s6020704_Afshar

YASMIN AFSHAR + URBAN PLANNING AND POLICY: THEORY AND PRACTICE

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FACULTY OF GEO-INFORMATION SCIENCE AND EARTH OBSERVATION

UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE, ENSCHEDE, THE NETHERLANDS

Strategic Planning for Tehran’s city Public Transportation using

SWOT analysis

Student Name: Yasmin AfsharGhotli

Student ID: S6020704

Course name: Urban Planning and Management

Case study: City of Tehran

Month, Year: March, 2015


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Contents

1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................................................................4

2. Public Transportation in Tehran City ...................................................................................................................................4

2.1. Role of Stakeholders ......................................................................................................................................................7

3. SWOT Analysis ........................................................................................................................................................................9

4. Strategic Planning .................................................................................................................................................................. 10

4.1. Planning Strategy ......................................................................................................................................................... 10

4.2. Policy Instruments ...................................................................................................................................................... 11

5. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................................................. 12

References ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 13


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About the report This report is providing a general overview that show how strategic planning will take place for a subsystem of public transportation within a context of Tehran, capital city of Iran. The discussions and arguments along with analysis are driven by personal knowledge in planning, policy, and management. Various scientific papers are used as a scientific support.


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1. Introduction

People, Land, and urban environment interact with each other as a system. As time goes by, these

components will face to dynamic changes. Urban areas, cities, or urban regions perform like a huge and

complicated systems. Moreover, different subsystems such as public transportation, land tenure, waste

management, drinking water system, and housing are all various components which perform with each other

within the urban regions.

Tehran, home to eight million residents1, play a significant role as the most important city in Iran. Lack of

public space, shortage of sanitation, low air quality, and traffic congestions are among the most serious

issues that this metropolitan trying to deal with.

The purpose of this report is to find a strategy to solve traffic congestion within Tehran municipality by

using SWOT method. The structure of this report, therefore, starts with a short background of Tehran as a

study area, describing notable characteristics of public transportation along with identifying the influential

stakeholders. The next section will discuss top five strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities for this

subsystem using SWOT method. Further, Strategic planning section tries to present a solution for choosing

the best strategy among the SWOT matrix. In the end, two policy instruments will show how this strategy

can take place to solve the traffic congestion among different stakeholders.

2. Public Transportation in Tehran City

Tehran, capital of Iran, is considered not only as the largest city in Iran, but also as the largest city in western

Asia. With the population of 8.3 million people, Tehran has a contribution of 25% in Total nation’s GDP

(Tehran urban planning and research center, 2010). Tehran’s climate is characterized by the specific

geography of the city with the Alborz Mountains in the northern part, and the direct corridor to the central

desert in southern part. Although the city benefits from mild weather-annual average temperature is 19

Celsius degree-, it is prone to risk of earthquake as well.

Further, Tehran is the most dominant city in Tehran metropolitan area network (Figure1). Like other

developing countries, residents of Tehran find it more interesting to travel by their private cars rather than

using public transportation. Total daily trips of 17 million, take place within the city itself. Therefore, the

urban mobility is among the major challenges of the capital. Among these huge number of daily trips, share

of public transportation is only 54.5%, and the rest is done with private motorized vehicles.

1 Due to latest census in 2011, population of Tehran city is 8.15 million people based on national statistical

organization: amar.org.ir


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Fig1-Tehran City among other poles in metropolitan area

Source: (Allen, 2011)

The city structure of Tehran municipality consists of 22 different districts with individual municipality.

“Three priority objectives expressed by the Municipality of Tehran are directly related to the city’s urban

spatial structure. These objectives are: reducing pollution, improving the efficiency of transport, and

developing cultural amenities worthy of a large regional capital (Bertaud, 2003, p. 3).”

To achieve the goal of ‘improving the efficiency of transport’ Tehran’s Traffic and public transport division

of municipality adopted a visionary approach to paving a way toward this specific goal. “In 2025, Tehran

should have an integrated, available, safe, easy, comfortable and clean transportation system considering the

limitation of resources and other relevant conditions for improvement of life quality” (Allen, 2011, p. 7). In

the light of this vision, public transportation in Tehran city benefits from the notable budgeting share from

whole municipality budget. Besides, Tehran Traffic division aims to consults with international organization

such as International Organization of Public Transport (UITP) in light of expanding public transportation.

