Evaluation of Public Transportation Operation Based on Data Envelopment Analysis

This paper presented method on evaluating the performance of bus routes within a public transportation system using revised DEA method and sensitivity analysis of indexes. First, based on the analysis of the operation of public transportation, passenger load rate, service reliability, average dwell time and average running speed were chosen as output indexes, a virtual index as input from the operators' and passengers' perspective. Then the method is applied to 3 bus routes of Beijing public transportation system and the improvement suggestions are put forward. Finally, the results which show that the operation in off-peak period are better than that in peak period, and average running time and service reliability are the key factors influencing performance, conform to the reality of the city, thus validating the practicality of the method. In sum, this study is helpful for improving the operation of public transportation system. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.