Measuring urban road transportation efficiency: A nonparametric slack-based analysis with Malmquist and Luenberger productivity indices

Urban road traffic accidents represent a critical global challenge with profound implications for public health and sustainable development. This underscores the urgent need for comprehensive performance evaluation frameworks to systematically assess transportation efficiency and productivity dynamics. In this study, we develop an integrated analytical approach that combines a network slacks-based measure model with Malmquist and Luenberger productivity indices to evaluate urban road transportation systems across 119 cities. The urban road transportation system is conceptualized as a two-stage process comprising two functionally distinct divisions: road construction and road operation. We construct network slacks-based measure models that incorporate fixed intermediate elements and account for undesirable outputs. Using both Luenberger and Malmquist productivity indices, we capture static efficiency and dynamic productivity changes at both the system level and within individual operational divisions. Our empirical findings reveal three key insights: (i) urban road transportation efficiency has exhibited a fluctuating yet overall upward trend during the study period, observed both at the aggregate level and in individual city; (ii) considerable heterogeneity exists in road transportation efficiency across cities; and (iii) the Luenberger productivity index provides a more accurate measure of genuine total factor productivity growth, while the Malmquist index tends to overestimate it. Based on these results, we propose practical policy recommendations for optimizing urban traffic management strategies.