Optimized Transportation System for Sanandaj City Using Ecological Footprint Method

Ecological Footprint Assessment (EFA) is one of the methodologies attracted more attention at political, educational, and academic levels. The growth of Sanandaj population affects the traffic congestion which is a main problem of the city. This study addresses this gap as well enhances the environmental conditions by reducing fossil fuel consumption. For this purpose, Ecological Footprint (EF) method was applied to evaluate the sustainability of the current transportation system and consequently an optimized model was suggested for 2026. Comparing EF of the current transportation system with the world standards, demonstrated that many transportation types such as minibus, taxi, and private cars have a high level of EF. Based on the predicted population for 2026, 457390 people, the optimized transportation percentage shares were proposed, including 6.71, 57.02, 16.31, 19.08, and 0.88 for minibus, bus, taxi, private cars, and motorcycle respectively. Applying the new plan can save 16132 litre fossil fuel as well as 11 tons CO2 annually.