Public Participation in Transportation Planning and Modeling

The lack of using experience and opinions of the people in decision-making of a public project, leads to failure in obtaining public satisfaction. This is due to ignoring the suggestions of the people, especially the deprived of transportation, and not knowing their real needs. Citizen participation is the best strategy by which the essential needs of the people can be informed and their opinions and experiences can be included in the decision-making process. The Urban Planning Organization, while informing the public about the holding of these partnerships, should provide full access to this process for all segments of the society, especially those who are deprived of transportation, in order to easily participate in these communities. In addition, this access must be provided to citizens so that they can express their opinions and be effective in making decisions. Achieving such effective public participation requires adequate infrastructure, including citizenship advisory committees, public relations, and applicable laws. The application of these infrastructures in this process should be done according to a model so that the people's participation is implemented in the best way, including all the goals and has the highest efficiency. In order to achieve this goal, a six-dimensional model is proposed, which by examining the previous models of public participation and adding steps to them, will improve the implementation and effectiveness of this social process.