IETT (Istanbul Electricity, Tramway and Tunnel) has contracted TÜBİTAK TÜSSİDE to conduct a transportation plan for the City of Istanbul that consists of 7 work packages to be completed over 26 months.
TÜSSİDE researchers will model traffic and transportation in the greater Istanbul metropolitan area according to current transportations systems and ongoing infrastructure projects.
Work packages within the scope of the project are listed below;
- Public transportation-based planning and traffic analysis
- Root Cause Analysis of those who do not prefer public transportation
- Analysis of the trade-off between the use of highways by private/commercial vehicles and public transportation vehicles
- Analysis of commuters’ quality of life in relation to public transportation
- Analysis of the factors contributing to traffic density
- Development of new transportation alternatives to meet the demand
The work package I: Impact analysis and evaluation of the existing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System (AKA Metrobus)
Due to the high dense usage of the existing BRT system in Istanbul, passengers face over-crowding problem during their trips. Thus, in the first work package, dedicating one lane to the BRT system is considered and results are reported to the local authorities. The results showed that a new lane use will let the system increase its capacity up to 8.000 passengers per lane per direction and that will lead 20% of decreases in the density value. Additionally total amount of trip duration will be decreased 15 minutes due to new express lines.
The work package II: Demand Analysis of extending the existing subway systems
The work package II is dedicated for what-if scenarios for expanding existing subway systems’ routes in Istanbul. Network algorithms are performed to analyze if a subway line reaches a new destination and how existing travel behavior might change is enlightened. Results showed that the new routes will be used by up to 20.000 passengers per hour and that travel change will lead to relieve up to %10 of the existing BRT line’s passenger density.
The work package III: Evaluations for a new BRT route in Istanbul
In order to increase the effectiveness of public transport systems, alternative scenarios of new BRT routes were created and the activities of these scenarios were analyzed. In the created scenario, where the route will pass, where the route stations will be, the potential passenger capacities of the stations are calculated. With the new route, it is estimated about 10% of the passenger relieve will be enhanced from the first BRT line which faces over-crowding.
The work package IV: Detecting and analyzing the existing transportation infrastructure
This work package is an introduction to Istanbul’s traffic planning analyses. During the work package, Istanbul’s macro traffic network is built and main and arterial routes are selected in the existing motorway infrastructure. Additionally a geographic database which consist sensor points, traffic network is created.
The work package V: Evaluation of the mobility of the city
In the work package V, existing mobility data collected and created for Istanbul. Existing smart card data and surveys are considered and reported. Movements are spatially mapped and illustrated with figures. Additionally freight data is considered and logistics densities are analyzed with spatial statistical approaches.