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YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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FACULTY OF GEO-INFORMATION SCIENCE AND EARTH OBSERVATION
UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE, ENSCHEDE, THE NETHERLANDS
Strategic Planning for Tehran’s city Public Transportation using
SWOT analysis
Student Name: Yasmin AfsharGhotli
Student ID: S6020704
Course name: Urban Planning and Management
Case study: City of Tehran
Month, Year: March, 2015
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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Contents
1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................................................................4
2. Public Transportation in Tehran City ...................................................................................................................................4
2.1. Role of Stakeholders ......................................................................................................................................................7
3. SWOT Analysis ........................................................................................................................................................................9
4. Strategic Planning .................................................................................................................................................................. 10
4.1. Planning Strategy ......................................................................................................................................................... 10
4.2. Policy Instruments ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
5. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................................................. 12
References ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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About the report This report is providing a general overview that show how strategic planning will take place for a subsystem of public transportation within a context of Tehran, capital city of Iran. The discussions and arguments along with analysis are driven by personal knowledge in planning, policy, and management. Various scientific papers are used as a scientific support.
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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1. Introduction
People, Land, and urban environment interact with each other as a system. As time goes by, these
components will face to dynamic changes. Urban areas, cities, or urban regions perform like a huge and
complicated systems. Moreover, different subsystems such as public transportation, land tenure, waste
management, drinking water system, and housing are all various components which perform with each other
within the urban regions.
Tehran, home to eight million residents1, play a significant role as the most important city in Iran. Lack of
public space, shortage of sanitation, low air quality, and traffic congestions are among the most serious
issues that this metropolitan trying to deal with.
The purpose of this report is to find a strategy to solve traffic congestion within Tehran municipality by
using SWOT method. The structure of this report, therefore, starts with a short background of Tehran as a
study area, describing notable characteristics of public transportation along with identifying the influential
stakeholders. The next section will discuss top five strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities for this
subsystem using SWOT method. Further, Strategic planning section tries to present a solution for choosing
the best strategy among the SWOT matrix. In the end, two policy instruments will show how this strategy
can take place to solve the traffic congestion among different stakeholders.
2. Public Transportation in Tehran City
Tehran, capital of Iran, is considered not only as the largest city in Iran, but also as the largest city in western
Asia. With the population of 8.3 million people, Tehran has a contribution of 25% in Total nation’s GDP
(Tehran urban planning and research center, 2010). Tehran’s climate is characterized by the specific
geography of the city with the Alborz Mountains in the northern part, and the direct corridor to the central
desert in southern part. Although the city benefits from mild weather-annual average temperature is 19
Celsius degree-, it is prone to risk of earthquake as well.
Further, Tehran is the most dominant city in Tehran metropolitan area network (Figure1). Like other
developing countries, residents of Tehran find it more interesting to travel by their private cars rather than
using public transportation. Total daily trips of 17 million, take place within the city itself. Therefore, the
urban mobility is among the major challenges of the capital. Among these huge number of daily trips, share
of public transportation is only 54.5%, and the rest is done with private motorized vehicles.
1 Due to latest census in 2011, population of Tehran city is 8.15 million people based on national statistical
organization: amar.org.ir
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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Fig1-Tehran City among other poles in metropolitan area
Source: (Allen, 2011)
The city structure of Tehran municipality consists of 22 different districts with individual municipality.
“Three priority objectives expressed by the Municipality of Tehran are directly related to the city’s urban
spatial structure. These objectives are: reducing pollution, improving the efficiency of transport, and
developing cultural amenities worthy of a large regional capital (Bertaud, 2003, p. 3).”
To achieve the goal of ‘improving the efficiency of transport’ Tehran’s Traffic and public transport division
of municipality adopted a visionary approach to paving a way toward this specific goal. “In 2025, Tehran
should have an integrated, available, safe, easy, comfortable and clean transportation system considering the
limitation of resources and other relevant conditions for improvement of life quality” (Allen, 2011, p. 7). In
the light of this vision, public transportation in Tehran city benefits from the notable budgeting share from
whole municipality budget. Besides, Tehran Traffic division aims to consults with international organization
such as International Organization of Public Transport (UITP) in light of expanding public transportation.
