Analysis of passengers' travel behaviors and attitudes towards the BRT line in Istanbul

Abstract

Rapid increase in population of big cities resulted in a need for a better designed public transportation with higher service quality, which eventually urged authorities to implement fast and cost effective systems. Bus Rapid Transit ( BRT ) has been designed as one of the most feasible transport systems. This study gives a brief information about the BRT line in Istanbul and investigates the travel behaviors and attitudes of the riders towards the BRT line in Istanbul by conducting a questionnaire. The data collected from 252 respondents. The results demonstrated that the service quality of the BRT line has statistically signi cant effect on the passenger attitudes towards the BRT line. Respondents rated the BRT line capacity as insufficient. They rated the system on the average 2.18 points over 5 for the capacity sufficiency. 56% of the respondents prefer the BRT line rather for its speed than for the quality of the service provided by the BRT line. Also, the socio-economic characteristics have signi cant effects on attitudes towards the BRT line. The respondents in the low income levels use the BRT line more frequently than the respondents in higher income levels. The features studied can be considered when improving the BRT line in the future.