Efficiency ratio assessment model for buses

Abstract

A description of decision-making conditions within the bus operation system requires accounting for the factors that are still unknown when the bus structure is being designed, or for the unspecified (fuzzy) environmental factors that may arise at different stages of the bus service life. Such factors include the introduction of stricter requirements for bus comfort, structural integrity and environmental safety, which requires a timely response throughout the process of operating the bus. Today, as the quality assessment of bus operation is becoming increasingly affected by external social conditions, and as passenger transport safety keeps calling for the timely deployment of the latest advancements in science and technology, the importance of the aforementioned factors is growing substantially, and manifests quite clearly over the course of even a single bus service cycle. The efficiency ratio is a complex indicator that describes to what extent external activities may impact the duration of the bus service life. Therefore, it is highly relevant, in terms of both research and technology, to develop methods and mathematical models that would allow for an accurate calculation and forecast of the efficiency ratio under different bus operation conditions. A resolution of this issue will have immense practical value. This paper presents an efficiency ratio assessment model for buses; it covers several highly relevant efficiency criteria: reliability, structural integrity, environmental safety, and operational costs.