Using the COMET Method in the Sustainable City Transport Problem: an Empirical Study of the Electric Powered Cars

Abstract

This paper investigates the problem of sustainable city transport. The significance of this problem is increasing, considering the inevitable increase of air pollution levels in cities. Currently, cars with diesel engines are not admitted to many city centers, and this trend can be expected to be maintained. Moreover, this restriction will be expanded to all combustion cars in the foreseeable future. Therefore, combustion vehicles will eventually be replaced by electric ones. In this paper, the authors use the Characteristic Objects METhod (COMET) to identify a decision-making model for the selection of the best model of car for sustainable city transport. The COMET method is a new approach that is free of the rank reversal phenomenon. The identified model provides information about the significance level of each of the criteria. The presented approach can easily be expanded by using a greater number of criteria and alternatives, depending on the specification of the considered problem. Moreover, the interval numbers concept is proposed as the basic approach to dealing with input data uncertainty by using the COMET method. The presented technique is an efficient and highly accurate approach to make decisions based on experts' experience.