Evaluating Urban Streets and Public Transportation in Karbala City Using GIS

Abstract

Because of the privilege of the city of Karbala with its religious character, this city has become a destination for all visitors from all cities of the world; as a consequence, there are now more people living in Karbala, which has increased the number of vehicles on the road and, consequently, the amount of traffic congestion. In this study, the degrees of public transportation service in the city of Karbala as well as the urban road network, were assessed using GIS. The collected data include the number of nodes, links, and the total length of Karbala's urban road network using a GIS program and traffic composition (bus and minibus). Then, a set of coefficients for evaluating the urban road network was calculated) β- Index, α- Index, γ- Index, η- Index and GTP- Index), After determining the percentage of buses and minibusses, it became clear that public transportation in Karbala is very weak and needs development, as the percentage of buses and minibusses did not exceed 30% of the total traffic volume.