Evaluation of the travel demand and proper solution suggestion for developing public bus transport: a case study in Ahwaz city

This paper describes the evaluation of the travel demand and suggests a proper solution for developing public bus transport in Ahwaz city in Iran. Public bus transport is a multi-purpose public transportation system that is used widely for transporting passengers in medium and small cities. In the last decade, the development of cities and the increase in vehicles have caused environmental pollution and the traffic problems. Therefore, a sophisticated public transportation system should be designed. The problems with the present public bus transportation in Ahwaz city are discussed and bus travel demand is evaluated by using population data. In addition, the number of necessary public vehicles for solving passenger transport demand is estimated by using three methods.