Oil rich countries and sustainable mobility: Challenges in Tabriz

Tabriz is a typical example of the medium sized and developing cities in oil rich countries. The city is a growing economic centre and urban agglomeration of Iran where a number of transport improvements and policy challenges are ahead. The very low level of fuel prices coupled with the insufficient public transport has brought about road based transportation patterns particularly encouraging the private vehicle trips. Obviously, any timely attempt to re-arrange the fuel and car taxes in line with the public transport improvements will achieve better sustainable mobility aims. Therefore, this paper investigates the current transportation problems and further discusses the future policy challenges within a framework of sustainable mobility through utilizing the results of a preliminary survey conducted to evaluate the citizens' perceptions and responses to the current policy making and planning issues in Tabriz.