Sustainability Impact of Bus Priority Treatments in Small-Scale Cities

Abstract

Bus priority treatments (BPTs) are among the effective alternative solutions that provide significant advantages to urban transport. The literature has revealed some of the benefits of BPTs in various aspects. In this study, the sustainability impact of BPTs on cities has been investigated with numerous interviews. The study has been conducted by considering the economic, social and environmental factors, which are the three main pillars of sustainability, in a balanced way. This study is unique because it focuses on cities with small population and considers the sustainability impact approaches that have not been applied for BPTs in previous studies. The study results show that BPTs have a high potential to positively affect cities, in social, environmental and economic aspects. It is thus concluded that they can provide significant advantages to cities in the three main pillars of sustainability. This study has also revealed that BPTs can contribute positively to the sustainability of small-scale cities as well as medium-/large-scale cities.