THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CAR DEPENDENCY AND USE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN DUHOK CITY- BARRIERS ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between car dependency and the use of
public transportation in Duhok city. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that hinder the
use of public transportation and the reasons for the absence of public transportation, as well as to
determine how to make the young generation change their mobility culture from a passenger car-based
system to use public transport. This study was a qualitative study, which consists of Duhok city as a case
study for this research, in which purposive, simple random and theoretical sampling was adopted. Two
types of Semi-structured interview questions were used one with open-ended questions with governmental
experts, the other was open, and the closed-ended question that was used with public people of Duhok city
in order to collect the information about transportation situation in Duhok city. This research practiced a
qualitative research approach, thus for analyzing data, a thematic coding analysis has been applied.
Moreover, for the analysis of close-ended questions, some charts and graphs have been made by utilizing
Microsoft Excel Program. This method has been done in order to avoid bias and support data analyzed by
other methods of analysis. The study found out that the vehicle or passenger car is the main transport
mode in Duhok city, the passenger car provides accessibility and flexibility which public transportation
cannot and this is due to the absence of a convenient public transport in Duhok city. In addition, it was
pointed out that people can change their minds about favoring the use of public transport over cars, first
by developing well-constructed and planned public transport, also with the available of various modes
that need to be well integrated with other forms of non-motorized transport, such as pedestrian walkway
system, cycling, and taxis.