Vision for a Modern European City

Movement from point A to B in Tbilisi is often not only uncomfortable, but dangerous for all road users because of the growing transport needs (both cars and public transport) and inadequate design of roads, traffic flow management, public transport systems, and weak enforcement. For example, the majority of citizens are using public transportation; however, smooth movement is often not always possible, especially during peak evening hours. This is due to a growing population and lack of access to public transport. Meanwhile, because there is not efficient public transportation available to support this growing population, more and more cars are sharing the roads with public transport, cars are occupying pedestrian space with illegal parking. The lack of space for all users continues to generate not only anger and annoyance amongst citizens but traffic incidences on the road. There is an also an increasing tendency for more jeep and taxi users on the roads.
Air pollution is not only directly a result of transportation problems but often caused by inefficient urban development and urban sprawl. Many of the suburban places in Tbilisi are becoming increasingly unattractive for living or for business, so new development is almost exclusively concentrated in the central part of the city. Therefore, the people who are living outside of the central regions are increasingly commuting more often to the center. The city is becoming more congested, which combined with the weak transportation connection system, is the reason travelling from one place to another is often not only inconvenient but often unavailable. In Tbilisi 71% of air pollution is caused by car emissions. In Tbilisi air pollution on average is above the acceptable concentration of 3mg/m3 in some regions upwards to 3 and 4 times the acceptable limit. Traffic contributes to more than 200 harmful pollutants which is not only uncomfortable but causes severe health problems such as breathing difficulties, dizziness, headaches and long-term illnesses such as heart disease. The lack of efficient transportation systems is also why there are more car users on the roads and why breathing in Tbilisi is increasingly becoming dangerous.
The main elements of the city transport policy should be the following:
 Strengthen the competencies, capacity and expertise of the transport department;
 Improve transportation planning to realize gains in efficiency (introduce effective parking management, development a high quality public transport);
 Develop legal policies that promote transit-oriented-development in city districts, and integrate different transport modes;
 Improve regulations of private taxi services; and promote the creation of cycling and pedestrian road systems.
✅Empowering Tbilisi Transport Department
• Increase staffing and training for specific expertise (modelling, sustainable transport, inclusive city planning etc.) to promote sustainable urban mobility planning
• Expand competencies and budget to include road design, pedestrian walkways, as well as oversight over transport service providers
• Develop an integrated transport planning process for all modes under the department
Improving city transport policy is to develop legal and structural changes in order to ensure transport and safety related issues are combined in one package. The promotion of such should reduce some of the negative harms such as traffic congestion and safety. Sometimes officials make decisions on projects based on vague and confused directions. For instance in order to solve a problem with the road infrastructure such installing a traffic light, rehabilitating a road infrastructure or to obstructing the road, winning companies of the Tbilisi’s general development competition are chosen based on a contract based on three main directions of new plan creation such as: compactness, controllable mobility and environment protection. It is worth to say that these three directions are connected with the balanced and sustainable transport development in Tbilisi and therefore it should also be necessary to create transport policies that will be integrated with the land, environment, education, health and other policies in order to protect citizen’s interest and rights.
The most urgent recommendation is to improve the coordination between the transport department, public works department and health department and to develop a leading role for the transport department or other departments in Tbilisi City Hall. To start to address the problems, an implementation of a road safety audit system developed based on the standards of modern cities could identify future opportunities for improvement. The study could be a prescription for improving mobility issues in the city. These issues could address for instance transport segment that are worsening traffic. In order to promote engagement with different officials, a road safety training center could also be beneficial to facilitate training for officials to foster new skills and promote interdisciplinary engagement around improved decision-making. A training course should cover topics pertaining to improving public transport such as reducing traffic congestion through developing parking regulations, utilizing bus rapid transit during peak hours and promoting transit-oriented development in central districts. The study would examine mobility issues in the city and identify the rights of different users, then develop an adoption of legislative amendments and finally develop a written transport management policy action plan coordinated amongst the different departments.
