IZMIR AN EFFICIENT, INTEGRATED TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Key words: Urban governance; Transport-system integration

Monograph written by Camille MARTINET and Julien ALLAIRE, based on the presentation by Aysin NALÂN YETMEN, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality (Barcelona conference, 2011). Intellectual property of CODATU

Latest update: 16/08/2012

Izmir Izmir, located in western Turkey on the Aegean Sea coast, is the country’s thirdlargest metropolitan area by population. Served by several railway lines, it is the country’s second-largest port after Istanbul. To relieve road congestion in this fast-growing city, the municipality has decided to implement a major project to integrate its transport systems.

AN EFFICIENT, INTEGRATED TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Turkey Population: 72,752,000 inhab. Area: 783,562 sq. km Density: 92.8 inhab. / sq. km Urbanisation rate: 69.60% Annual rate of urbanpopulation growth (20052010): 1.93% GDP / inhabitant: $10,094.1 HDI: 0.699 / 1 Car ownership: 95 vehicles per 1,000 inhab. Vehicles per km of road: 29 Accident rate: 0.62 fatal accidents per 10,000 inhab.

Izmir Population: 4,000,000 inhab. (2010) Area: 11,810 sq. km Density: 340 inhab. / sq. km Length of lines: Metro: 14.2 km

Sources: World Bank – UNDP – Aysin Nalân Yetmen – Urbanrail.net

Key words: Urban governance; Transport-system integration Based on the presentation by Aysin Nalân Yetmen, Head of Transport Planning Department, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality (Barcelona conference, 2011) 1.

In Turkey, there is no national agency in charge of coordinating urban transport.2 Each municipality has its own development and management responsibilities. Frequently, the same public agency is both the direct operator of public transport and the authority that oversees private-sector transport.

AN EARLY FARE-INTEGRATION PROCESS Since the early 1990s, Izmir’s strategy has been to put in place a fully-integrated transport system. This began in 1991, when private minibuses were restricted to serving rural areas only. The ticketing system did not integrate the various modes of transport and was inefficient: users had to buy single-use paper tickets for bus journeys, and tokens for ferry journeys. This meant a high cost for users; there was no fraud prevention; and journey data could not be collected. In 1999, a system 1 2

Integrated public transport in Izmir – Aysin Nalân Yetmen. Economic affairs office of the French embassy in Ankara – 2008.

for electronic payment of transport services was introduced. This is controlled by ESHOT (Izmir’s public agency for transport) and the general management of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. Once operational, the “Kentkart” card allowed users to travel by bus and ferry with preferential fares compared to those of paper-ticket users. Most passengers used it to receive discounts on multi-stage journeys. This fare integration preceded the launch of a vast programme to transform the transport offering, which coincided with the opening of a new metro line.

TRANSPORT TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME In 2000, the municipality of Izmir launched its “transport transformation” programme, geared to restructuring public-transport service and thus increasing use. Over the past 10 years, private cars have taken up increasing space in this Turkish city: between 1998 and 2005, the number of motorised vehicles grew by 52%. 3 Car ownership in Izmir is higher than the Turkish average: 126 cars per 1,000 inhabitants in 2008, compared to 95 nationally. 4 This has obviously exacerbated congestion. The programme aimed to improve integration between the various transport modes and to make public transport – particularly by rail and sea – attractive in order to relieve the road network. In phase one of the programme, buses and ferries were integrated into Izmir’s public transport system. The Kentkart also covered these two modes. In addition, bus fares were revised. The price is no longer fixed, but based on the distance travelled across up to four zones (long-, mid- and shortdistance bus, and connection buses). The connection buses offer a low-cost journey and link the transit hubs between the centres of activity, universities, shopping centre, new metro stations and ferries. In the sea-transport sector, the ferry fleet was expanded, and new wharfs and park-and-ride facilities were built. These reforms heralded the entry into service of a first light-metro line in May 2000. This section, 11.5 km long, is the first phase of the project being run by the city, which wants to build 50 km of lines. 5 This first line, which can carry up to 17,700 passengers an hour in each direction, soon beat the initial forecast of 40,000 journeys a day. In April 2011, the metro was used for 100,000 journeys daily. The project was funded by export credits from the United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany, and by commercial loans from international banking consortia. When the metro entered service, it was immediately covered by the Kentkart. In 2004, the paper bus tickets used by occasional travellers were discontinued permanently and were replaced by the “onboard card”. But this card created other problems. Because the bus driver was handling money, vehicle operation speed and safety were reduced. In the same year, ESHOT’s scope was extended. More Kentkart retail outlets were opened across the city, and on/in bus platforms and terminals. Users entitled to free travel (the elderly, public-sector 3

