A study on the improvement of bicycle transportation in Sivas city using hybrid multi-criteria model based network analysis

Abstract

The bicycle stands out as a sustainability-friendly vehicle due to its benefits for health, the environment, and the economy. However, the deficiencies and inadequacies in the cycling infrastructure prevent a safe and comfortable riding environment, in addition to indirectly preventing the widespread use of bicycles. This study aims to integrate a few disconnected bicycle routes in a city and create a bicycle road network that will allow the efficient use of bicycles in the urban area by using a Hybrid Multi-Criteria Model-Based Network Analysis. In the study, considering the physical, social, and visual criteria that should be used when determining bicycle paths, the suitability weight of each road line for bicycle transportation was determined. In this step, the bicycle path network was created using the weighted roads between the important points of the city in terms of tourism, trade, education, health, culture, transportation, and recreation areas. The most suitable bicycle routes were generated by network analysis considering the weighted roads that were determined by a model hybridized with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and analytic network process (ANP) methods and minimum distances. When the eligibility checks of the obtained routes were made, it was determined that while 99.7% of the roads passed through moderately suitable, suitable, and very suitable roads, only 0.3% of the new routes passed through unsuitable roads. The findings revealed that both efficient and less costly bicycle lines can be created using the proposed method.