Perception of Safety within Intermediate Public Transportation Systems: The Case of Minibüs1 in İstanbul

Minibüs, as well as other intermediate public transportation systems, continue to be a much-neglected field of study in Turkey despite its significance in urban transportation. Having evolved in response to unmet needs of a growing urban population, minibüs provides a remarkable insight about an adventitious and informal urban culture. The uncertain and irregular nature of minibüs, as an intermediate public transportation system, generates fears and concerns about personal safety. Moving from a series of focus group studies conducted in January and February 2018, this paper claims that the examination of perception of safety of passengers is key to understanding the operation and the distinctive features of this specific intermediate public transportation system. Research findings indicate that the appearance of minibüs and the comfort of passengers are critical in people’s perception of safety. As visual, audio and olfactive stimuli represent minibüs as a private enterprise, the passengers are torn between the conception of using a public transportation and being exposed a setting that intimidates them for the sake of a shorter or a cheaper ride. One crucial finding derived from the focus group study is that participants describe minibüs as a compulsion rather than a preference. It also became clear that they have adopted various tactics to facilitate their state of discomfort and fear such as getting off at far-out places or choosing a different time of the day for travel. However, these tactics pave the way for new vulnerabilities. It appears to be obvious that the flexibility, the size and the range of service provided by the minibüs have its own potentials and weaknesses. In a metropolitan city of a daily commuting volume of 32 million, it is important to learn from this informally developed system relying on a basic supply-demand chain. As it is, minibüs is an important research field to understand the needs of the passengers, limits of city’s land use and transportation planning mechanisms. Arguably – as long as minibüs remains to a private establishment, efforts to overcome its weaknesses will remain frantic. However, its careful analysis can be an effective tool to improve the existing formal public transportation.

Ara Toplu Taşıma Sistemlerinde Güvenlik Algısı: İstanbul’da Minibüs Örneği

Kentsel taşımacılıkta önemli bir yeri olmasına rağmen minibüs ve ara toplu taşıma sistemleri Türk yazınında yeterince yer bulamamıştır. İhtiyaçları karşılan(a)mayan ve hızla büyüyen kentsel nüfusun ihtiyaçlarına cevap olarak ortaya çıkan minibüs taşımacılığı, kendiliğinden ve enformel gelişen bir kent kültürüne de ışık tutması açısından önemlidir. Doğası gereği belirsizlik ve kuralsızlığın etkin olduğu minibüs taşımacılığı kişisel güvenlik ile ilgili kaygı ve korkuları arttırıcı etkiye sahiptir. Bu makale, Ocak ve Şubat 2018’de gerçekleştirilen odak grup çalışmalarında elde edilen veriler ışığında güvenlik algısı ve güvenlik algısını etkileyen etmenleri ortaya çıkarmayı hedeflemektedir. Bu çalışma güvenlik algısının; bir sistemin nasıl çalıştığının ve özgün niteliklerinin anlaşılması için anahtar nitelikte olduğunu savunmaktadır. Çalışma bulguları, görüntü ve konforun güvenlik algısını etkileyen önemli faktörler olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Görsel, işitsel ve kokusal uyaranlar minibüsün özel bir işletme olduğunu vurgular nitelikte olduğundan yolcular minibüste, bir toplu taşıma sisteminde özel mekan kurgusuna maruz kalmakta, bu da güvenlik algılarını olumsuz etkilemektedir. Çalışmadan elde edilen bir önemli bulgu da katılımcıların minibüs taşımacılığını tercih değil mecburiyet olarak tarif etmeleri ile ilgilidir. Odak grup tartışmalarının açık bir şekilde ortaya koyduğu üzere katılımcılar kendi korku ve rahatsızlıklarını hafifletebilmek için stratejik taktikler geliştirmekte, yolculukları ile ilgili hal ve tavırlarını; inmesi gereken durakta inmemek, seyahat zamanlamasını değiştirmek gibi güvenlikle ilgili yeni kırılganlıklar geliştirmelerine sebep olan belirli değişiklikler yaparak modifiye etmektedirler. Esneklik, büyüklük ve sunduğu hizmet açısından değerlendirildiğinde minibüs taşımacılığının potansiyelleri olduğu kadar zayıf yönleri de bulunmaktadır. 32 milyon günlük yolculuk hacmi olan metropoliten bir şehirde, basit bir arz-talep dengesine dayalı olarak gelişmiş enformel bir sistemin dinamiklerini anlamak önemlidir. Minibüs taşımacılığı, yolcu taleplerini, kentin mekânsal sınırlılıklarını ve ulaşım planlaması mekanizmalarını anlamak için önemli bir araştırma sahasıdır. Minibüs taşımacılığının iyileştirilmesine yönelik çalışmalar verimli olmayacaktır; ancak bu sistemin derinlemesine bir analizinin yapılması, mevcut toplu taşıma sistemlerinin geliştirilmesi için bir araç olma potansiyeli taşımaktadır.

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