Estimation of Effective Components on the Preferences of Tehran Citizens to Choose “Car-Free City Center” Using a Random-Parameter Logit Model

Tehran, with an area of about 780 square Kilometres, is the largest city in Iran with a population of about 8 million people, where more than 15 million vehicular trips are made. The share of traffic in the consequences of air pollution in Tehran is estimated to be more than 55%, and traffic is the main cause of air pollution. One of the possible solutions for the problems caused by the use of private cars, especially the traffic and air pollution of Tehran in the central part of the city, is the policy of creating a “car-free city center”. For this reason, this study has been conducted with the aim of identifying and evaluating the factors affecting the preferences of Tehran citizens for the “ car-free city Center” using Random Parameter Logit Model. The findings of this study indicate that the component “Recrehigher” and the components “Dist9min” and “Dist3min” in the central part of the city, are relatively more important compared to the rest of the attributes affecting the preferences of the people of Tehran in choosing a “car-free city center”. The highest amount of “willingness to pay” of Tehran citizens are for the component of “Recrehigher” in the central part of the city, in the amount of 160,000 Rials and the components of “Dist9min” and “Dist3min” is about 120,000 Rials to 150,000 Rials per transfer in the city center areas, respectively.