Iterative DEA for public transport transfer efficiency in a super-aging society

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2025

Subject Area

infrastructure - interchange/transfer, ridership - old people, planning - service quality, planning - service improvement

Keywords

Public transport, aging society

Abstract

With the advent of a super-aging society, increasing attention is being paid to the mobility needs of elderly public transportation users. This study aims to evaluate the transfer efficiency of public transportation for the elderly by developing a novel decision-making approach, namely the Iterative Data Envelopment Analysis (iDEA) model. The relative efficiency of elderly users compared to general users was estimated for each public transportation station. Subsequently, explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) models were used to identify strategies for improving service quality for elderly users to match that of general users. The results showed that, on average, the efficiency score across 32 transfer stations was 0.89, indicating that both transfer time and its standard deviation would need to be reduced by 11 % to achieve full efficiency. Such improvements would ensure the same level of convenience for elderly users as for general users. The relationship between efficiency scores and transfer walking facilities was also explored using XAI models. The findings suggest that installing a moderate number of escalators and elevators enhances transfer convenience, while excessive installations may cause spatial complexity. These insights offer valuable guidance for long-term transportation planning to accommodate the needs of an aging population.

Rights

Permission to publish the abstract has been given by Elsevier, copyright remains with them.

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