Promoting Low-emission Public Transport
• Elaborate a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUTP) for Tbilisi
• Revamp the public transport system (buses) through rerouting, fleet renewal, and regulate and limit the Marshutka capacity.
• Institute “green zones” in the city that will favor public transport, walking and cycling and limit the attractiveness of operating private cars (via a reduced road space preferred signaling and lanes for busses, peak charging etc.).
• Introduce traffic calming measures on key black spots and dangerous roads.
• Build and rehabilitate existing infrastructure networks for cycling and walking.
A public transport development system where buses, metro, trams, trains and other transport means will be well integrated which will promote towards improved progress. The best approach to starting towards improving the transport network is to implement pilot projects to improve the system for instance by developing a park and drive or a park and bike system, which will reduce congestion and improve road safety. In order to implement innovative pilot projects in the transportation system is by developing both integrative and alternative transportation schemes in the different districts in Tbilisi. The increase of transit spaces should also be a priority for the economic development and could also contribute towards the creation of the quick movement transit spaces. Such economic development standards could create improvements through the development of parking in new construction and promotion of large plaza spaces for pedestrians. The road network should be well planned and the road function and road categories should be defined especially in new road construction based on developed standards.
Establishing Effective Parking Management
• Establish a municipal parking company to regulate and to limit parking spaces across the entire city as well as secure substantial revenues for the city budget
• Introduce restrictive parking fees and fines for illegal parking with strict enforcement.
• Convert street parking on key areas into traffic flow lanes (like turning lanes) or into bus priority lanes or biking lanes.
• Establish parking lots, and parking garages in congested areas of the city.
One of the most important problems affecting the overall system is the lack of a sufficient transport parking system. In fact, we can say that this system does not work at all. Currently Tbilisi has no regulations on parking in Tbilisi. Due to which there is lack of space along the roads for road users such as public transportation, especially for on demand alternatives such as the mini-buses, which compounds the problems of traffic congestions. When there are no spaces for a mini-bus or bus to stop, they are forced to stop in a traffic lane which creates a traffic jam. A parking study would be beneficial to identify the demands of the parking necessity on specifically the central locations in Tbilisi. A special program should be prepared, which will encourage the multi-place parking system (on the ground, under the ground, over the ground and combines ones) planning and construction should be required during especially new construction of private sector development. Besides this, it is important to inform the society about parking standards, to create and promote new demands-oriented parking system which reduces the amount of central roadway space procured by private vehicles. A city-wide parking management system should also be included in an action plan should be prepared, where different types parking policies, systems and strategy should be included in any development plan.
Creating Transport Centers and Terminals
• Promote multi-modal connections at key interchanges.
• Prevent through traffic by intercity transport operators (using a system of north, south city transit centers).
• Improve accessibility of transport nodes by foot and by bicycle.
• Improve accessibility of transport nodes for vulnerable populations.
The last improvement should be the change of urban development which should include a multidimensional system of development supported in the form of a polycentric urban structure. In this direction, the transport policy should contribute to the creation of the several different transport centers and hubs in Tbilisi, supported by large corridors. This reduces the centrality of Tbilisi where the majority of development is entirely in the city center, by which everyone commutes to and from. If this idea of developing the city around a series of “hub-and-spoke” centers connected by large transit connections such as bus-rapid-transit, then the city can start developing Tbilisi around the idea of transit-oriented development. If a good plan is development which is implemented through legislation, the city can avoid the current centripetal direction Tbilisi has been developing in recent years. Tbilisi City Hall does not have a decentralization policy plan. Additionally, transport planning, as one of the main elements of the city’s planning, does not exist and there is not enough human resource that will implement the daily monitoring and do transport analysis for improving the mentioned problems. Therefore, the city does not have the transport network development strategy or a citizens’ mobility plan. The perspectives of the transport network and transport means development are not even discussed by the citizens, experts or business representatives. Therefore, an innovative pilot project for the alternative transport could be proposed and this could be centered on bus-rapid-transit, which requires little infrastructure investment and a transport plan for the central regions in Tbilisi, which will be responsible for the above-motioned tasks.