Phnom Penh is Cambodia's largest city, and as its capital, it is experiencing rapid urbanization.

With a metropolitan population of around 2.2 million people, the next largest city of Battambang doesn't compare at only 200,000 people.

As the population grows, the city is in need of more comprehensive transportation infrastructure to better accommodate further development.

Much investment and planning is being put into the future of Phnom Penh's transportation infrastructure, yet is the latest master plan realistic or even feasible?

Every world class city needs a functioning and accessible transportation network, however, Phnom Penhers mainly travel by tuktuk, car (Toyota Camry) or SUV (Lexus).

These large vehicles travel at a very slow pace among all the motorbikes and bicycles weaving between traffic in either direction.

Phnom Penh is flat, and everyone owns a bicycle or rides a cyclo, yet there are no bicycle lanes and very few sidewalks. The city has developed plans to ease the congestion, but little progress has been seen besides a few flyovers and "friendship" bridges.

While the bridges undoubtedly help connect the land between three rivers, the placement and design is quite inefficient -the two main bridges were built directly adjacent to one another.

Similar to these efforts, there are many other elaborate plans for modern infrastructure, but after drawing up plans and assessing the impact, the projects prove unfeasible and overly expensive.

Cambodia's development relies much on Official Development Assistance (ODA) and in the transportation sector, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is playing a major role.

They have developed a transportation master plan that includes wider streets, a bus system and even an urban rail route; but this is still waiting to be passed by the government.

In 2014, JICA ran a bus system trial for a month, introducing the city's first form of public transportation that ran down the main thoroughfare for only 40 cents a ride.

It was an overwhelming success, with over 42,000 people using it per day. Buses are a good option for Phnom Penh as they offer more safety from flooding and thieving for a fraction of the cost of a tuktuk.

Since the Cambodian government is more focused on private interests than public ones, they were hesitant to support a non-money making transportation system and instead sold the bus system to a private Chinese company.

Since their ownership last year, the bus system has not expanded nor grown in popularity due to its unreliability despite a pledge of a $12 million investment over the next five years.

There are a plethora of progressive, mixed-use transportation examples from around the world in which Phnom Penh can learn from, rather than readily accepting another country's infrastructural offers.

Bogota, Colombia has been admired for its "surface subway" bus rapid transit system, while public transportation makes up 65% of trips in Seoul, South Korea.

However, to find a system that works for Cambodians, the planning has to be a little less futuristic and a little more practical.

Now is the time for Phnom Penh to implement sustainable infrastructure systems, but with a self interested government, investing in public projects remains difficult.

Only time will tell if Phnom Penh can get its act together in order to provide efficient transportation options for all classes and take advantage of this period of rapid growth and urbanization.

How does efficient transportation help your city thrive? How could public transportation be improved in your city? Share your stories and thoughts in the comments below.

Credits: Images by Tara Whelan. Data linked to sources.