Istanbul example of traffic congestion pricing: Historical peninsula and Kadikoy

Technological developments and rapid urbanization give rise to urban transportation problems. Traffic congestion, which is one of the urban transportation problems, is seen as a common urban trouble in developed and developing countries. Besides, congestion is assumed as one of the major problems of urban life, because it is a factor that makes transportation difficult in cities. There are several changes in cities such as rapid population growth, increase in the number of private vehicle ownership depending on socio-economic and technological developments, increase in distance within the city, mobility rate and transportation demand. As result of these changes in cities, road infrastructure cannot meet the transportation demand. To struggle with the negative effects of traffic and unsatisfied transport demand, constructions of new roads and widening the pathways have been implemented. However, private vehicles, which play an active role in the transportation system, has made these solutions insufficient. In order to reduce traffic congestion in urban areas, supply and demand-side traffic congestion programs, which cover land use policy change and leading public to the public transport system, have been launched by politicians. Congestion pricing is one of these supply and demand-side applications; besides, it is shown as the most common method to struggle with trafic congestion after 2000s. For the first time, it occurred in 1920 as a result of the important work of the A. C. Pigou. Then, the Smeed Criteria that set up models defining technical, economic and political aspects of congestion charging published in 1962. Technically, congestion pricing is based on the principle of charging people to pay fee, who are travelling with their private vehicles, when they are using a certain way. Besides, it is basically applied in 4 different ways as traveling from the dense lane on the road, going into a certain zone, passing through the cordon outside the zone boundaries of a region, or depending on the distance travelled. Congestion pricing is a principle of paying a fee to enter the area or road where traffic congestion is intense. For this reason, the main objective of congestion charging is to reduce additional costs such as fuel costs, operating costs and longer travel times that new entrants have created on other vehicles in areas where traffic congestion is intense. If each traveler, who wants to use the road, is charged as much as the difference between the marginal costs (which is the additional costs) and the average costs (which is the unit cost of the vehicle owner), the traffic congestion will be reduced and the optimal traffic volume will be ensured. The price determined as the congestion charge is required to meet the additional marginal cost. In this way, it is ensured that journeys are economical. So, one of the reasons why traffic congestion pricing is the best solution to reduce traffic congestion is to include travel time in the marginal social cost calculation. Because, time is also regarded as an economic asset with a positive value. Thus, congestion charge logically provides the highest benefits in minimizing the individual journey. Pricing practice is supported by the governments, because it is seen as applicable according to mathematical calculations and its lower operational costs. However, pricing practice is not accepted by some stakeholders. Because, vehicle users in the urban transport system receive this public service without paying any fee in advance. So, the idea of road pricing creates a situation that should be accepted by politicians, business owners, authorized firms and especially by the society. As a result, practical difficulties occur in the city center. In a number of studies, which are funded by European Union, notes that it is necessary to concentrate on some specific issues in order to make the congestion pricing acceptable to these stakeholders. These issues can be listed as public perception of traffic bottleneck as a problem, institutional capacity problem, depts about pricing technology, use of income and equality problems. The proposal of solution to these listed problems helps to increase the applicability of congestion pricing in urban areas. Singapore is the first country started its congestion pricing application in the world. It began with a model of road pricing in Singapore central area in 1975. It was not only implemented for reducing traffic congestion, but also the aim was collecting a new source of revenue. Despite the fact that, it continues to be practiced in Singapore for so long, congestion pricing began to be recognized at the beginning of the pricing application in London in 2003. London is taken model by other countries such as Stockholm in 2006 and Milan in 2008 with its method of implementation, its stages, the successful results achieved and the effectiveness of the implementation. After this process, other countries in the world started to work this application, and the congestion charge has become a popular demand management strategy. Despite being tried to be implemented in many countries of the world, the number of successful cities continues to implement congestion charge is a few. To increase these examples, some policies to be taken from successful cities should be included in countries trying to apply congestion charging implementation process. At the beginning of policies that can be taken is legality. Pricing applications made in accordance with the law should include details about implementation methods and implementation time. In addition, area expansion and deterrent practices to be implemented considering the problem of traffic congestion spreading around the wage zone are listed as measures to facilitate implementation. Besides, control of income management during the implementation and disclosure of areas of use are exemplary policies that provide for public support. Moreover, the inclusion of people in the process, and reduction of skepticism about the application with informing activities allow the application to continue for a long time. In the theoretical background of this study for Istanbul, congestion pricing policy, implementation methods, implementation difficulties in the city and important stakeholders were identified at the beginning. In the application part of the study, the applicability of congestion charging in Istanbul, which is experiencing heavy traffic congestion problem at a certain time of day, is investigated. The congestion pricing plans prepared by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality were examined, and the regions with high probability of realization of implementation were determined as Historical Peninsula and Kadıkoy. When assessing the congestion pricing with its implementation model and long-term benefits to be applied to these two regions, it is expected to be beneficial to the city. Considering the long term effects, reduction of traffic congestion and volume, increase in average speed of vehicles, reduction of harmful gases to human health and to nature such as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitric acid (NOx) and particulate matter (PM10) released from motor vehicles are expected to be achieved. In addition to this, a decrease in the use of vehicles in the Historical Peninsula and Kadıköy will have an important place in the urban economy. For example, a decrease in fuel costs of about 290,000 TL per day is calculated. When the congestion charging applications that are planned to be implemented in Historical Peninsula and Kadıköy are compared with the world examples, it has been determined that, there are some issues which are not mentioned in the plans such as the legal dimension of the process, discount rates, illegal transit penalty rate, and details about Eurasia Tunnel, which may create problems about transit in Historical Peninsula. About these identified issues, it is noted by urban planners in Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality that mathematical calculations of the application were made, but the social point of view was not evaluated yet. Within the scope of this thesis, stakeholders that could be affected in the Historical Peninsula and Kadikoy regions are listed in order to examine the social effects of the implementation. Then, the stakeholder considerations of the implementer were examined, and proposals on ways to provide acceptability were presented as a proposal for the implementation plan. These proposals, under the name of the ''Implementation Plan Proposal'', include the legal process, organization scheme, means of providing public support, and the Smeed Criteria.