IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v65y2017icp70-79.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating public transit services for operational efficiency and access equity

Author

Listed:
  • Wei, Ran
  • Liu, Xiaoyue
  • Mu, Yongjian
  • Wang, Liming
  • Golub, Aaron
  • Farber, Steven

Abstract

Assessing the performance of public transit services has long been an important yet challenging issue for transportation agencies and researchers. Transit service performance measurement reflects a very first step towards an efficient and proactive management, where public transit agencies are increasingly pressured to provide high-quality services in spite of constrained resources. However, the performance evaluation of transit services is complicated by an array of quantitative measures available to assess the goals and the diversity in the goals themselves, which usually include improving operational efficiency and providing equitable access. While much previous work has examined public transit services for achieving optimal operational efficiency and/or access equity separately, the interplay of the two has rarely been investigated to date. This article proposes a new method for evaluating the overall performance of public transit services via a combination of data envelopment analysis (DEA), Geographic Information System (GIS), and multi-objective spatial optimization techniques. The new method is applied to assessing the performance of fixed route bus services operated by the Utah Transit Authorities (UTA) in the Wasatch Front, Utah. Results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively account for operational efficiency and access equity in an integrated framework, providing a more comprehensive assessment for transit service performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei, Ran & Liu, Xiaoyue & Mu, Yongjian & Wang, Liming & Golub, Aaron & Farber, Steven, 2017. "Evaluating public transit services for operational efficiency and access equity," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 70-79.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:65:y:2017:i:c:p:70-79
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.10.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692317302016
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.10.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hassan, Mohammad Nurul & Hawas, Yaser E. & Ahmed, Kamran, 2013. "A multi-dimensional framework for evaluating the transit service performance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 47-61.
    2. Karlaftis, Matthew G., 2004. "A DEA approach for evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of urban transit systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(2), pages 354-364, January.
    3. Delmelle, Elizabeth Cahill & Casas, Irene, 2012. "Evaluating the spatial equity of bus rapid transit-based accessibility patterns in a developing country: The case of Cali, Colombia," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 36-46.
    4. Grubesic, Tony H. & Wei, Fangwu, 2012. "Evaluating the efficiency of the Essential Air Service program in the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1562-1573.
    5. Owen, Andrew & Levinson, David M., 2015. "Modeling the commute mode share of transit using continuous accessibility to jobs," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 110-122.
    6. Foth, Nicole & Manaugh, Kevin & El-Geneidy, Ahmed M., 2013. "Towards equitable transit: examining transit accessibility and social need in Toronto, Canada, 1996–2006," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-10.
    7. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    8. Victoria Johnson & Graham Currie & Janet Stanley, 2010. "Measures of Disadvantage: is Car Ownership a Good Indicator?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(3), pages 439-450, July.
    9. Taylor, Brian D & Garrett, Mark, 1999. "Reconsidering Social Equity in Public Transit," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt2bm7b38n, University of California Transportation Center.
    10. Alan T. Murray & Rex Davis, 2001. "Equity in Regional Service Provision," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 557-600, November.
    11. Delbosc, Alexa & Currie, Graham, 2011. "Using Lorenz curves to assess public transport equity," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1252-1259.
    12. Chu, Xuehao & Fielding, Gordon J. & Lamar, Bruce W., 1992. "Measuring transit performance using data envelopment analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 223-230, May.
    13. Ahmed El-Geneidy & Michael Grimsrud & Rania Wasfi & Paul Tétreault & Julien Surprenant-Legault, 2014. "New evidence on walking distances to transit stops: identifying redundancies and gaps using variable service areas," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 193-210, January.
    14. Fayyaz, S. Kiavash & Liu, Xiaoyue Cathy & Porter, Richard J., 2017. "Dynamic transit accessibility and transit gap causality analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 27-39.
    15. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    16. Alan Murray, 2003. "A Coverage Model for Improving Public Transit System Accessibility and Expanding Access," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 143-156, October.
    17. Brian Taylor & Eric Morris, 2015. "Public transportation objectives and rider demographics: are transit’s priorities poor public policy?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 347-367, March.
