This paper examines the evolution of urban transport policy in Saudi Arabia from a car-dependent paradigm toward sustainability-oriented planning and early implementation between 2000 and 2025. Using a longitudinal qualitative analysis of national strategies, municipal plans, and giga-project documents, this study traces shifts in policy discourse, governance arrangements, and delivery evidence across three phases: an expansionist phase (2000–2015), a vision transition phase (2016–2020), and a sustainability implementation phase (2021–2025). These phases were selected to capture the transition from pre-Vision 2030 automobile-oriented planning to the early implementation of sustainability-oriented transportation reforms. The findings reveal a clear transition from road-expansion-oriented planning—characterized by highway development, fuel subsidies, and limited public transport—toward system performance, decarbonization, and multimodal integration. Recent years have seen the rollout of metro and bus networks, expansion of rail systems, early electrification of vehicles and public transport, and fuel price rationalization. 

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