The debate over visitors congestion in Türkiye’s most populated metropolis, Istanbul, revived following latest feedback by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggesting an “Istanbul entry fee” just like the system in London, an thought he had as soon as thought-about whereas serving because the mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB).
“There has to be a cost for entering Istanbul. Look, you cannot enter London! There are certain rules in London,” the president famous and drew consideration to the visitors congestion cost system carried out within the U.Okay. capital.
According to analysis carried out by the Sabah newspaper, the fare system carried out all through virtually all of London has led residents to make use of extra public transport. The change has led to a discount in city visitors density and air air pollution.
In London, numerous components corresponding to whether or not the car is gasoline or diesel, outdated or new, and whether or not the driving force of the car resides within the area, impression the costs levied. Between 7 a.m.-6 p.m. on weekdays and 12 p.m.-6 p.m. on weekends and on public holidays, a price of 15 kilos ($18.30) per day is charged within the “congestion” zone.
The price works just like the bridge tolls in Türkiye, with digital cameras monitoring license plates and thereby issuing charges to drivers – with public transportation exempted.
Using the talked about system, it’s mentioned that the visitors density dropped by 30% in districts of the U.Okay.’s capital the place it was carried out.
Low and Ultra Low Emission Zones are additionally allotted in London. Motor autos over a sure age pay a further “pollution tax” to fight air air pollution. It additionally prices twice as a lot to get into central London for drivers who drive outdated vehicles. It is said that the air high quality within the metropolis has improved with the coverage, which was put into apply six years in the past.
Meanwhile, each locals and guests in Istanbul, Türkiye’s most populous metropolis with round 16 million residents, are confronted with a big challenge of visitors congestion. While the town skilled momentary reduction from the visitors challenge throughout the coronavirus pandemic when fewer autos had been on the roads, the scenario worsened within the three years that adopted.
According to a number of reviews, together with the one compiled by TomTom in 2021, the Turkish metropolis topped the checklist of the cities with the worst visitors congestion.
An annual report by an automotive navigation system producer – that focuses on roughly round 400 cities around the globe analyzing information corresponding to journey time, gasoline prices and carbon emissions – analyzed over a 12 months’s visitors information on 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles) of Istanbul’s roadways. It was found that touring a distance that often takes solely quarter-hour may take as much as 50 minutes.
Apart from tens of millions of its inhabitants who usually commute from the Asian to the European a part of Istanbul and vice versa for work, Istanbul can also be one of the crucial visited metropolises on the planet, full of vacationers year-round. The nation’s most well-known metropolis, and its largest by inhabitants, Istanbul remained the highest draw for international guests, welcoming greater than 16 million vacationers in 2022, in keeping with official information from the Culture and Tourism Ministry in January 2023.
Particularly, throughout the morning rush hour of 8 a.m.-10 a.m. and the night rush hour of 5 p.m.-8 p.m., visitors in Istanbul is often congested. These are the standard and anticipated peak hours of visitors. However, sudden visitors can come up at any time and in virtually any space of the town.
Spikes in visitors are sometimes witnessed previous to public holidays and throughout the begin of faculty semesters. This raises questions on how visitors within the nation’s most populated metropolis ought to be regulated, resulting in proposals such because the system utilized in London – by levying a every day fare from autos coming into the town heart.
The growing numbers of autos, visitors congestion and heavy maritime visitors are confirmed causes of air pollution worldwide, and Istanbul will not be an exception. The official figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reveal 4.94 million autos being registered within the megacity as of December 2022, equivalent to the mixed inhabitants of 23 provinces in Türkiye. Transport specialists prior to now usually reiterated that the variety of autos in Istanbul “equals to one-fifth of the vehicles in all of Türkiye,” thus immediately posing a threat by way of emissions.
Professor Mustafa Ilicali, who serves as the top of the Transportation Center at Istanbul Ticaret University, famous in October 2022 that a number of measures, together with growing the variety of lanes, maritime visitors transport choices and assorted working hours, ought to be carried out to counter visitors congestion, and in addition the alarming air pollution arising from it.
The “Dark Report” from the nonprofit Right to Clean Air Platform (THHP) shared on Thursday evaluated the air high quality within the nation. The report discovered that poor air high quality in Türkiye, which had ranked sixth among the many prime 10 causes of loss of life and incapacity for all ages, had moved as much as fifth on the checklist of causes that result in air pollution-related illnesses. The identical report revealed in 2020 famous that Istanbul ranked excessive among the many 45 provinces that surpassed nationwide limits on pollution, with Edirne and Denizli within the western a part of the nation making the checklist as properly.
As per the final figures on air air pollution compiled by Anadolu Agency (AA) in January, the typical particulate matter (PM10) – an indicator of air air pollution focus measured in Istanbul in 2021 – stood at 38.2 micrograms per cubic meter. Yet, this determine was recorded at 41.5 micrograms per cubic meter in 2022, thus exhibiting a rise of 9%.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
