Impact of Improved Public Transportation in Hot Climate: Doha as Case Study

摘要

In the last few years, tremendous changes have taken place in Doha, the capital city of Qatar. These include rapid population growth, great improvements in education, the hosting of international events, and diverse economic development. All of these factors have led to an increase in the number of private cars in the city, leading to significant traffic congestion. To solve this problem, meet the goals of Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030, and successfully sponsor the upcoming World Cup 2022 mega-event, the Transport Master Plan for Qatar (TMPQ) 2006-2026 was developed. This includes recommendations to expand the bus network and introduce a metro and rail system. Most of the people in Qatar have private cars, which they generally consider necessary for door-to-door trips because of the hot arid climate. The currently existing public transportation system is mostly used by blue-collar workers and has numerous deficiencies in areas such as timetable reliability, fare and ticket integration, access to trip planning information, network coverage, and service frequency.;Therefore, in order to develop a successful public transportation system, it is crucial to examine people's thermal perception of outdoor spaces, particularly in terms of microclimate, and people's adaptive actions in response to Qatar's hot climate. To ensure that such a system is practical, it is also necessary to consider how such a system's components should be integrated. In the research project presented in this thesis, the thermal comfort issue was explored by considering both microclimatic measurements and people's self-described perception of microclimate at particular locations, as determined via questionnaire. The integration issue was explored by interviewing responsible engineers and planners from different institutions, and by reviewing the Qatar Interim Bus Action Plan 2014-2020 and the Qatar Rail Development Project. The outcomes of the research reveal that psychological adaptations improve people's thermal tolerance to the outdoor climate in Qatar, so that they are largely able to adapt successfully to the heat. However, the findings also show that people's thermal comfort could be further enhanced through minor modifications to the outdoor environment, such as by the use of shading elements and vegetation. With respect to the issue of integration, current plans for the public transportation system under development show a high level of integration in a number of areas -- including services, networking, physical infrastructure, fares and ticketing, and information systems -- that can be expected to lead to a system of high quality.