Resumen
Cities in China are facing a critical period of development model transformation. Shanghai, Beijing as the representative of the big cities have carried out useful explorations in the transition path, but still at the initial stage, and lack of theoretical support as well. In this paper, research will be conducted in a historical and comparative perspective. Six typical cities will be involved, they?re cities from developed countries, such as London, Tokyo, Singapore, New York, and cities from developing countries, such as Beijing and Shanghai. After analyzing the changes of several important demand and supply indexes in the past fifty to hundred years, the transition process in several typical big cities can be concluded from the value changes in system characteristic indexes. All the four cities in developed countries have found their way out. They have different features from each other. Tokyo rely on the subway. Singapore release different policies at different times, the government can control the number of the vehicle ownership. In Greater London, cycling is an emerging travel mode, besides, public travel mode has been encouraged in various ways? Finally, put forward corresponding suggestions or opinions on the future development of the transportation in Shanghai, especially the direction of the transformation.