The European Urban Transportation Policy and Its Possible Impacts On Turkish Cities ABDULMUTALİP...

The European Urban Transportation Policy and Its Possible Impacts On

Turkish Cities

ABDULMUTALİP DEMİREL

8-9 October 2015, İstanbul

GAIT Turkish - EU Partnership for Sustainable Transportation

Urban transportation in Turkish cities

Rapid urbanization started after 1950’s, 77% of whole population lives in cities Ownership of motorized vehicles which started in 1970‘s has been

increasing ever since. Compared to developed countries Turkey has a low car ownership ratio It is expected to keep on rising as a result of developments

in income per capita, automotive industry and socio economic factors.

Car ownership for 1000 people in EU Countries and Turkey(2011)


the increase in population, urbanization and motorized vehicles ownership ,

adequate increase in transportation substructure in Turkish cities. seeking for short-term solutions for problem of unplanned growth

and generation of traffic instead of looking for long term plans and solutions.

Although an understanding of importance of the risk has developed in recent years, the problems related to land use planning, spatial constraints and financial issues has been encountered.


The developments in Turkey in terms of transportation can be listed under the five categories; Rapid urbanization Unplanned development in cities Increase in motorised vehicles Congestion Environmental problems

Rapid urbanization:

After 1950, a considerable amount of migration from towns and villages to city centres has been experienced in Turkey. The rate of people living in urban areas reached to 77%.

in big cities like Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, higher values can be seen. (following table)

Urban population and its rate to total population in Turkey :

Years Urban population % Urban

1927 2.236.085 16.4

1940 3.214.471 18.0

1950 4.883.865 18.5

1960 6.927.024 25.1

1970 11.845.423 33.3

1980 20.330.265 45.4

1990 31.468.877 55.4

2000 41.709.313 61.4

2011 57.385.706 77.0

2014 77.695.904 91.8

Rapid urbanization:

The number of densely populated cities is also increasing. For example, there were only two cities which had a population bigger than 100 thousands in 1927.

The number of cities with a population 100 thousands or more reached to 56 in 2000 and 78 in 2011.

Other than three big cities, there are increasing population densities in cities like Bursa and Kocaeli due to industrial development and Antalya because of tourism potential.

Unplanned development in cities:

Unfortunately, visionary planning for cities would not be the case for Turkish cities.

There are 30 metropolitan cities, however, the lack of city master plans are a reality.

Although in recent years there is a trend of preparing land use and transportation master plans for these cities, the interaction between these two is not adequately supplied.

Unnecessary changes in land use plan

Lack of consideration of suitability of transportation substructure

Existing transportation network cannot be used effectively.

Instead of long term and permanent solution, the cheaper and daily solutions

Vehicle movement preferred instead of pedestrians

Increase in motorised vehicles:

The number of motorised vehicles has increased rapidly after 1970, as parallel to increase in urbanization and developments in economy.

Since the income is higher in cities compared to towns and villages, increase in number of vehicles can be best seen in cities.

Istanbul, the biggest city in Turkey, is a good example of this situation. The following table presents the yearly changes in total number of cars and number of cars for 1000 people, both in Turkey and in Istanbul.

Increase in motorised vehicles:

Turkey Istanbul

Year Passenger cars

(x1000)

Passenger cars

per thousand

population

Passenger cars (x1000)

Passenger cars per thousand population

1950 13,4 1 3,9 4

1960 45.70 2 21.30 13

1970 137.70 4 55.40 18

1980 710.90 16 201.40 42

1990 1649.80 29 559.80 63

2000 4422.20 65 1629.30 156

2011 8113.11 109 2927.65 140

Number of registered vehicles by years

Congestion:

The rapid and unplanned urbanization in across the whole country brought along population explosion in some cities and social and managerial problems.

Congestion is one of the very serious problems in Turkey as well as in other countries as results of urban sprawl.