    18. Martens, Karel & Golub, Aaron & Robinson, Glenn, 2012. "A justice-theoretic approach to the distribution of transportation benefits: Implications for transportation planning practice in the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 684-695.
    19. Benjamin, Julian & Obeng, Kofi, 1990. "The effect of policy and background variables on total factor productivity for public transit," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-14, February.
    20. Wu, Belinda M. & Hine, Julian P., 2003. "A PTAL approach to measuring changes in bus service accessibility," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 307-320, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhao, Pengjun & Zhang, Yixue, 2019. "The effects of metro fare increase on transport equity: New evidence from Beijing," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 73-83.
    2. Ben-Elia, Eran & Benenson, Itzhak, 2019. "A spatially-explicit method for analyzing the equity of transit commuters' accessibility," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 31-42.
    3. Boisjoly, Geneviève & Serra, Bernardo & Oliveira, Gabriel T. & El-Geneidy, Ahmed, 2020. "Accessibility measurements in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Recife, Brazil," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    4. Karlaftis, Matthew G. & Tsamboulas, Dimitrios, 2012. "Efficiency measurement in public transport: Are findings specification sensitive?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 392-402.
    5. Sampaio, Breno Ramos & Neto, Oswaldo Lima & Sampaio, Yony, 2008. "Efficiency analysis of public transport systems: Lessons for institutional planning," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 445-454, March.
    6. Allen, Jeff & Farber, Steven, 2019. "Sizing up transport poverty: A national scale accounting of low-income households suffering from inaccessibility in Canada, and what to do about it," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 214-223.
    7. Karner, Alex, 2018. "Assessing public transit service equity using route-level accessibility measures and public data," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 24-32.
    8. Pyrialakou, V. Dimitra & Gkritza, Konstantina & Fricker, Jon D., 2016. "Accessibility, mobility, and realized travel behavior: Assessing transport disadvantage from a policy perspective," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 252-269.
    9. Seongman Jang & Youngsoo An & Changhyo Yi & Seungil Lee, 2017. "Assessing the spatial equity of Seoul’s public transportation using the Gini coefficient based on its accessibility," International Journal of Urban Sciences, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 91-107, January.
    10. Allen, Jeff & Farber, Steven, 2019. "Sizing up transport poverty: A national scale accounting of low-income households suffering from inaccessibility in Canada, and what to do about it," SocArXiv ua2gj, Center for Open Science.
    11. Foth, Nicole & Manaugh, Kevin & El-Geneidy, Ahmed M., 2013. "Towards equitable transit: examining transit accessibility and social need in Toronto, Canada, 1996–2006," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-10.
    12. Kaplan, Sigal & Popoks, Dmitrijs & Prato, Carlo Giacomo & Ceder, Avishai (Avi), 2014. "Using connectivity for measuring equity in transit provision," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 82-92.
    13. Venkatesh, Anand & Kushwaha, Shivam, 2018. "Short and long-run cost efficiency in Indian public bus companies using Data Envelopment Analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 29-36.
    14. Karlaftis, Matthew G., 2004. "A DEA approach for evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of urban transit systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(2), pages 354-364, January.
    15. Huang, Wencheng & Shuai, Bin & Sun, Yan & Wang, Yang & Antwi, Eric, 2018. "Using entropy-TOPSIS method to evaluate urban rail transit system operation performance: The China case," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 292-303.
    16. Ahmed El-Geneidy & Ron Buliung & Ehab Diab & Dea van Lierop & Myriam Langlois & Alexander Legrain, 2016. "Non-stop equity: Assessing daily intersections between transit accessibility and social disparity across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA)," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 43(3), pages 540-560, May.
    17. Jomehpour Chahar Aman, Javad & Smith-Colin, Janille, 2020. "Transit Deserts: Equity analysis of public transit accessibility," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    18. Xiaoshu Cao & Huiling Chen & Feiwen Liang & Wulin Wang, 2018. "Measurement and Spatial Differentiation Characteristics of Transit Equity: A Case Study of Guangzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-17, April.
    19. Samet Güner & Erman Coşkun, 2019. "Estimating the operational and service efficiency of bus transit routes using a non-radial DEA approach," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 8(3), pages 249-268, September.
    20. Sharma, Gajanand & Patil, Gopal R., 2021. "Public transit accessibility approach to understand the equity for public healthcare services: A case study of Greater Mumbai," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:65:y:2017:i:c:p:70-79. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.