Investigating and Analyzing Urban Morphological Barriers Affecting Underdevelopment of Public Transport in Ahwaz

In developing countries, especially Iran, public transport is still inefficient. Several factors are involved in this inefficiency, one of which is urban morphology. Identification, quality, dimensions, and the effectiveness of this issue in recent decades have led to the evolution of inter-city transport in some countries, so understanding such evolution on public transport is essential. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate and analyze the barriers to urban morphology affecting the underdevelopment of public transport in Ahwaz. This research is an applied-theoretical, and descriptive-analytical and survey study in terms of aim and method. The required data were collected through documentary, library, survey, and interviewing with citizens and experts. The ARAS decision-making method was used to rank morphological barriers in each mode of transport. Moreover, ARG GIS10.3 software was employed for zoning these barriers in Ahwaz city. After interpolating barriers of each dimension using the Reclassify tool which is a subset of Spatial Analyst Tools in Arc Toolbox, the maps were drawn in different zones in five spectra and were finally overlayed using the Weighted Sum Model (WSM). The results show that 35 factors in 12 morphological dimensions are considered as barriers to public transport development in Ahwaz. Exogenous development, urban distribution, and administrative buildings of the Oil Company with weights of 0.0392, 0.0322, and 0.02089, respectively, are the most frequent barriers to the morphology of public transport development in Ahwaz. The research also proved that the effect of these barriers are different in the four current public transport modes of Ahwaz. Finally, the zoning of these barriers illustrates that most of Ahwaz area is morphologically moderate, but the southern area is less desirable than the northwest part, and the central zone is slightly desirable. Districts 6 and 7 are the least and most desirable areas, respectively.