Investigation of Public Transportation System in Traffic Zone of Mashhad from the Viewpoint of Urban Sustainable Development

One of the main challenges facing urban planning in the late 20th century is the growth rate of traffic that influences access to sustainable urban development. One of the solutions proposed for traffic—as well as the economic, social, and environmental problems originating from it—in large cities has been the applying of traffic restrictions during certain times and in specific places in order to reduce travel demand and transportation by private vehicles, causing an increase in the use of public transportation by citizens. In this study, two questionnaires were developed and administered: the first to citizens and pilgrims (N= 150), and the second to experts and executive managers (N= 40). To analyze the data and test the hypotheses, the researchers applied Microsoft Office Excel and SPSS softwares. The results show that there is a relationship between applying the traffic restrictions for private vehicles and sustainable transportation in Mashhad. It was, moreover, revealed that by applying such traffic restrictions, use of public transportation would increase and, conversely, use of private vehicles would reduce by 14.6 percent. By the way, 70.7 percent of the common-people participants beleived that the traffic restrictions caused the increase in traffic flow in the center of the city, 70 percent maintaining it caused easy access to ficililities. Although 66 percent of tradesmen believed that the project would cause depression in their business, the necessity of applying such a project in the area on special days could not be denied. Furthermore, experts and managers’ solutions to achieve sustainable transportation were as follows: applying permanent traffic restrictions especially in the city center, developing public transportation, managing transportation demand and supply, developing more parking lots, and proper managing of urban units. As during traffic restrictions more people have to use the public transportation system, the executors of the plan should attempt to improve it and increase transportation facilities. Finally, as the public transportation system has a key role in the zone, if it is not promoted properly, the project may not succeed.