www.turkstat.gov.tr Tüik Izmir, Directorate of Izmir Region. 5 Bombardier designed and built tunnels, viaducts and stations; and installed and commissioned the entire system. http://www.bombardier.com/fr/transport/produits-et-services/systemes-de-transport/systemes-devehicules-legers-sur-rail/izmir--turquie?docID=0901260d80014594 4

workers, disabled people, etc.) must also use an electronic Kentkart so that their travel data are processed. In 2008, a new fare policy was introduced. After a first journey at the full rate, connecting journeys cost half-price for 90 minutes. In August, a single ticket is enough. In 2012, the fare policy changed again: city-centre travellers, having initially punched their ticket, enjoy unlimited use of the whole system for 90 minutes. However, if transferring to a provincial bus, they must pay again. In 2010, suburban trains were integrated into the system and joined the Kentkart scheme. This meant the entire public-transport system of Izmir was now unified. Multimodal hubs have since multiplied. There are five connecting stations for ferry/bus, four for bus/metro, and 16 for bus/suburban train. On 30 March 2012, the metro-line extension (2.3 km) entered service. This has enabled the launch of phase two of the “transport transformation” project. The bus network has again been redesigned in order to optimise integration of all modes.

In parallel to these operations, ESHOT regularly runs campaigns to communicate on the benefits of public transport. Aysin Nalân Yetmen lists the advantages of an integrated public transport system: -

Less bus traffic, so less urban pollution. Cheaper transport. A faster, higher-quality service. Shorter waiting times for passengers. Savings for citizens, thanks to distance-based fares. Higher productivity and rising operation speed. Far more efficient transport and more intense mobility. Increased revenue (+47%).

- The Kentkart allows us to collect travel data and, once they have been processed, to provide statistics that are useful for the future planning of the whole system. 6

PROJECTS According to the metropolitan transport master plan for the period up to 2030, 7 Izmir plans to extend its suburban train network by 108 km and then to connect all industrial and all tourist sites. The upgrade of a suburban train line running from north to south of the conurbation is also under study. 8 This line will be integrated into the future urban express network. The line already in operation, which carries some 550,000 travellers daily, is scheduled for extension – at present, there is only one suburban train line (see network map). The municipality also plans to develop a modern tramway in order to reduce the number of buses on the roads. New embarkations will also be created to make the ferries more efficient. In addition, the municipality plans to upgrade bus stops with smart systems; integrate minibuses (in 2012) and the tramway (2015); and integrate taxis into the whole system. As shown in the table below, the rail network is set to become one of the main modes of motorised travel, by winning customers from urban buses and minibuses. In addition, the municipality is also aiming to reduce the share of cars in the modal mix.

Figure 1: The modal mix of transport in 2005, and the modal shares targeted by the “Transport transformation” project.

6

Eltis – Faciliter les transports publics à Izmir: la carte de transport « Kentkart » (“Facilitating public transport in Izmir: the ‘Kentkart’ travel card”). 7 http://www.izmir.bel.tr/en/projelerb.asp?pID=84&psID=0 8 The European Investment Bank provided €150 million of project finance – Economic affairs office of the French embassy in Ankara – 2008.

CONCLUSION The development of an integrated transport system and an appropriate fare policy increased the number of public transport users by 14% between 1999 and 2003. In 2003, 36 million people used the metropolitan system. 9 Except for buses, which saw a temporary drop in use due to intensive network restructuring, the number of passengers in other modes has seen steady growth.

9

Eltis – “Transformation in transportation” in Izmir.