Studying of Park and Ride opportunities in Izmir, Turkey

Park and Ride is a system which private vehicle users arrive public transportation stations, transfer and continue their trips by public transportation. After IZBAN, the suburban line of Izmir, has been active there is an apparent increase in the use of Park and Ride system. Along with it, using this system in seaway public transport has become attractive as well. Purpose of the 'Park and Ride' system is to increase the use of public transport and to leave private cars outside the city and to help to reduce urban traffic. Some stations have sufficient parking lots for park and ride in the seaway and railway stations. This study tries to find the current situation in railway and seaway systems for the use of 'Park and Ride' system in Izmir. Park and Ride current users' behaviors were examined by making surveys in two seaports, four IZBAN suburban and one Izmir metro stations. At parking lots near seaports 105 surveys and at parking lots near light rail system stations 240 surveys were conducted. Obtained data was used to perform chi-square test using SPSS software. Besides, binary logit models were developed to analyze the effect of parking lot price in the use rate of parking lot. According to the results of the questionnaire surveys only 233 people benefited from park and ride system. 82% of the drivers indicated that their travel behavior would change if they must pay for the parking lot.