IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/transr/v35y2015i6p792-813.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bus Rapid Transit System in Istanbul: A Success Story or Flawed Planning Decision?

Author

Listed:
  • Ela Babalik-Sutcliffe
  • Elif Can Cengiz

Abstract

There is a growing tendency in cities around the world to invest in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in an attempt to improve the capacity and quality of public transport services. The appeal of BRTs is based on their ability to combine the service level of rail transit systems with the flexibility of buses at relatively lower investment costs, and this was the motivation behind the opening of such a system in the Turkish city of Istanbul in 2007. This system has attracted mixed opinions as to its performance, as while passenger ridership figures are extremely high, proving the effectiveness of the system, there is an argument that the corridor should have been developed with rail technology, and that the BRT is failing to meet the demand. The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of this system, assessing its planning and performance through a comparative analysis of a number of BRTs in the world and Istanbul's metro and tram systems. The analysis confirms the success of the system in terms of passenger statistics, but also highlights a number of problems in certain planning decisions that should be addressed, thus taking the discussion beyond a simplified comparison of bus and rail technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ela Babalik-Sutcliffe & Elif Can Cengiz, 2015. "Bus Rapid Transit System in Istanbul: A Success Story or Flawed Planning Decision?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(6), pages 792-813, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:transr:v:35:y:2015:i:6:p:792-813
    DOI: 10.1080/01441647.2015.1059381
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/01441647.2015.1059381
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/01441647.2015.1059381?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. S. C. Wirasinghe & L. Kattan & M. M. Rahman & J. Hubbell & R. Thilakaratne & S. Anowar, 2013. "Bus rapid transit - a review," International Journal of Urban Sciences, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 1-31, March.
    2. Hidalgo, Darío & Gutiérrez, Luis, 2013. "BRT and BHLS around the world: Explosive growth, large positive impacts and many issues outstanding," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 8-13.
    3. Alpkokin, Pelin & Ergun, Murat, 2012. "Istanbul Metrobüs: first intercontinental bus rapid transit," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 58-66.
    4. David Hensher & Thomas Golob, 2008. "Bus rapid transit systems: a comparative assessment," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 501-518, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jonathan M. Bunker, 2018. "High volume bus stop upstream average waiting time for working capacity and quality of service," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 311-333, August.
    2. Abdi, Mohammad Hamed, 2021. "What the newcomers to transit-oriented development are confronted with? Evidence from Iranian policy and planning," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    3. Ferbrache, Fiona, 2018. "Developing bus rapid transit," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 203-205.
    4. Mohammad Hamed Abdi & Ali Soltani, 2022. "Which Fabric/Scale Is Better for Transit-Oriented Urban Design: Case Studies in a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Canitez, Fatih, 2020. "Transferring sustainable urban mobility policies: An institutional perspective," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1-12.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wu, Irene & Pojani, Dorina, 2016. "Obstacles to the creation of successful bus rapid transit systems: The case of Bangkok," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 44-53.
    2. Ferbrache, Fiona, 2018. "Developing bus rapid transit," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 203-205.
    3. Tobias Pfutze & Carlos Rodríguez-Castelán & Daniel Valderrama, 2023. "Urban transport infrastructure and household welfare: evidence from Colombia," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 1409-1432, September.
    4. Levine, Jonathan & Singer, Matan & Merlin, Louis & Grengs, Joe, 2018. "Apples to apples: Comparing BRT and light rail while avoiding the “BRT-Lite” trap," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 20-34.
    5. Gibson, Jaime & Munizaga, Marcela A. & Schneider, Camila & Tirachini, Alejandro, 2016. "Estimating the bus user time benefits of implementing a median busway: Methodology and case study," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 72-82.
    6. Proboste, Francisco & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Gschwender, Antonio, 2020. "Comparing social costs of public transport networks structured around an Open and Closed BRT corridor in medium sized cities," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 187-212.
    7. Rizvi, Andrea & Sclar, Elliott, 2014. "Implementing bus rapid transit: A tale of two Indian cities," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 194-204.
    8. Chinnawat Hoonsiri & Siriluk Chiarakorn & Vasin Kiattikomol, 2021. "Using Combined Bus Rapid Transit and Buses in a Dedicated Bus Lane to Enhance Urban Transportation Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Dorina Pojani & Dominic Stead, 2015. "Sustainable Urban Transport in the Developing World: Beyond Megacities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-22, June.
    10. Miriam Rocha & Cristina Albuquerque Moreira Silva & Reinaldo Germano Santos Junior & Michel Anzanello & Gabrielli Harumi Yamashita & Luis Antonio Lindau, 2020. "Selecting the most relevant variables towards clustering bus priority corridors," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 587-609, October.
    11. Irem Batool & Muhammad Irshad & Muhammad Abid, 2020. "A Policy Move towards Sustainable Urban Transport in Pakistan: Measuring the Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts of Lahore BRT System," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 25(1), pages 27-57, Jan-June.
    12. Boud Verbrugge & Mohammed Mahedi Hasan & Haaris Rasool & Thomas Geury & Mohamed El Baghdadi & Omar Hegazy, 2021. "Smart Integration of Electric Buses in Cities: A Technological Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-23, November.
    13. Karthik, P.N. & Rathod, Nihesh & Yasodharan, Sarath & Lobo, Wilson & Sahadevan, Ajeesh & Sundaresan, Rajesh & Verma, Pratik, 2023. "Bus priority lane in Bengaluru: A study on its effectiveness and driver stress," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 39-62.
    14. Gomez, Luis F. & Sarmiento, Rodrigo & Ordoñez, Maria Fernanda & Pardo, Carlos Felipe & de Sá, Thiago Hérick & Mallarino, Christina H. & Miranda, J. Jaime & Mosquera, Janeth & Parra, Diana C. & Reis, R, 2015. "Urban environment interventions linked to the promotion of physical activity: A mixed methods study applied to the urban context of Latin America," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 18-30.
    15. Schalekamp, Herrie, 2017. "Lessons from building paratransit operators’ capacity to be partners in Cape Town’s public transport reform process," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 58-66.
    16. Canitez, Fatih, 2019. "Pathways to sustainable urban mobility in developing megacities: A socio-technical transition perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 319-329.
    17. Ashmore, David P. & Pojani, Dorina & Thoreau, Roselle & Christie, Nicola & Tyler, Nicholas A., 2019. "Gauging differences in public transport symbolism across national cultures: implications for policy development and transfer," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 26-38.
    18. Jesper Bláfoss Ingvardson & Jonas Kornerup Jensen & Otto Anker Nielsen, 2017. "Analysing improvements to on-street public transport systems: a mesoscopic model approach," Public Transport, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 385-409, July.
    19. Ojeda Diaz, Alfredo J. & Cantillo, Víctor & Arellana, Julián, 2023. "Understanding how individuals perceive changes in the built environment and the transport system after implementing a BRT system. The case of Barranquilla, Colombia," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    20. Jaime Bonet-Morón & Lucas Wilfried Hahn-De-Castro, 2020. "La gestión y operación del Sistema Integrado de Transporte Masivo (SITM) de Cartagena: el rol dual de Transcaribe," Documentos de Trabajo Sobre Economía Regional y Urbana 18105, Banco de la República, Economía Regional.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:transr:v:35:y:2015:i:6:p:792-813. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TTRV20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.