Assessment of Transit Congestion for Sustainable Urban Transport Management in Quetta, Pakistan

Abstract

Transit congestion has been followed by increasing population migration from rural to urban areas in the Quetta metropolis, which causes transit congestion. This study determines the degree and depth of transit congestion on different roads in the Quetta metropolis. For this, both quantitative and qualitative descriptive research designs have been used. In this regard, a convenience sampling of 130 respondents was recorded, i.e., pedestrians, administrative officials, and road/street drivers. This study finds that traffic transit in the Quetta metropolis is highly congested between 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. The transit congestion in Quetta metropolis is daily; at least 30 minutes of time is wasted in traffic jams. The study also finds that there is no transit congestion information system in the Quetta metropolis. The main causes of transit congestion are illegal on-street vehicle parking, school and office timing, non-availability of traffic signals, frequency of vehicles, population growth, old vehicles, and sometimes heavy rainfall. Furthermore, the effects of transit congestion are annoyance, noise pollution, health issues and fuel consumption. The study recommends adequate parking arrangements, improved public transport, ensuring flexible work schedules, employing more traffic wardens or police, appropriate traffic signals, implementation of strict traffic rules and a transit congestion information system to manage transit congestion in the Quetta metropolis.