Sustainability evaluation of rapid routes for buses with a network DEA model

ABSTRACT

This study establishes a network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to evaluate the sustainability of public transportation services targeting rapid routes for buses in the Seoul metropolitan area. A network DEA-based optimization model is formulated to evaluate the sustainability of the public transportation service. By considering public transportation services from both the operators’ and users’ perspectives, this model produces results that reflect the interaction of three sustainable transport service properties, i.e., efficiency, equity, and environmental impacts. It is identified that the expansion of median bus lanes and the conversion of conventional buses into compressed natural gas vehicles could improve the sustainability of the public transportation services in the Seoul metropolitan area. Some limitations and future research agenda also are presented.

KEYWORDS:

• Network data envelopment analysis (DEA)
• rapid routes for buses
• sustainability evaluation

Funding

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (NRF-2010-0029446). The research was also funded by the Korea Environment Institute project (GP2015-01-02-02).

Declaration of interest

The opinions expressed in the paper, however, are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the respective agencies.