The Combination of a Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process and the Taguchi Method to Evaluate the Malaysian Users' Willingness to Pay for Public Transportation

This study is an attempt to overcome the lack of reliable estimates on the willingness of Malaysian users to pay for public transportation (particularly buses) through a combined analysis of a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (F-AHP) and the Taguchi method. This is a ground-breaking study in the attempt to evaluate the bus users’ satisfaction factors based on the F-AHP, and find the pattern for the users’ willingness to pay (WTP) characteristic by reducing the travel time with the Taguchi application. The data were collected from the public transportation users’ intentions in Kelang Valley, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The results convinced us that, for complex data, one requires flexible approaches that can adjust their combination methods to the properties of analyzed datasets. This study is interested in initiating the use of a system combination strategy to have a better understanding of the factors that motivate the public transportation users to be willing to pay for the public transportation’s fare.

[1]  Yang Wang,et al.  Optimization of surface roughness in laser-assisted machining of metal matrix composites using Taguchi method , 2017 .

[2]  David A. Hensher,et al.  MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY IN SCHEDULED BUS SERVICES , 2001 .

[3]  G. Mcdougall,et al.  Determinants of customer satisfaction in retail banking , 1996 .

[4]  An Estimation of Willingness to Pay for Advanced Public Transportation Services Using SP , 2009 .

[5]  Moshe Ben-Akiva,et al.  Combined Revealed and Stated Preference Nested Logit Access and Mode Choice Model for Multiple Mass Transit Technologies , 2001 .

[6]  Phillip J. Ross,et al.  Taguchi Techniques For Quality Engineering: Loss Function, Orthogonal Experiments, Parameter And Tolerance Design , 1988 .

[7]  B. Kriström.  Spike Models in Contingent Valuation , 1997 .

[8]  A. N. Abukhalifeh,et al.  SERVQUAL: A Multiple - Item Scale for Measuring Customer Perceptions of Restaurants' Service Quality , 2015 .

[9]  Luigi dell’Olio,et al.  Modelling user perception of bus transit quality , 2010 .

[10]  Khosrow Dehnad,et al.  Quality Control, Robust Design, and the Taguchi Method , 1989 .

[11]  Charles Scawthorn,et al.  Fuzzy AHP-based multicriteria decision making systems using particle swarm optimization , 2012, Expert Syst. Appl..

[12]  David A. Hensher,et al.  The Mixed Logit Model: the State of Practice and Warnings for the Unwary , 2001 .

[13]  Lotfi A. Zadeh,et al.  Fuzzy Sets , 1996, Inf. Control..

[14]  Thomas L. Saaty.  What is the analytic hierarchy process , 1988 .

[15]  Rohana Kamaruddin,et al.  Customer Expectations and its Relationship Towards Public Transport in Klang Valley , 2017 .

[16]  David A. Hensher,et al.  Assessing systematic sources of variation in public transport elasticities: Some comparative warnings , 2008 .

[17]  Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhury,et al.  Application of Taguchi method in the optimization of end milling parameters , 2004 .

[18]  S. Stradling.  Transport user needs and marketing public transport , 2002 .

[19]  Joan L. Walker,et al.  Values, attitudes and travel behavior: a hierarchical latent variable mixed logit model of travel mode choice , 2014 .

[20]  Mehrbakhsh Nilashi,et al.  Organizational decision to adopt hospital information system: An empirical investigation in the case of Malaysian public hospitals , 2015, Int. J. Medical Informatics.

[21]  B. Maitra,et al.  Modeling Willingness-to-Pay Values for Rural Bus Attributes Under Different Trip Purposes , 2010 .

[22]  Osman Taylan,et al.  Construction projects selection and risk assessment by fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS methodologies , 2014, Appl. Soft Comput..

[23]  Isak Kotcioglu,et al.  Experimental investigation of thermal resistance of a heat sink with hexagonal fins , 2006 .

[24]  Rahim Hussain,et al.  Service quality and customer satisfaction of a UAE-based airline: An empirical investigation , 2015 .

[25]  Sumiani Yusoff,et al.  Mode Choice between Private and Public Transport in Klang Valley, Malaysia , 2014, TheScientificWorldJournal.

[26]  Mark Stevenson,et al.  Mode Choice Model for Vulnerable Motorcyclists in Malaysia , 2006, Traffic injury prevention.

[27]  Laura Eboli,et al.  A methodology for evaluating transit service quality based on subjective and objective measures from the passenger’s point of view , 2011 .

[28]  Francisco Rodrigues Lima Junior,et al.  A comparison between Fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS methods to supplier selection , 2014, Appl. Soft Comput..

[29]  W. Pedrycz,et al.  A fuzzy extension of Saaty's priority theory , 1983 .

