Istanbul is amongst the first 20 cities in the world that were defined by UNESCO. 20% of the total population of Turkey lives in Istanbul. %25 of all economic activities in Turkey take place in Istanbul. Due to these economic activities and the high population mobility in the city is very high. According to the 2011 Transportation Master Plan of Istanbul 20 million trips were conducted in the Istanbul that year. Accessibility of places and services is very important for urbanization and for participation in community life. Benefitting from social equity in a community in terms of accessibility is a human right. Thus the rights of disadvantaged groups must be taken into consideration when considering transportation.
In this study the stations of BRT which is a very important public transport system in Istanbul will be examined in terms of accessibility. The aim of the study is to examine what should be done for disabled accessibility at BRT stations by using examples of accessible and inaccessible stations in the Istanbul BRT system. The second part of the study looks at accessibility at transfer stations. The stations chosen for the study are Edirnekapı station as a problematic station in terms of disabled accessibility, Beylikdüzü Belediye station as successful and Zeytinburnu station as a transfer center where BRT, tramway, and LRT intersect.
The aim of the study is to develop suggestions to improve disabled accessibility at BRT stations by examining examples of successful and unsuccessful stations.