PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS IN HETEROGENEOUS OPERATING CONDITIONS: DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS METHOD APPLIED TO THE U.S. HEAVY RAIL INDUSTRY
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
2004
Subject Area
infrastructure - station, land use - urban density, ridership - commuting, mode - rail
Keywords
Work trips, Technical efficiency, Station availability, Rail transit, Productivity, Production rate, Population density, Passenger miles, Operating conditions, Market share, Journey to work, Data analysis
Abstract
The problem of productivity analysis and heterogeneous operating conditions in the transit industry is addressed. A new method, sequential data envelopment analysis (DEA), is presented. This method accounts for the operating conditions of transit agencies by using a two-step procedure involving DEA and statistical analyses. Sequential DEA was applied to 14 rail transit systems in the United States for the years 1984-1997 to determine productivity levels. The output analyzed was passenger miles, and the three operating conditions selected for inclusion in this nonparametric analysis were population density, transit share of the journey to work trips, and station availability. The results of the sequential DEA productivity analysis indicate that the rail transit industry, on average, operates at a technical efficiency of 76% in using its fixed input. This result is 8% higher than the efficiency levels estimated by conventional DEA. In addition, the referent agencies and optimal output levels for each agency were identified.
Recommended Citation
Martinez, M, Nakanishi, Y, (2004). PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS IN HETEROGENEOUS OPERATING CONDITIONS: DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS METHOD APPLIED TO THE U.S. HEAVY RAIL INDUSTRY. Transportation Research Record, Vol. 1872, p. 19-27.
