Performance Evaluation Scope: Comparing Route-based and Region-based Evaluation in Public Transport

抄録

Performance evaluation is critical in public transport. However, it is not always easy to determine a suitable evaluation scope. For buses, route-based performance evaluation is the common way to measure efficiency. However, routes tend to operate in different administrative regions. Sometimes, region-based evaluation is needed for policy goals. To identify a suitable evaluation scope, this study uses a context-dependent data envelopment analysis (CD-DEA) approach to measure performance efficiency with subsidized city buses in New Taipei City, Taiwan as the case study. There are 104 routes and 24 regions in New Taipei City. Two CD-DEA models are developed: route-based and region-based. In the route-based model, the 104 routes are grouped into 20 efficiency levels. In the regional model, the 24 regions are grouped into three efficiency levels. The route-based model can provide more improvement insights but does not easily provide aggregated regional level suggestions. While the two model results are quite different, the overall trends are similar. For the regions with the most city bus routes that are subsidized, they are both assessed at efficiency level 2, the mid-level, in the region-based model. In the route-based model, most routes of these regions are ranked at efficiency levels 6 to 9 which are also in the mid-range of the 20 efficiency levels. In the other words, the route-based model and the regional model complement each other. This study concludes by proposing useful policy implications on how to use both model results to improve regional public transport performance.