“The main task of the UITP Iran Liaison Office is to promote the international experience and knowledge
of public transport among Iranian members” (International Association of Public Trasnportation(UITP),
2014)
Public transportation in Tehran divides into three categories. First, urban railway system, also known as
Tehran Metro. Currently, Tehran metro operates in four lines with the length of approximately152
kilometers, and 87 stations within the city boundary (Fig2). Second category consists of regular buses,
minibuses and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) which is considered as a massive transport method. Bus Rapid
Transit operates in 7 lines and has a total length of 114.2 kilometers (Fig3). Metro and BRT systems are
designed as a mass transit mode with the purpose of carrying the most passenger as possible. BRT system
has the most contribution to either public transport or Tehran’s total modal share. It carries 1.8 million
passengers per day and has a share of 23% among total daily trips (Fig4).
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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Fig2-Tehran’s long-term rail plan
Source: (Montazeri, 2009)
Fig3-Tehran’s BRT vision
Source: Tehran Transportation and public transportation division performance report, 2011
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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Fig 4-Tehran’s transport modal share 2011
Source: own2
In addition, Metro and buses especially BRT all operate as complementary components for public transportation of Tehran city. The backbone of the Tehran’s strategic plan relies on sufficient railway system. Since the construction of railway system is time taking, and require additional funds, improving regular bus systems, and BRT facilities are considered as a subsolution for promoting the usage of public transportation among different groups of people.
2.1. Role of Stakeholders
Table 1 represents various stakeholders which play a role in public transportation of Tehran. These actors
are categorized from policy through operational level. In addition, users and controlling agents are identified
as complementary actors.
In addition, stakeholders are shown in a simple scatterplot on a scale of 0-10(Fig5). By using the graph, it
can be seen that Supreme Traffic council of Ministry of Interior of Iran, Traffic committee of City council
of Tehran, Traffic and public transportation division of Tehran Municipality, Tehran transportation and
Traffic organization, Traffic police of Greater Tehran, and Tehran Traffic Control Company are among
both most important, and most influential stakeholders.
Fig5-Stakeholder Analysis
2 Data gathered from Tehran Transportation and public transportation division
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Private cars,motorcycles
Buses,minibuses
Taxis Metro employer andschool buses
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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Table1- Identification of stakeholders in public transportation of Tehran
Source: own
Level Stakeholders Roles
Policymaking
1. Supreme Traffic council of Ministry of Interior of Iran
Enacting the legislation about traffic and urban development issues.
Law enforcement by municipalities and city councils
2. Traffic committee of City council of Tehran
Un-centralized Policy making for each city
Enact articles to be adopted by the municipality
Planning
3. Traffic and public transportation division of Tehran Municipality
Transportation Strategic planning for greater Tehran area
Budget allocation to the related organization
Consulting with international experts for better planning
4. Tehran transportation and Traffic organization
Planning, design, and supervising on Tehran transportation and traffic issues align with strategic goals.
Operationalize
5. Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Operation Company
Implementing the projects
Leadership of projects
6. Tehran bus
operation company
7. Tehran taxi organization
8. Private companies
Partnership in current or future projects
Investment in development of lines and vehicles
Control and
management
9. Traffic police of Greater Tehran
Ground traffic control
Providing safety and security
10. Tehran Traffic Control Company
Traffic management by using updated and smart technologies
Users 11. Residents people who use public transportation and
generate daily trips
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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3. SWOT Analysis
Table 2 represents main elements for each internal factors such as strength and weaknesses and external
factors like opportunities, and threats. In this case, SWOT analysis is used as a method to identify the final
strategy for solving the traffic congestion problem of Tehran city.
Table2-SWOT analysis of public transportation in Tehran City
Internal
Strength
City authorities adopt mass transit
network approach such as developing
BRT and Metro system.
Traffic and public transport Office of
has a 43% share of total budget of
Tehran municipality.
High capacity and affordable price
Vehicles are new, fast, and well-
equipped.
Have a strong contribution in clean air(ex: metro in an underground mode, and CNG as a clean fuel is used for 50% of buses)
Weaknesses
36% of day trips take place with
private cars.
Regular buses are not .efficient
Public transportation network is not
integrated with Tehran urban region
and still operate in monocentric city(
does not motivate the polycentric
development)
Share of metro is still too low (10%)
Modal share Semi pubic is high 23%,
taxis are most effective mode
Implementation of railway plan is not
progressing on time.
