A Nonparametric Efficiency Analysis of German Public Transport Companies

Authors

Christian von Hirschhausen
Astrid Cullmann

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2010

Subject Area

economics - appraisal/evaluation, mode - bus, mode - mass transit

Keywords

Transit, Public transit, Nonparametric analysis, Motor coaches, Mass transit, Local transit, Germany, Evaluation, Efficiency analysis, Buses, Bus lines, Bootstrapping

Abstract

In this paper, the authors present a nonparametric comparative efficiency analysis of 179 communal public transport bus companies in Germany (1990-2004). They apply both deterministic data envelopment analysis (DEA) and bootstrapping to test the robustness of our estimates and to test the hypothesis of global and individual constant returns to scale. The authors find that the average technical efficiency of German bus companies is relatively low. They observe that the industry appears to be characterized by increasing returns to scale for smaller companies. These results would imply increasing pressure on bus companies to restructure.

Comments

Transportation Research Part E Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13665545

Recommended Citation

von Hirschhausen, Christian, Cullmann, Astrid, (2010). A Nonparametric Efficiency Analysis of German Public Transport Companies. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Volume 46, Issue 3, pp 436-445.