“The main task of the UITP Iran Liaison Office is to promote the international experience and knowledge

of public transport among Iranian members” (International Association of Public Trasnportation(UITP),

2014)

Public transportation in Tehran divides into three categories. First, urban railway system, also known as

Tehran Metro. Currently, Tehran metro operates in four lines with the length of approximately152

kilometers, and 87 stations within the city boundary (Fig2). Second category consists of regular buses,

minibuses and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) which is considered as a massive transport method. Bus Rapid

Transit operates in 7 lines and has a total length of 114.2 kilometers (Fig3). Metro and BRT systems are

designed as a mass transit mode with the purpose of carrying the most passenger as possible. BRT system

has the most contribution to either public transport or Tehran’s total modal share. It carries 1.8 million

passengers per day and has a share of 23% among total daily trips (Fig4).


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Fig2-Tehran’s long-term rail plan

Source: (Montazeri, 2009)

Fig3-Tehran’s BRT vision

Source: Tehran Transportation and public transportation division performance report, 2011


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Fig 4-Tehran’s transport modal share 2011

Source: own2

In addition, Metro and buses especially BRT all operate as complementary components for public transportation of Tehran city. The backbone of the Tehran’s strategic plan relies on sufficient railway system. Since the construction of railway system is time taking, and require additional funds, improving regular bus systems, and BRT facilities are considered as a subsolution for promoting the usage of public transportation among different groups of people.

2.1. Role of Stakeholders

Table 1 represents various stakeholders which play a role in public transportation of Tehran. These actors

are categorized from policy through operational level. In addition, users and controlling agents are identified

as complementary actors.

In addition, stakeholders are shown in a simple scatterplot on a scale of 0-10(Fig5). By using the graph, it

can be seen that Supreme Traffic council of Ministry of Interior of Iran, Traffic committee of City council

of Tehran, Traffic and public transportation division of Tehran Municipality, Tehran transportation and

Traffic organization, Traffic police of Greater Tehran, and Tehran Traffic Control Company are among

both most important, and most influential stakeholders.

Fig5-Stakeholder Analysis

2 Data gathered from Tehran Transportation and public transportation division

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Private cars,motorcycles

Buses,minibuses

Taxis Metro employer andschool buses


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Table1- Identification of stakeholders in public transportation of Tehran

Source: own

Level Stakeholders Roles

Policymaking

1. Supreme Traffic council of Ministry of Interior of Iran

Enacting the legislation about traffic and urban development issues.

Law enforcement by municipalities and city councils

2. Traffic committee of City council of Tehran

Un-centralized Policy making for each city

Enact articles to be adopted by the municipality

Planning

3. Traffic and public transportation division of Tehran Municipality

Transportation Strategic planning for greater Tehran area

Budget allocation to the related organization

Consulting with international experts for better planning

4. Tehran transportation and Traffic organization

Planning, design, and supervising on Tehran transportation and traffic issues align with strategic goals.

Operationalize

5. Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Operation Company

Implementing the projects

Leadership of projects

6. Tehran bus

operation company

7. Tehran taxi organization

8. Private companies

Partnership in current or future projects

Investment in development of lines and vehicles

Control and

management

9. Traffic police of Greater Tehran

Ground traffic control

Providing safety and security

10. Tehran Traffic Control Company

Traffic management by using updated and smart technologies

Users 11. Residents people who use public transportation and

generate daily trips


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3. SWOT Analysis

Table 2 represents main elements for each internal factors such as strength and weaknesses and external

factors like opportunities, and threats. In this case, SWOT analysis is used as a method to identify the final

strategy for solving the traffic congestion problem of Tehran city.

Table2-SWOT analysis of public transportation in Tehran City

Internal

Strength

City authorities adopt mass transit

network approach such as developing

BRT and Metro system.

Traffic and public transport Office of

has a 43% share of total budget of

Tehran municipality.

High capacity and affordable price

Vehicles are new, fast, and well-

equipped.

Have a strong contribution in clean air(ex: metro in an underground mode, and CNG as a clean fuel is used for 50% of buses)

Weaknesses

36% of day trips take place with

private cars.

Regular buses are not .efficient

Public transportation network is not

integrated with Tehran urban region

and still operate in monocentric city(

does not motivate the polycentric

development)

Share of metro is still too low (10%)

Modal share Semi pubic is high 23%,

taxis are most effective mode

Implementation of railway plan is not

progressing on time.