External
Opportunity
Benefits from a clear vision in public
transportation derived from Tehran’s
comprehensive strategic development
plan
Privatization trend has occurred
during the development of bus system
Long term rail plan encourages the
regional connectivity between Tehran
and other growing poles in
metropolitan area
Mass transit system is more getting
used by professional and middle class
who have contributions to congestion.
Implementation of the metro
network has a priority.
Threat
High modal share of semi- public transportation will contribute to more air pollution
Large gap between a current share of semi- public transportation (23%) and desired in plan (5%)
High demand and crowded situation for metro transit may lead making people to use other public modes.
Current stations and lines for metro is accessible to people less than 14% of the municipal population (Bertaud, 2003)
Shortage of Financial resources to support development of public transportation lines based on planned schedule.
Passenger’s safety is not fully supported either in BRT or Metro stations.
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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4. Strategic Planning
As table 3 shows, different strategies can be driven from using SWOT matrix. These strategies are
categorized in four SO, WO, ST, and WT categories. Each of these planning strategies can be effective by
providing special policy instruments which will be discussed in next section.
Table3-Planning Strategies for solving traffic congestion of Tehran City
Traffic Congestion of Tehran City
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities
SO Strategy
Expand public transportation network including Metro, buses, and BRT through the municipality and upgrade current infrastructure.
WO Strategy
Integration of public transportation by developing multimodal network.
Threats
ST Strategy
Develop an equitable, efficient, and satisfying transit network that encourage more people to use the system.
WT Strategy
Implementation of metro plans based on fixed time schedule while providing better service quality.
SO Strategies: Expanding the public transportation through the city will result in increasing total
length of public transportation.This indicator is considered as one of the effective criteria for
assessing level of development in each country. Further, more coverage of the city with mass
transit network will notably increase accessibility of the service in different parts of the city. The
travel time, therefore, can reduced between destination as an advantage. WO Strategies: Integration of public transportation refers to greater use of multimodal
trasnport and develop better interchange facilities. Integrated operation of different modes requires partnership of both public and private sectors.
ST Strategies: Tehran’s railway or BRT systems are considered as effective systems, but developing an inclusive, efficient, and sustainable trasnport is considered as key to convince more people from different social groups to use the network instead of using their private vehicles. On the other hand, Private sector can be seen as a catalyser in expanding more usage of mass transit by people by means of providing newer vehicles, and develop the quality of the services.
WT Strategies: Considering the weaknesses and potential threats for transportation of Tehran’s
metropolitan, the best strategy would be the metro railway network implementation with standard
quality align to certain deadlines.
4.1. Planning Strategy
The following arguments will reveal the reasons why the ST strategy is better in comparison to other
strategies for solving the traffic congestion of Tehran city.
1. Strategic plan of Tehran introduced six objectives for public transportation. Mass transit should be
integrated, available, safe, easy, comfortable and clean. Hashemi (2010), states that for achieving
these objectives in 2025 share of public transportation must increase to 70%, and total usage of
private cars and motorcycles have to reach a total share of 5 percent. In this way, the stakeholders
have to coordinate with each other in a way that cause more usage of public transportation among
different groups of people. Private sector can consider as a catalyser who can contribute to this
process by providing vehicles, and develop the quality of the services.
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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2. The results of qualitative research which was done by Omranzadeh et al(2010) reveals that 70% of
BRT users think that this mode of transportation is faster, more than 80% believed that BRT
systems are more safe and secure, and 95% agreed upon cleanness of these vehicles. This survey
shows the general public satisfaction among users. Since the governmental financial support is not
quite enough, encouraging the developers will attract more funding to spend on better equipment
and social services to people. Besides, the more people use the services, the more cost recovery will
come back to the system.
3. The trend of privatization during 2007-2010 reveals that private sector shares in bus service
operation is growing. Share of buses increased from 17.8% in 2007 to more than 44% in 2010.
Further, the private share of bus lines reached 48% in comparison to 52% in 2010 (Allen, 2011).
Private partnership in projects not only provide the better facilities but also accelerate the
development of mass transit network. Besides, city council of Tehran formerly encouraged private
partnership in public transportation projects that will result in less usage of private cars.
4.2. Policy Instruments
In order to shift to more sustainable transportation, some of the relevant policy instruments have
identified which has provided by Traffic Division of Tehran municipality (table 4).
