“Effect of improving sustainable transportation indicators on quality of life in Tehran”

Abstract

Although transportation has a fundamental role in economic development and the urban life cycle, its negative consequences, such as air pollution, global warming, traffic, accidents, destruction of natural habitats, significant consumption of fossil fuels, and noise pollution, are non-negligible. These adverse effects have reduced citizens' quality of life (QOL). To decrease the complications caused by urban transportation, sustainable transportation (ST) has been recommended, which simultaneously considers three dimensions (environmental, social, and economic). Like other big cities, the metropolis of Tehran, with a population of over nine million people, is experiencing many challenges due to the lack of integration in the transportation network despite the presence of private transportation (PRT) and public transportation (PT). Air pollution, traffic, accidents, and travel time have affected the reduction of (QOL) in Tehran city. This research goal is to design an integrated model (SD) using indicators (ST) for Tehran transportation to evaluate the impact of these indicators on the (QOL) of residents of Tehran. This model using widely used (ST) indicators are designed and simulated in vansim software with four distinct scenarios. The simulation showed that with the continuation of the current conditions, the performance of ninety percent of indicators will worsen, and the (QOL) in Tehran will decrease (-60%). The best performance of the indicators is related to the simulation of the fourth scenario (doubling the price of gasoline and the capacity of (PT) and reducing the cost of access to (PT) by 50%, which improves the 93% performance of indicators and the (QOL) in Tehran by +206% (up from -60 % to +146%) compared to the current conditions.