External

Opportunity

Benefits from a clear vision in public

transportation derived from Tehran’s

comprehensive strategic development

plan

Privatization trend has occurred

during the development of bus system

Long term rail plan encourages the

regional connectivity between Tehran

and other growing poles in

metropolitan area

Mass transit system is more getting

used by professional and middle class

who have contributions to congestion.

Implementation of the metro

network has a priority.

Threat

High modal share of semi- public transportation will contribute to more air pollution

Large gap between a current share of semi- public transportation (23%) and desired in plan (5%)

High demand and crowded situation for metro transit may lead making people to use other public modes.

Current stations and lines for metro is accessible to people less than 14% of the municipal population (Bertaud, 2003)

Shortage of Financial resources to support development of public transportation lines based on planned schedule.

Passenger’s safety is not fully supported either in BRT or Metro stations.


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4. Strategic Planning

As table 3 shows, different strategies can be driven from using SWOT matrix. These strategies are

categorized in four SO, WO, ST, and WT categories. Each of these planning strategies can be effective by

providing special policy instruments which will be discussed in next section.

Table3-Planning Strategies for solving traffic congestion of Tehran City

Traffic Congestion of Tehran City

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities

SO Strategy

Expand public transportation network including Metro, buses, and BRT through the municipality and upgrade current infrastructure.

WO Strategy

Integration of public transportation by developing multimodal network.

Threats

ST Strategy

Develop an equitable, efficient, and satisfying transit network that encourage more people to use the system.

WT Strategy

Implementation of metro plans based on fixed time schedule while providing better service quality.

SO Strategies: Expanding the public transportation through the city will result in increasing total

length of public transportation.This indicator is considered as one of the effective criteria for

assessing level of development in each country. Further, more coverage of the city with mass

transit network will notably increase accessibility of the service in different parts of the city. The

travel time, therefore, can reduced between destination as an advantage. WO Strategies: Integration of public transportation refers to greater use of multimodal

trasnport and develop better interchange facilities. Integrated operation of different modes requires partnership of both public and private sectors.

ST Strategies: Tehran’s railway or BRT systems are considered as effective systems, but developing an inclusive, efficient, and sustainable trasnport is considered as key to convince more people from different social groups to use the network instead of using their private vehicles. On the other hand, Private sector can be seen as a catalyser in expanding more usage of mass transit by people by means of providing newer vehicles, and develop the quality of the services.

WT Strategies: Considering the weaknesses and potential threats for transportation of Tehran’s

metropolitan, the best strategy would be the metro railway network implementation with standard

quality align to certain deadlines.

4.1. Planning Strategy

The following arguments will reveal the reasons why the ST strategy is better in comparison to other

strategies for solving the traffic congestion of Tehran city.

1. Strategic plan of Tehran introduced six objectives for public transportation. Mass transit should be

integrated, available, safe, easy, comfortable and clean. Hashemi (2010), states that for achieving

these objectives in 2025 share of public transportation must increase to 70%, and total usage of

private cars and motorcycles have to reach a total share of 5 percent. In this way, the stakeholders

have to coordinate with each other in a way that cause more usage of public transportation among

different groups of people. Private sector can consider as a catalyser who can contribute to this

process by providing vehicles, and develop the quality of the services.


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2. The results of qualitative research which was done by Omranzadeh et al(2010) reveals that 70% of

BRT users think that this mode of transportation is faster, more than 80% believed that BRT

systems are more safe and secure, and 95% agreed upon cleanness of these vehicles. This survey

shows the general public satisfaction among users. Since the governmental financial support is not

quite enough, encouraging the developers will attract more funding to spend on better equipment

and social services to people. Besides, the more people use the services, the more cost recovery will

come back to the system.

3. The trend of privatization during 2007-2010 reveals that private sector shares in bus service

operation is growing. Share of buses increased from 17.8% in 2007 to more than 44% in 2010.

Further, the private share of bus lines reached 48% in comparison to 52% in 2010 (Allen, 2011).

Private partnership in projects not only provide the better facilities but also accelerate the

development of mass transit network. Besides, city council of Tehran formerly encouraged private

partnership in public transportation projects that will result in less usage of private cars.

4.2. Policy Instruments

In order to shift to more sustainable transportation, some of the relevant policy instruments have

identified which has provided by Traffic Division of Tehran municipality (table 4).

