An Integrated Approach of Analytic Hierarchy Process and Triangular Fuzzy Sets for Analyzing the Park-and-Ride Facility Location Problem

Abstract

A park and ride (P&R) system is a set of facilities where private vehicle users can transfer to public transport to complete their journey. The main advantage of the system is reducing the congestions problem in the central business district (CBD). Thus, the notion of symmetry is particularly important in multi-criteria decision aid (MCDA) because they are basic characteristics of the binary relationships used in modelling the preferences of decision-makers. The focal point of this study is evaluating the P&R facility system location problem from the experts’ point of view. For this aim, an integrated multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methodology is proposed to evaluate the location of the facilities of the P&R system. The questionnaire survey was designed and estimated by 10 transport experts in the related field. The famous analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was adopted in a fuzzy environment, where the fuzzy sets have an efficient ability to manage the vague concepts in a specific way; moreover, it can mitigate the evaluator reasoning during decision-making. The hierarchical structure of the problem was established to evaluate a real-life problem in Cuenca city, Ecuador. The outcomes highlighted the “accessibility of public transport” as the most significant issue in the P&R facility location problem. The obtained results provide more flexible facilities than the pure AHP method.

Planning a Park and Ride System: A Literature Review

“…Thus, the result shows that the main criterion to be taken into consideration for the location of the facilities belonging to the P&R system is the accessibility to public transport. This means that the location of the P&R system should be close to the public transport infrastructure [23,24]. Thus, P&R systems are close to public transport stations.…”

“…[ 23,24] Deterministic mode choice Transportation costs can be included to determine the appropriate location using travel cost per unit distance [27] Multi-objective spatial optimization modeling…”

Using Best Worst Method for Sustainable Park and Ride Facility Location

“…Table 1 shows the six main criteria and 19 sub-criteria that provide a detailed study of the P&R system's facilities' positions. Ortega et al [14] conducted their study using the analytical hierarchy and fuzzy triangle set process method, in which the public transportation accessibility criteria are the most significant when establishing the location of P&R system facilities. This article uses a novel method with the same set of criteria, called the Best Worst Method to verify whether the public transportation accessibility criteria are still predominant.…”

“…Besides, it is more accurate than other methods because it compares each indicator with the other. In the previous study, six main criteria and 19 sub-criteria were identified [14]. The components described in the introduction are explained in detail to cover each of them.…”

Mapping the Catchment Area of Park and Ride Facilities within Urban Environments

“…The previous research already published corresponds to the interaction of conventional and autonomous vehicles with the Park and Ride system [12], in addition to the development of an integral model of the P & R system that allows for the determination of which facility is the most attractive based on the potential demand [13]. Moreover, multi-criteria methods were used to determine a facility location problem and in which experts determined that the criteria of accessibility to public transportation is the most important when implementing a P & R system [14]. Hence, this research is a significant contribution to the project that is being developed.…”