Formalizing Public Transit in Mid-Sized Developing Cities

Mid-sized cities in developing cities face increasing demand to modernize their public transit (PT) systems to advance sustainability, equity, and resilience. Many of these cities remain dependent on informal transit modes such as minibuses, privately owned taxis, and shared vans which, despite the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hasan Shahab, Hemin Mohammed
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Koya University 2025-07-01
Series:ARO-The Scientific Journal of Koya University
Subjects:
Online Access:https://aro.koyauniversity.org/index.php/aro/article/view/2185
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849705482465312768
author Hasan Shahab
Hemin Mohammed
author_facet Hasan Shahab
Hemin Mohammed
author_sort Hasan Shahab
collection DOAJ
description Mid-sized cities in developing cities face increasing demand to modernize their public transit (PT) systems to advance sustainability, equity, and resilience. Many of these cities remain dependent on informal transit modes such as minibuses, privately owned taxis, and shared vans which, despite their flexibility, often lead to operational inefficiencies, safety risks, and limited accessibility. This review examines strategies for transitioning to formal public bus transit (BT) systems through analysis of peer-reviewed literature. The analysis is organized around five core domains that directly reflect the structure of this study: assessment of the current state of PT systems, strategies for transitioning from informal to formal networks, selection of appropriate PT modes for mid-sized cities, planning processes for BT systems, and sustainable and resilient approaches for BT development. Based on these findings, this study proposes a structured decision-support framework in the form of a decision tree to guide context-sensitive formalization efforts. Future studies should prioritize long-term impact evaluation, inclusive transition mechanisms for informal operators, and the integration of smart and sustainable technologies.
format Article
id doaj-art-68079a2e7aa14837ac35b3a0458aec96
institution DOAJ
issn 2410-9355
2307-549X
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Koya University
record_format Article
series ARO-The Scientific Journal of Koya University
spelling doaj-art-68079a2e7aa14837ac35b3a0458aec962025-08-20T03:16:28ZengKoya UniversityARO-The Scientific Journal of Koya University2410-93552307-549X2025-07-0113210.14500/aro.12185Formalizing Public Transit in Mid-Sized Developing CitiesHasan Shahab0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9500-1908Hemin Mohammed1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6123-5573Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Soran University, Main Campus, Soran, Kurdistan Region – F.R. IraqDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Trine University, One University Avenue, Indiana, Angola Mid-sized cities in developing cities face increasing demand to modernize their public transit (PT) systems to advance sustainability, equity, and resilience. Many of these cities remain dependent on informal transit modes such as minibuses, privately owned taxis, and shared vans which, despite their flexibility, often lead to operational inefficiencies, safety risks, and limited accessibility. This review examines strategies for transitioning to formal public bus transit (BT) systems through analysis of peer-reviewed literature. The analysis is organized around five core domains that directly reflect the structure of this study: assessment of the current state of PT systems, strategies for transitioning from informal to formal networks, selection of appropriate PT modes for mid-sized cities, planning processes for BT systems, and sustainable and resilient approaches for BT development. Based on these findings, this study proposes a structured decision-support framework in the form of a decision tree to guide context-sensitive formalization efforts. Future studies should prioritize long-term impact evaluation, inclusive transition mechanisms for informal operators, and the integration of smart and sustainable technologies. https://aro.koyauniversity.org/index.php/aro/article/view/2185Informal modes of transitPublic transitResilient bus transitSustainable bus transitTransit planningUrban mobility
spellingShingle Hasan Shahab
Hemin Mohammed
Formalizing Public Transit in Mid-Sized Developing Cities
ARO-The Scientific Journal of Koya University
Informal modes of transit
Public transit
Resilient bus transit
Sustainable bus transit
Transit planning
Urban mobility
title Formalizing Public Transit in Mid-Sized Developing Cities
title_full Formalizing Public Transit in Mid-Sized Developing Cities
title_fullStr Formalizing Public Transit in Mid-Sized Developing Cities
title_full_unstemmed Formalizing Public Transit in Mid-Sized Developing Cities
title_short Formalizing Public Transit in Mid-Sized Developing Cities
title_sort formalizing public transit in mid sized developing cities
topic Informal modes of transit
Public transit
Resilient bus transit
Sustainable bus transit
Transit planning
Urban mobility
url https://aro.koyauniversity.org/index.php/aro/article/view/2185
work_keys_str_mv AT hasanshahab formalizingpublictransitinmidsizeddevelopingcities
AT heminmohammed formalizingpublictransitinmidsizeddevelopingcities