Owing to the growing population and migration in to the big cities (like Istanbul or Ankara), congestion is becoming a lot dangerous socially and environmentally. The major share in modal split in Turkish cities is highways. For example, in Istanbul, the share of highways is 90% while rail and sea is only 6% and 4%, respectively..

Congestion:

As a result of these developments, traffic and transportation has been one of the main issues of the five year development plans starting from the first one of 163-1967 plan. In almost all plans, there were similar prominent targets to be managed by national or local governments;

Rapid, safe, economic and comfortable transportation in cities,

Effective use of existing network and substructure,

Prioritizing public transit, especially rail systems,

Integration of land use and transportation plans,

Coordination among planning, application, operation and control,

Trends are frightening for most of the Turkish cities in terms of congestion and environment

Environmental Issues:

The fact is also valid for Turkey that in the transport sector 92% of the vehicles work with fossil fuel thus cause climate change globally.

High car ownership and the slow development of public transportation result in air and noise problems in urban areas.

As a result of congestion caused by high number of privately own vehicles, the quality of air is deteriorating as the time spent in traffic and fuel consumption of vehicles increases.

EU’s impact on Turkish Transportation policy

Among the 35 acquis chapters in the negotiation process between Turkey and EU Transport Policy’ takes place as 14th chapter.

Under Transport policy title in the screening period of EU includes:

Maritime Transport,

Galileo,

Inland waterways;

Land Transport/Rail,

Intermodality-Combined Transport,

Introduction to Transport Acquis Land Transport/Road, State Aid/Air Transport.

In compliance with the EU transport policies in Turkey, as well as things to do and the objectives envisaged in the elimination of the deficiencies, stated in Accession Partnership and National Programme for Adoption of EU Acquis.


primarily under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport in collaboration with State Planning Organization (SPO), the Ministry of Public Works and Housing Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.

The first EC evaluation on the topic commented as “Considerable efforts needed”.

Turkish authorities have presented topics in question between the dates 26 June-28 September 2006 to EU authorities as a detailed report.

After initial screening, it has been concluded as “Further efforts needed”.

Current situation in accession negotiations regarding transport policy is that Chapter Frozen as of 11 December 2006, similar to other chapters because of some conflicts between EU and Turkey.

.


Transport Master Plan (1983-1993)

Unfortunately, a consistent and pure transport policy of Turkey did not exist up until 2006. There did not exist a Transport Master Plan including transportation costs, traffic safety, environmental effects, accessibility

The development plans prepared by the State Planning Organization

Significant imbalances between modes in favour of road transport leading to dominance of road sector over other modes, congestion and highly increasing hazards on roads.

In order to alleviate this problem, to sustain balance between modes and to satisfy the need for a transport plan, Transport Master Plan Strategy was prepared in December 2003 (MoT).

Completed in February 2005 and a final report has been published. Some part of this strategy report related to road transport deals with upgrading the situation of highways, increasing the services of maintenance and repair, completing the project of dual carriageway, increasing traffic safety standards consistent with EU acquis etc.


In the framework of National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis (2003),Turkey has prepared a list of priorities related to four sub-sectors in order to transfer EU Acquis to Turkish legislation and adopt an harmonization programme for implementing the acquis

The 9th Development Plan (2007-2013), Medium Term Programme and Annual Programme all prepared with the full membership vision care alignment with the EU Acquis

Strategic goal expressed in 9th Development Plan for transport is the establishment of rapid and safe transport infrastructure that will increase the competitive power of the country. Transport policy thematic subjects are establishment of an efficient transport system, improved safety and security, integration with Europe and neighbouring economies and environmental and financial sustainability


Medium Term Programme transport objectives are ;

developing financing models that increase the participation of the private sector

accelerating efforts for integrating Turkey’s transport network, which links EU countries with Caucasian countries, the Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East Countries, to TEN-T Network,

improving the existing highway infrastructure by the completion of the on-going dual carriageway projects and by upgrading their standards,

increasing traffic safety in highways,

increasing the share of maritime and railways in freight transport,

putting high-speed passenger trains into service,

restructuring Turkish State Railways in order to increase the quality of service and railways’ share in the sector and to reduce its financial burden on the Public,

developing ports as logistics centres where combined transport is realised and increasing port capacities,

increasing capacity in congested airports,

Improving regional air transport .

