Analyzing of park and ride: Case study for Istanbul

In developing countries, the economic growth affects the transportation in a different way that causes congestion as well as traffic problems. Many different parameters caused the traffic congestion such as network infrastructure, insufficient transportation, unexpected increase in traffic demand, network capacity, failure in use of the existing capacity and unplanned and rapid urbanization. Especially, integration of assorted modes is significant to control the high traffic demand. Park and Ride are attempts to conjoin the benefits of both car and public transport (PT) use into an efficient and effective system by supplying well car parking facilities outside the central area of the city and connecting the facilities to the central city by the services of public transport. As a result Park and ride lots lead to developing the performance of the entire transportation system. Park and ride are taking vehicles off local streets and roads and the State Highway System (SHS). This study evaluates the usage of Park and Ride facilities located in Istanbul. Where planning and constructing a network of well-placed park and ride lots is a productive transportation system. The main objectives of a network of park and ride lots include, but are not limited to, increasing person throughput on the system, increasing the mobility options of travellers, decreasing the number of vehicle trips, decreasing congestion on transportation facilities and decreasing the greenhouse gas and air pollution associated with transportation. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Company Management and Organization of Parking in Istanbul City ISPARK operated park and Ride facilities in Istanbul. The goal of this study is to fill the gap in knowledge by providing a further understanding of the Park and Ride characteristics in Istanbul to evaluate their efficiency. Five positions were selected in Istanbul to evaluate their performance during weekdays and weekends and investigate whether their supply meets the demand during the peak hours.