ROUTE-BASED DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS MODEL

Abstract

This paper proposes two novel route-based data envelopment analysis (RDEA) models which jointly measure the efficiencies of different routes within a transport company and across different companies. The proposed RDEA models, containing three stages, decompose a company's efficiency into individual route's efficiency with simultaneous optimization of the allocation of common inputs. The first stage uses a company-based DEA model to acquire a set of optimal input/output multipliers. The second stage then uses these multipliers to determine the optimal allocation ratios of common inputs among routes, which further maximize the average efficiency of all routes. The third stage determines the efficiencies among all routes within a company and across different companies. The proposed RDEA models are applied to evaluate the route's and company's efficiencies for the 1,035 routes currently operated by 37 Taiwanese intercity bus companies. The results provide more insights to ameliorate the individual route's performance as well as the overall company's performance.