A Weighted Euclidean Distance based TOPSIS Method for Modeling Public Subjective Judgments

Public involvement in transportation planning and decision-making process is a key component for ensuring that decisions are made with consideration of public needs and preferences. In this paper, a weighted Euclidean distance based TOPSIS method (WEDTOPSIS) is developed for modeling such a public decision-making process. The Weber–Fechner psycho-physical law is adopted for behavioral modeling of human judgments. Distances to the positive-ideal and negative-ideal solutions of TOPSIS are converted to value measurement models using the Weber–Fechner law. The proposed method is applied on a case where public approval of two different types of public bus operation systems considering six criteria is sought. A numerical illustration is also provided to demonstrate the applicability of the approach. The method provides plausible results in terms of preferences, and shows a high agreement with the ordinary TOPSIS in terms of rankings. Another example showing disagreement on ranking is further analyzed to outline the discrepancies between the TOPSIS and WEDTOPSIS and to indicate the proposed model’s consistency with the behavioral theory. The results are also compared with the results of the additive multi-attribute value (MAVT) method for assessing the performance of the model. Based on the findings, using the proposed method as a decision support tool can be useful, particularly where public input is needed.