Evaluating Transportation Preferences for Special Events: A Case Study for a Megacity, Istanbul

Traffic congestion is one of the major problems of large metropolitan cities. Apart from recurrent congestion that is a regular disturbance for inhabitants of these cities; irregular congestion borne by issues such as traffic incidents or special events is another aspect in this context. The focal point of this paper is the special events which are activities planned in advance and significantly increases travel demand. For this aim, a revealed preference survey is conducted at three major venues belonging to three popular football teams in Istanbul and a binary logit model of mode choice preferences for trips to these venues is estimated. The results indicate that public transport is predominantly preferred for special event trips. However, a limited inclination for the use of private vehicle is observed for older and high-income individuals as well as for shorter trips.