To meet certain goals of transportation strategic plan of Tehran in 2025 Tehran Municipality is

responsible to set up a range of goals and policy instruments. Developing non-motorized transportation

NMT is among the important goals. To achieve this goal, policy instruments are identified as follow:

Implementation of bicycle pathways

Utilization of public transport system for the certain group of users specially handicaps

Developing a pedestrian pathway network

Further, Tehran transportation and Traffic organization is responsible to implement bicycle paths in each

district of Tehran city with the help of private consultants. Private consultants are responsible to do the

feasibility studies of this project and report the results to Traffic organization.

On the other hand, as table 4 shows, developing smart transportation is another goal for designed strategy.

Tehran Municipality has developed some policy instruments in technological areas such as utilizing

intersections to smart traffic lights, utilize and managing highways with speed control systems, and

utilizing roads to several variable message signs (VMS). Tehran Traffic Control Company is one of the

related companies that is in charge to manage traffic flows and control it within Tehran city by using smart

technologies. This organization is trying to manage traffic problems by initiating intelligent transportation

system (ITS) and its applications in different systems such as roads and BRT network. Therefore, the

provided policy instruments can be accomplished by this organization.


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Table 4- Strategic plan of public transportation in relation to ST strategy in Tehran City

Principle Designed

Strategy Goal Policy instruments

Relevant

Stakeholders

Shift

Develop an

equitable,

efficient,

and

satisfying

transit

network

that

encourage

more

people to

use the

system.

Boosting non-

motorized

transportation(NMT)

by planning

instruments

pla

nn

ing Implementing bicycle

paths

Utilizing public

transportation

Implementing

pedestrian paths

Traffic and

public

transportation

division of

Tehran

Municipality

Tehran

transportation

and Traffic

organization

Developing smart

Transportation Tec

hn

olo

gy

Utilizing intersections to smart traffic lights

Utilize and managing highways with speed control systems

Utilizing roads to several Variable message signs (VMS)

Traffic and

public

transportation

division of

Tehran

Municipality

Tehran Traffic

Control

Company

Source: own

5. Conclusion

As it mentioned earlier, Tehran, the capital city of Iran is facing with growing population, and like any

developing countries have a problem of heavy traffic congestions. Public transportation is a subsystem of

this metropolitan which is involved with several stakeholders. According to stakeholder analysis, Tehran

municipality is among one of the most influential and important stakeholders. Not only this organization

does the planning for traffic issues, but also it reflects major guidelines to other administrative bodies.

In order to identify most significant factors such as internal and external factors related to public

transportation SWOT method is being used to identify major strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and

threats. By using a SWOT matrix, four types of strategies have driven, and ST strategy adopted based on

critical arguments. ST strategy states ‘Develop an equitable, efficient, and satisfying transit network that

encourage more people to use the system’ as a solution strategy for Tehran’s transportation challenge. Since

better services will be provided by the private sector, more people tend to make daily trips using public

transportation. The preferred strategy can be implemented by different types of policy instrument. In this

case planning instruments, and technology instruments have identified to make it effective with the

participation of stakeholders.


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References

Allen, H. (2011). An Integrated Approach to Public Transport, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Nairobi: Case

study prepared for Global Report on Human Settlements 2013.

Bertaud, A. (2003). Tehran spatial structure:Constraints and Opportunities for Future Development. Tehran:

Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Islamic Republic of Iran.

Hashemi, M. (2010). Tehran transportation and traffic system. Tehran: Institute Transportation Development

Policy (ITDP) Sustainable Transport Awards.

International Association of Public Trasnportation(UITP). (2014, May 26). Tehran: City Metro Network

undergoing massive expansion. Retrieved from UITP in Iran: http://www.iran.uitp.org/content/uitp-

asia-pacific-0

Montazeri, M. (2009). Review of transport in large Iranian Cities 2009. Tehran: UITP Iranian liaison office.

Omranzadeh, B., Gharakhlou, M., & Pourahmad, A. (2010). Analyses and efficiency evaluation of brt (bus rapid

transit) system and its public satisfaction in tehran metropolis. Human Geography Research Quaterly,

19-38.

Tehran urban planning and research center. (2010). Province contribution to Gross Domestic Product of Iran

2008 (Translated). Tehran: Tehran urban planning and research center.

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