To meet certain goals of transportation strategic plan of Tehran in 2025 Tehran Municipality is
responsible to set up a range of goals and policy instruments. Developing non-motorized transportation
NMT is among the important goals. To achieve this goal, policy instruments are identified as follow:
Implementation of bicycle pathways
Utilization of public transport system for the certain group of users specially handicaps
Developing a pedestrian pathway network
Further, Tehran transportation and Traffic organization is responsible to implement bicycle paths in each
district of Tehran city with the help of private consultants. Private consultants are responsible to do the
feasibility studies of this project and report the results to Traffic organization.
On the other hand, as table 4 shows, developing smart transportation is another goal for designed strategy.
Tehran Municipality has developed some policy instruments in technological areas such as utilizing
intersections to smart traffic lights, utilize and managing highways with speed control systems, and
utilizing roads to several variable message signs (VMS). Tehran Traffic Control Company is one of the
related companies that is in charge to manage traffic flows and control it within Tehran city by using smart
technologies. This organization is trying to manage traffic problems by initiating intelligent transportation
system (ITS) and its applications in different systems such as roads and BRT network. Therefore, the
provided policy instruments can be accomplished by this organization.
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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Table 4- Strategic plan of public transportation in relation to ST strategy in Tehran City
Principle Designed
Strategy Goal Policy instruments
Relevant
Stakeholders
Shift
Develop an
equitable,
efficient,
and
satisfying
transit
network
that
encourage
more
people to
use the
system.
Boosting non-
motorized
transportation(NMT)
by planning
instruments
pla
nn
ing Implementing bicycle
paths
Utilizing public
transportation
Implementing
pedestrian paths
Traffic and
public
transportation
division of
Tehran
Municipality
Tehran
transportation
and Traffic
organization
Developing smart
Transportation Tec
hn
olo
gy
Utilizing intersections to smart traffic lights
Utilize and managing highways with speed control systems
Utilizing roads to several Variable message signs (VMS)
Traffic and
public
transportation
division of
Tehran
Municipality
Tehran Traffic
Control
Company
Source: own
5. Conclusion
As it mentioned earlier, Tehran, the capital city of Iran is facing with growing population, and like any
developing countries have a problem of heavy traffic congestions. Public transportation is a subsystem of
this metropolitan which is involved with several stakeholders. According to stakeholder analysis, Tehran
municipality is among one of the most influential and important stakeholders. Not only this organization
does the planning for traffic issues, but also it reflects major guidelines to other administrative bodies.
In order to identify most significant factors such as internal and external factors related to public
transportation SWOT method is being used to identify major strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats. By using a SWOT matrix, four types of strategies have driven, and ST strategy adopted based on
critical arguments. ST strategy states ‘Develop an equitable, efficient, and satisfying transit network that
encourage more people to use the system’ as a solution strategy for Tehran’s transportation challenge. Since
better services will be provided by the private sector, more people tend to make daily trips using public
transportation. The preferred strategy can be implemented by different types of policy instrument. In this
case planning instruments, and technology instruments have identified to make it effective with the
participation of stakeholders.
YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE
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References
Allen, H. (2011). An Integrated Approach to Public Transport, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Nairobi: Case
study prepared for Global Report on Human Settlements 2013.
Bertaud, A. (2003). Tehran spatial structure:Constraints and Opportunities for Future Development. Tehran:
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Hashemi, M. (2010). Tehran transportation and traffic system. Tehran: Institute Transportation Development
Policy (ITDP) Sustainable Transport Awards.
International Association of Public Trasnportation(UITP). (2014, May 26). Tehran: City Metro Network
undergoing massive expansion. Retrieved from UITP in Iran: http://www.iran.uitp.org/content/uitp-
asia-pacific-0
Montazeri, M. (2009). Review of transport in large Iranian Cities 2009. Tehran: UITP Iranian liaison office.
Omranzadeh, B., Gharakhlou, M., & Pourahmad, A. (2010). Analyses and efficiency evaluation of brt (bus rapid
transit) system and its public satisfaction in tehran metropolis. Human Geography Research Quaterly,
19-38.
Tehran urban planning and research center. (2010). Province contribution to Gross Domestic Product of Iran
2008 (Translated). Tehran: Tehran urban planning and research center.