[30]  Minghe Sun,et al.  Artificial neural network representations for hierarchical preference structures , 1996, Comput. Oper. Res..

[31]  T. Gärling,et al.  Quality attributes of public transport that attract car users : A research review , 2013 .

[32]  Khosrow Dehnad.  Quality Control, Robust Design, and the Taguchi Method. , 1989 .

[33]  Aïda Valls,et al.  ELECTRE-III-H: An outranking-based decision aiding method for hierarchically structured criteria , 2015, Expert Syst. Appl..

[34]  Hans-Jürgen Zimmermann,et al.  Fuzzy set theory , 1992 .

[35]  Subeh Chowdhury,et al.  Modelling public-transport users’ behaviour at connection point , 2013 .

[36]  Eric J. Miller,et al.  Temporal transferability of work trip mode choice models in an expanding suburban area: the case of York Region, Ontario , 2014 .

[37]  J. Buckley,et al.  Fuzzy hierarchical analysis , 1999, FUZZ-IEEE'99. 1999 IEEE International Fuzzy Systems. Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.99CH36315).

[38]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. , 1988 .

[39]  G. Whelan,et al.  An Investigation of the Willingness to Pay to Reduce Rail Overcrowding , 2009 .

[40]  Tung-Kuan Liu,et al.  Path optimization of CNC PCB drilling using hybrid Taguchi genetic algorithm , 2016, Kybernetes.

[41]  Huseyin Imrek,et al.  Erosion wear performance of borax filled novel hybrid composites by using the Taguchi experimental design , 2016 .

[42]  Hepu Deng.  Multicriteria analysis with fuzzy pairwise comparison , 1999, FUZZ-IEEE'99. 1999 IEEE International Fuzzy Systems. Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.99CH36315).

[43]  D. Chang.  Applications of the extent analysis method on fuzzy AHP , 1996 .

[44]  J. Mjelde,et al.  Willingness to pay for public transportation options for improving the quality of life of the rural elderly , 2014 .

[45]  Luigi dell’Olio,et al.  The quality of service desired by public transport users , 2011 .

[46]  A. Dragun,et al.  Contingent Valuation and Endangered Species: Methodological Issues and Applications , 1996 .

[47]  J. Howcroft,et al.  Customer Satisfaction in Retail Banking , 1991 .

[48]  Daniela Fuchs-Hanusch,et al.  A framework for water loss management in developing countries under fuzzy environment: Integration of Fuzzy AHP with Fuzzy TOPSIS , 2016, Expert Syst. Appl..

[49]  T. Fowkes,et al.  Amending the Incentive for Strategic Bias in Stated Preference Studies , 2008 .

[50]  John Stillwell,et al.  Symmetry , 2000, Am. Math. Mon..

[51]  T. Saaty.  Homogeneity and clustering in AHP ensures the validity of the scale , 1994 .

[52]  O. Jaafar,et al.  Using spike model to reduce traffic congestion and improve public transportation in Malaysia , 2015 .

[53]  Bhargab Maitra,et al.  Willingness-to-pay and preference heterogeneity for rural bus attributes , 2007 .

[54]  Rajesh Jugulum,et al.  The Mahalanobis-Taguchi strategy : a pattern technology system , 2002 .

[55]  Mehrbakhsh Nilashi,et al.  Application of AHP and K-Means Clustering for Ranking and Classifying Customer Trust in M-commerce , 2011 .

[56]  Dieter K. Tscheulin,et al.  Crowding-in or crowding out: An empirical analysis on the effect of subsidies on individual willingness-to-pay for public transportation , 2014 .

[57]  N Douglas,et al.  Estimating the passenger cost of station crowding , 2005 .

[58]  Da Ruan,et al.  A fuzzy multi-criteria decision approach for software development strategy selection , 2004, Int. J. Gen. Syst..

[59]  N Douglas,et al.  Estimating the passenger cost of train overcrowding , 2006 .

[60]  L. Garrow,et al.  Do Atlanta Residents Value MARTA? Selecting an Autoregressive Model to Recover Willingness to Pay , 2015 .

[61]  G Willis Currie,et al.  MELBOURNE BUS RAIL INTERCHANGE STRATEGY , 1998 .

[62]  Mostafa Khanzadi,et al.  Fuzzy adaptive decision making model for selection balanced risk allocation , 2012 .

[63]  D. Hensher,et al.  Crowding and public transport: A review of willingness to pay evidence and its relevance in project appraisal , 2011 .

[64]  Paolo Polinori,et al.  Willingness to Pay and Public Acceptance for Hydrogen Buses: A Case Study of Perugia , 2015 .

[65]  Matthew Miller,et al.  Amenity and opportunity at rail stations , 2013 .