Abstract
Sustainable and strategic public transportation is one of the effective means to reduce various traffic problems, such as traffic pollution, traffic congestion etc. in cities across the world. The core objectives of the sustainable public transport models include measures to reduce costs, exercise eco-friendly operations and activities, provide effective management of transport activities, reduce travel time and deliver quality services to the commuters, amongst other things. However, the needs and requirements of the people vary from region to region. In particular, in addition to social, environmental and economic factors, cultural aspects have to be considered in developing a public transport framework and model. These factors vary between developed, developing and under-developed nations.Saudi Arabia is a developing country, which has been taking various initiatives to roll out public transport across its major cities as a part of its Vision 2030 programme. Previous studies have found various issues relating to public transport infrastructure and its usage, which need to be considered and effectively investigated in the current situation in order to develop the sustainable public transport system as specified in Vision 2030 goals. However, these new developments in the country lacked effective problem analysis of the transport aspects and a few limitations were identified in relation to the process of policy formulation and implementation, development of strategies and project management, and funding. One of the major limitations is that there are no city specific policies, guidelines or framework, as the policies are formulated at the national level. Given that the demographics and requirements regarding public transport differ from city to city, there is a need to develop city specific models and frameworks for public transport. Moreover, previous studies did not address the sustainability aspect in the public transport system in KSA. Considering these research gaps and the importance of sustainable development in my country the researcher was motivated to conduct the research on sustainable public transport management in KSA, as a part of contributing for national development. Accordingly, the aim of this study is identified, which focuses on developing a sustainable and strategic public transportation framework (SSPTF) and model (SSPTM) for Riyadh city in KSA
To achieve this aim, a pragmatic mixed methods approach was adopted as there is a need to deduce transport issues and needs of the commuters (deductive reasoning), and to develop a theoretical framework for sustainable public transport (inductive reasoning). Accordingly, the research strategies included case studies, quantitative survey, descriptive survey and qualitative interviews is adopted in this study. Major public transport models (London, New York, Dubai) were reviewed and compared to identify the various factors that need to be considered in developing a sustainable public transport. The quantitative survey was aimed at determining the needs, requirements and perceptions of the people regarding public transport. The descriptive survey was used for gathering valuable input from the domain experts to assist in the designing of the SSPTF and SSPTM. The SSPTF and SSPTM were validated through seeking the expert opinions of government authorities in the transport sector in Riyadh, by conducting semi-structured interviews.
The findings from the quantitative survey and descriptive survey have led to the identification of various transport related issues, such as traffic congestion, pollution, poor accessibility of public transport, weather conditions, amongst others. In addition, the existing policies were found to be incomplete as they were not addressing all the transport related issues. For example, no policy had been formulated to create awareness among the public about the benefits of using public transport. Moreover, the strategies lacked an approach that would encourage greater participation of the public in policy formulation and implementation. In addition, issues were identified in relation to funding, socio-cultural aspects, lack of a transport framework and model for Riyadh city as well as ambiguities in the roles and responsibilities of the transport management authorities.
Taking these findings into account, the researcher proposed a sustainable public transport framework and SSPTM model for Riyadh city, keeping in view the longterm goals. Overall, it has been concluded that SSPTM is an effective and efficient public transport model that can be used for designing and developing the public transport system for Riyadh city, and other similar cities across KSA and other cities in the world. However, low sample rate is one of the major limitations identified in this study due to the limited time period for data collection. Future research can focus on evaluating SSPTF in other cities in KSA and other countries.
| Date of Award | 2021 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | John Lowe (Supervisor) & David Manase (Supervisor) |