia the Asia 2030 Transport Outlook was developed. To improve access to the ATO data an ATO interface: AsianTransportOutlook.com was developed.

Phase 3 of the ATO (2023-2024) started in March 2023 and will run till November 2024. The Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB) has joined the ADB in funding the ATO. Phase 3 is about scaling and further translating the data into insights with the intention to make the ATO relevant for the development of transport related policies, and guiding investments in transport infrastructure and services. Phase 3 of the ATO will build on earlier phases' results by further improving and expanding existing databases and outputs. The primary data products of Asian Transport Outlook – ATO National Database, ATO Urban Database, and Cost database would be expanded and improved. Also, Phase 3 work will undertake a more detailed assessment of transport policies and data. This will result in a revised Policy Database. Existing knowledge products – SDG Report, Climate Change Report, Aichi 2030 Declaration Baseline Report and analytical storylines previously developed by the ATO will be updated.

The ATO team members as of Phase 3 are:

• Cornie Huizenga, Co-Team Lead
• Sudhir Gota, Co-Team Lead
• Adwait Limaye, Data Analyst
• Mel Eden, Data Analyst
• Alvin Mejia, Program Manager
• Benjo Soco, Database Consultant

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