The future of urban transport in Turkish cities

Cities are the heart of urban transport policy change that can affect the future structure of overall transport.

The local level implementation of policies to lessen the impact of car oriented development in our cities is the base for successful policy changes or vice versa.

To exchange ideas from other cities which had experienced the similar problems before

Nnetworking among European cities and Turkish cities themselves is valuable and it should be taken as an opportunity to join these kinds of events such as CIVITAS.

Benefits in terms of sharing knowledge and training opportunities from best examples or applied measures.

The future of urban transport in Turkish cities by taking lessons from European partners

Policy issues

technical parts such as

use of cleaner vehicles,

energy efficiency,

use of ITS

environmental consideration

like air and noise pollution,

social sides such as

awareness raising,

promoting use of public transport,

providing equal opportunities for limited access capability people.


Different aspects are interrelated

For example, the use of low deck buses for accessibility of handicapped persons needs to change of many buses in bus fleets of Turkish cities. Renewing the bus fleet means higher standards in terms of environment, less energy consumption, less air and noise pollution and higher comfort for passengers.

Numerous number of policy advices. For example, CIVITAS gives 734 different measures and policy option and categorizes them under five headings as;

health,

congestion,

safety and security,

participation, and

strategic planning.


Policy approaches;promoting non-motorized travel options, improving public transport options, cleaner vehicle technologies, travel demand management, ITS technologies, urban logistic options and strategic planning.

Promoting non-motorized travel options: walking and cycling

The modal share of walking in Turkish cities is quite higher than their counterparts.

The same is not valid for cycling, though.

However, the rapid urbanization and accelerating car ownership trends threatens Turkish cities similar to European cities.

The majority of trips in cities in Europe are shorter than five kilometres which can be more efficiently covered by bicycle or walking than by car.

Some limitations of hilly areas and high/low temperatures or rain, can be overcome by the development of electric bicycles.

Although there are no miracle one fits all size solution for increasing the modal share of walking or cycling, every city can find an optimal solutions from previously experienced and yielded as successful measure

Promoting non-motorized travel options: walking and cycling

In CIVITAS Guide for Urban Transportation officials ; following are listed as advantages and barriers for the use of cycling. Some of them are also valid for walking as well.

By replacing fossil fuel driven vehicles, cycling compromises the chance of daily zero-emission mobility. If cycling is preferred for certain trips like home to work, it is most likely to be possible to be encouraged to be used in other trips as well.

As reflecting the good side of urban development, it helps to increase the life quality of others.

Aside from better air quality and more active lifestyles, it will convert into improved health of people.

It also allows the development of dense urban areas, reducing the demand for longer trips.

Promoting cycling and walking will increase the cooperation between local authorities and public transport and environmental related actors.

By increasing proper infrastructure and policies, and teaching motorists to behave with respect and cautiousness to pedestrians and cyclists, encouraging people to walk and cycle will also be expected naturally bring people to using these means of transport.

Improving public transport options

solution :the improving public transportation options to supply a safe, reliable, economic and environmentally sustainable travel alternatives for people.

This fact is utterly valid for Turkish cities.

Other than some metropolitan cities, the backbone of public transportation relies on bus system which is not up to date in terms of comfort, reliability and accessibility.

These issues will be a source of nuisance in during accession process and thereafter.

Attractiveness of public transport can be improved by providing travel options that are safe, reliable, regular, reasonably priced, accessible, comfortable, and within the easy reach of people.

There are different measures which were proven to be effective to increase the mode share of public transport in cities

Overview of benefits of CIVITAS example

Cleaner vehicle technologies

Directive 2009/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles(27)states that it is a requirement of member states to advance in a market for clean and energy-efficient vehicles.

