Article 1The purpose of this Act is to improve the stability of the lives of the people and ensure a sound development of the national economy through a comprehensive and systematic implementation of transportation policies, coupled with the Basic Act on Traffic Safety Measures (Act No. 110 of 1970), by establishing basic principles and matters that will serve as the basis for putting those basic principles into practice, and by clarifying the responsibilities of the national and local governments.

Article 2Since the function of transportation is to ensure the people can carry out their everyday activities and lead their lives in society independently, enable an active inter-regional and international exchange, as well as guarantee a smooth distribution of goods, and since transportation is indispensable for improving stability of the lives of the people and ensuring a sound development of the national economy, transportation policies must be promoted with the basic understanding that it is important to properly satisfy the basic transportation needs of residents and other members of the public (referred to below as "the public") by making sure that transportation functions to its full potential into the future.

Article 3(1)Since transportation is the basis that allows the people to carry out their everyday activities and lead their lives in society, plays an important role in the people's active participation in socioeconomic activities, and is the basis for economic activities, transportation policies must be promoted with the goal of ensuring that transportation functions properly and improving its functionality so as to turn transportation into a means that will help the people achieve prosperity, as well as contribute to boosting the international competitiveness of Japan's industries, tourism, and other sectors, and to revitalizing local regions through efforts such as stimulating local economies or maintaining and developing local communities, while also coping with socioeconomic changes in Japan such as the recent rapid progression of an aging population combined with a low birthrate and a decrease in population.

(2)To ensure that transportation functions properly and improve its functionality, due consideration must be given from the perspective of building national resilience to mitigating any deterioration in the functionality of transportation and to contributing to a quick recovery from that deterioration in the event of a large-scale disaster, as well as to ensuring that transportation is suitable for any evacuation efforts in the event of such a disaster by keeping transportation functional and ensuring a smooth evacuation in the event of such a disaster, considering the importance of keeping Japan's socioeconomic activities sustainable.

Article 4Considering the fact that keeping the environment clean and rich in diversity is indispensable for ensuring that people may lead healthy and cultured lives, and considering the effect transportation has on the environment, transportation policies must be promoted with the goal of reducing the environmental impact of transportation so that the people may enjoy the benefits of a clean and highly diverse environment into the future.

Article 5Transportation policies must be promoted with the goal of ensuring appropriate division of roles as well as organic and efficient coordination among means of transportation such as walking, bicycles, road vehicles, railway vehicles, vessels, or aircraft, taking into consideration the competition between the different means of transportation available (including transportation facilities and transportation services; the same applies below) and the free choice of the public, based on the characteristics of each means of transportation.

Article 6From the perspective of urban planning, developing Japan as a tourism-oriented country, and other efforts, transportation policies must be promoted through coordination and cooperation among the national government, local governments, transport businesses, or other businesses related to transportation (referred to below as "transportation-related businesses"), persons who manage transportation facilities (referred to below as "managers of transportation facilities"), residents, and other relevant persons, by seeking mutual coordination between those policies, as well as by seeking to coordinate those policies with other relevant policies.

Article 7(1)Policies on ensuring transportation safety are to be governed by the Basic Act on Traffic Safety Measures and other relevant Acts since those policies play an important role in protecting the lives, physical health, and property of the public.

(2)To promote transportation policies, sufficient coordination with policies on ensuring transportation safety that are to be implemented in accordance with what is provided for in the preceding paragraph must be assured.

Article 8(1)The national government is to be responsible for comprehensively establishing and implementing transportation policies in accordance with the basic principles of the transportation policies prescribed in Articles 2 through 6 (referred to below simply as "basic principles").

(2)The national government must endeavor to raise awareness about the basic principles among the public and encourage the public to cooperate by providing relevant information or through other efforts.

Article 9(1)Local governments are to be responsible for establishing and implementing transportation policies based on the natural and socioeconomic conditions of the areas under their jurisdiction, in accordance with the basic principles and based on an appropriate division of roles with the national government.

(2)Local governments must endeavor to raise awareness about the basic principles among residents and other members of the public and to encourage them to cooperate by providing relevant information or through other efforts.

Article 10(1)Given the importance of their roles in putting the basic principles into practice, transportation-related businesses and managers of transportation facilities are to endeavor to conduct their business appropriately and cooperate with any policies on transportation implemented by the national or local governments.

(2)Beyond what is provided for in the preceding paragraph, transportation-related businesses and managers of transportation facilities are to endeavor to provide correct and suitable information relevant to their business in accordance with the basic principles.

Article 11The public is to play a proactive role in putting the basic principles into practice by endeavoring to gain a better understanding of those basic principles and put them into practice through efforts they can engage in on their own, while also endeavoring to cooperate in implementing the transportation policies introduced by the national and local governments.

Article 12The national and local governments, transportation-related businesses, managers of transportation facilities, residents, and other relevant persons are to endeavor to coordinate and cooperate with each other in an effort to put the basic principles into practice.

Article 13The government must take legislative, financial, or other measures that are necessary to implement transportation policies.

Article 14(1)The government must annually submit to the National Diet a report on transportation trends and any transportation measures implemented by the government.

(2)The government must annually prepare and submit to the National Diet documents explaining the policies that the government is going to implement based on the transportation trends included in the report in the preceding paragraph.