Article in Journal of Sustainability Science and Management · April 019 citations 11 reads 1,581 authors: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects

Results and Discussion 
 
The results presented the AHP analysis on 
factors undermining the utilization of public 
transportation in Dammam. The values in 
Figure 2 were vectors of priorities generated 
from the matrix, which must sum up to one 
as explained previously. Thus, the results of 
opinions computed by the Expert Choice 2000 
software are shown in Figures 3 and 4. This 
sort of automatic computation had enabled
the derivation of priorities (weights), CI and 
sensitivity analyses based on the eigenvalue 
technique (Ishizaka & Labib, 2011). 

---

Journal of Sustainability Science and Management 
Volume 14 Number 2, April 2019 : 157-171 
Umar Lawal Dano and Ali Muflah Alqathany 
165 
Figure 2: Pairwise comparison of factors 
Figure 3: Priorities of the factors with respect to the goal of the study 
Using the CR calculated from Equation 5, 
the inconsistency ratio was 0.03, which was 
quite reasonable. Based on the results in Figure 
4, travel time was the most important with a W 
value of 0.285, followed by privacy at 0.262 and 
weather conditions at 0.127. Hence, according to 
these findings, travel time, privacy and weather 
conditions were the most important factors 
that undermined public transport provision and 
development in Dammam. 
Figure 4: Final priority weights (W) of factors. 
Dammam has been experiencing enormous 
urban growth because of its strategic location as 
an oil hub and port city facing the Persian Gulf. 
The city had expanded rapidly between 1972 
and 2004, from 2200 ha to 25000 ha, multiplying 
approximately 11 times within 30 years. At the 
same time, the population growth was around 
4.6 times (Abou-Korin, 2011; Alhowaish, 
2015). Its urban population increased in 1974, 
1993, 2004 and 2010, from 365,000 to 1.3, 1.75 
and 1.8 million people, respectively. With these 
growth rates, the city’s population was predicted 
to reach 3.25 to 3.62 million people in 2040, 
with an increase of approximately 1.5 to 1.9 
million people in the next 25 years (Aboukorin 
& Al-shihri, 2015). 
The growth of Dammam had been 
associated with challenges, such as high-energy 
consumption, traffic congestion, road accidents 
and environmental pollution. In tackling those 
issues, initiatives to promote public transport 
utilization should be implemented. This could 
be achieved by enhancing the quality of services 
in terms of punctuality to reduce waiting time, 
good walking facilities to the public transport 

---

Journal of Sustainability Science and Management 
Volume 14 Number 2, April 2019 : 157-171 
166 
ISSUES UNDERMINING PUBLIC TRANSPORT UTILIZATION IN 
DAMMAM CITY, SAUDI ARABIA: AN EXPERT-BASED ANALYSIS 
hubs to minimize exposure to harsh weather, 
and ensuring better privacy and comfort. 
According to the results, travel time was
the most undermining factor with 28.5 % 
influence. Residents were used to travelling 
in private vehicles and had the perception that 
public transport was not an efficient mode of 
commuting. This was followed by privacy 
concerns (26.2% influence) and weather 
conditions (12.7 % influence). 
These observations were consistent with 
Aljoufie (2016), who stressed that improving 
privacy would attract more people to use public 
transport because it was an important issue in 
Saudi Arabia, which practised male guardianship 
in its society. Lastly, weather conditions were the 
third most undermining factor as residents found 
it difficult to wait for transport in the city’s harsh 
weather, especially between May and August. 
Thus, people continued to depend on private 
cars for daily commuting (Dano, 2018). 
Twenty years ago, Saudi Arabia reported 
four million road accidents that caused 86,000 
deaths and 611,000 injuries, seven percent of 
which resulted in permanent disabilities (Arab 
News, 2013). This was partly because of the 
high dependency on private cars in the country, 
where there were approximately 12 million 
vehicles on the roads of Saudi Arabia daily (US 
Department of Commerce, 2017). It was, 
therefore, necessary for decision-makers to take 
steps to reduce the use of private cars within the 
city. 
The Saudi government had initiated smart 
city projects to help realize the country’s Vision 
2030. The initiatives included metro projects 
in Riyadh, Dammam, Makkah, Madinah and 
Jeddah. For instance, in Dammam, the plan was 
to build 50 km of light rail transit, 110 km of
bus lanes, and 350 km of highways to connect 
the city’s peripheries (BNC Network, 2016). 
According to Aina (2017), the completion of 
these projects could lead to a decrease in GHG 
emission and traffic congestion in the major 
Saudi cities. However, the study highlighted that 
the lack of legal framework in implementingthe 
smart city projects, lack of regulation tomanage 
interoperability and implementation, and lack of 
uniform vision among stakeholders and funding 
would become challenges in the projects. Even if 
the metro projects were successfully completed, 
it would be quite challenging to get Saudis to 
shift from car dependency to public transport. 
However, a study by Aljoufie & Tiwari (2017) 
found that 66 % of respondents preferred a 
smart city with an efficient mass transit service. 
Notwithstanding, there wasaneedtointroduce 
a regime of disincentives as recommended by 
some experts. Tolls, parking fees, taxes and 
higher fuel price would help immensely in 
compelling city residents to use public transport. 
Secondly, the zoning policies in Saudi Arabia as 
a whole supported low density andleapfrogging 
developments (Abubakar & Aina, 2016). Much 
focus was given to developing new residential 
zones with free and ample parking spaces in
the outskirts instead of existing neighborhoods 
within cities. This had led to the implementation 
of misguided regulations, a dearth of effective 
planning structure and weak urban management 
practices (Alshuwaikhat & Nkwenti, 2002).
All these aforementioned challenges have led 
to chaotic patterns of development and lack 
of linkages between the land uses and public 
transportation (Abubakar & Aina, 2016). 
Therefore, in tackling these challenges,
the government should think of developing a 
compact city with high development density, as 
theywere more environmentally sustainable. For 
privacy, the government should provide separate 
buses and train coaches buses for women. Lastly, 
the government must get the people effectively 
involved in the planning and implementation of 
urban sustainability programmes to inspire them 
to become custodians of their environment. 
The findings of this study had clear policy 
implications for the transport sector as a 
whole. Firstly, they could be applied reliably in 
resolving the underutilisation of public transport 
in Saudi Arabia. Asecond implication would be 
the introduction of disincentives to discourage 
the use of private vehicles. Lastly, it could 
serve as a wake-up call for the government to 

---

Journal of Sustainability Science and Management 
Volume 14 Number 2, April 2019 : 157-171 
Umar Lawal Dano and Ali Muflah Alqathany 
167 
reconsider its zoning regulations that gave rise 
to chaotic patterns of development and lack of 
linkages between land use and public transport 
(Abubakar & Aina, 2016). 
This study contained a few limitations. 
First was the lack of passenger and motorist