In terms of providing public transport, the Directive calls for public authorities and contracting authorities, contracting entities and operators of public transport services to take into consideration the influence of all vehicle fleet during their operational lifetime in terms of energy consumption, CO2 emissions and other pollutant emissions.

By considering the requirements amended by this Directive, Turkish local authorities, and private public operators have to act in accordance with the specification set by EU for renewing their fleets and procuring new vehicles.

In addition to changes in vehicles in public transportation, the greener technology for private vehicles should also be closely monitored and necessary steps should be taken.

Travel demand management

Life quality of people in cities is significantly influenced by the use of private cars, in terms of both areas for driving and parking.

If any local authority can be successful for a reduction in number of cars used or area required for private vehicles, it will possibly a great positive effect on the liveability of that area.

To achieve this, local authorities should either promote other modes of travel or eliminate the need for travel or reduce the travel demand.

In travel demand management, it can be referred as policies and measures lessening the need of travel and authorizing for more sustainable opportunities in need of travelling.

In CIVITAS, there are many different kind of measures applied for travel demand strategies. The following table gives some examples, techniques and their results.

ITS technologies:

The Council of Ministers and the European Parliament adopted on 7 July 2010 the Directive (28) on the framework for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in the field of road transport and for interfaces with other modes of transport.

It is stated as

“is applicable to Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) applications and services in the European Union (EU) road transport sector and to their interfaces with other modes of transport. ITS are systems in which information and communication technologies are applied in the field of road transport, including infrastructure, vehicles and users, and in traffic management and mobility management.”

Urban logistic options

Urban freight in cities has a share of 10 to 18 percent of all road traffic

Depending on the economic growth of cities and population rise, there is a increasing importance of city logistics in urban areas.

The impact of freight transport is even much superior in some environmental aspects. Such as, the urban logistics is the source of 40 percent of air pollution and noise emissions in urban areas

European Union has funded and supported studies related to urban logistics and possible solution

gave many fruitful results such as policy and research recommendations and best practice handbooks.

Turkish cities have to make use of these kinds of documents and examples to tackle urban freight problems and not to face similar problems which had already experienced before counterpart European cities.

Strategic planning European Commission states in its sustainable mobility document titled

as “Action Plan on Urban Mobility – State of Play ” “Integrated and ambitious local mobility plans are the starting point

for the comprehensive changes that are needed in many European cities to improve the performance of their transport systems, to make them more sustainable, and to minimize the negative impacts of transport activities on our health, quality of life and the environment. This action is implemented through a number a number of activities that complement and reinforce each other.”

Considering this statement and analyzing the situation in most of the Turkish cities, the appropriate starting point has not been taken seriously or overlooked.

In terms of sustainability, and environmental point of view, Turkish cities have to consider this matter more seriously and act accordingly.

Strategic planning

To encourage all European cities to have a sound sustainable urban mobility plan, European commission making ever kind of efforts such as CIVITAS Initiative and ELTIS PLUS project.

Through these programs, training and education of transport officials in EU cities are performed. To present up to date information on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans and associated training and promotional actions, The Mobility Plans website (30) was launched in March 2011.

The draft Guidelines "Developing and Implementing a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan” has been presented through this website since then.

Conclusions It is obvious that Turkey is at the crossroad of joining EU.

As it affects many fields, transportation is one of the major areas of integration process.

The basic problem behind Turkish cities faces seems to be related to lack of transportation planning.

Additionally, the gap between planning and implementation is also crucial. Instead of tackling the urban transportation problems by their own methods, Turkish cities should search for measures used by similar sized European counterparts for comparable urban problems.

Growth of the urban transport infrastructure will go on to be a significant purpose for Turkish cities in future.

While new investments and regulations will continue to meet the changing and rising needs, international efforts will continue to strengthen the connectivity with EU and the other countries.

Thank you

Dr. Abdulmuttalip Demirel

[email protected]

Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality

Advisor to Secretary General

mailto:[email protected]

The European Urban Transportation Policy and Its Possible Impacts On Turkish Cities ABDULMUTALİP...

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