IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transb/v31y1997i1p23-39.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Technical efficiency in multi-mode bus transit: A production frontier analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Viton, Philip A.

Abstract

This paper studies the efficiency of U.S. multi-mode bus transit systems by asking whether they could expand their service (outputs) without requiring additional resources (inputs); or whether they could reduce input utilization without having to reduce service. A system which can do neither is said to be "technically efficient". The technological possibilities facing the industry are identified by computing a piecewise-linear best-practice production frontier exhibiting variable returns to scale and weak disposal. The findings indicate that 80% of the bus systems studied are technically efficient, and that the extent of inefficiency in the industry is slight.

Suggested Citation

  • Viton, Philip A., 1997. "Technical efficiency in multi-mode bus transit: A production frontier analysis," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 23-39, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:31:y:1997:i:1:p:23-39
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191-2615(96)00019-7
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fare,Rolf & Grosskopf,Shawna & Lovell,C. A. Knox, 2008. "Production Frontiers," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521072069.
    2. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    3. Sickles, Robin C. & Good, David & Johnson, Richard L., 1986. "Allocative distortions and the regulatory transition of the U.S. airline industry," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1-2), pages 143-163.
    4. Grosskopf, S, 1986. "The Role of the Reference Technology in Measuring Productive Efficiency," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(382), pages 499-513, June.
    5. William H. Greene, 1993. "Frontier Production Functions," Working Papers 93-20, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    6. Pestieau, P. & Tulkens, H., 1990. "Assessing the performance of the public sector activities: some recent evidence from the productive efficiency viewpoint," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 1990060, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    7. Fare, Rolf & Knox Lovell, C. A., 1978. "Measuring the technical efficiency of production," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 150-162, October.
    8. Viton, Philip A., 1992. "Consolidations of scale and scope in urban transit," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 25-49, March.
    9. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Borger, Bruno De & Ferrier, Gary D. & Kerstens, Kristiaan, 1998. "The choice of a technical efficiency measure on the free disposal hull reference technology: A comparison using US banking data," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 427-446, March.
    2. Dairo Estrada & Poldy Osorio, 2004. "Effects of Financial Capital on Colombian Banking Efficiency," Revista ESPE - Ensayos sobre Política Económica, Banco de la Republica de Colombia, vol. 22(47), pages 162-201, December.
    3. Sickles, Robin C. & Song, Wonho & Zelenyuk, Valentin, 2018. "Econometric Analysis of Productivity: Theory and Implementation in R," Working Papers 18-008, Rice University, Department of Economics.
    4. Hughes, Andrew & Yaisawarng, Suthathip, 2004. "Sensitivity and dimensionality tests of DEA efficiency scores," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(2), pages 410-422, April.
    5. Henry Tulkens & Philippe Eeckaut, 2006. "Nonparametric Efficiency, Progress and Regress Measures For Panel Data: Methodological Aspects," Springer Books, in: Parkash Chander & Jacques Drèze & C. Knox Lovell & Jack Mintz (ed.), Public goods, environmental externalities and fiscal competition, chapter 0, pages 395-429, Springer.
    6. Ruggiero, John, 2000. "Measuring technical efficiency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 138-150, February.
    7. Luis R. Murillo‐Zamorano, 2004. "Economic Efficiency and Frontier Techniques," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 33-77, February.
    8. Briec, W., 2000. "An extended Fare-Lovell technical efficiency measure," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 191-199, April.
    9. Vincent Charles & Ioannis E. Tsolas & Tatiana Gherman, 2018. "Satisficing data envelopment analysis: a Bayesian approach for peer mining in the banking sector," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 269(1), pages 81-102, October.
    10. Cherchye, L. & Post, G.T., 2001. "Methodological Advances in Dea," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2001-53-F&A, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    11. W. Briec, 1999. "Hölder Distance Function and Measurement of Technical Efficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 111-131, April.
    12. Ruggiero, John & Bretschneider, Stuart, 1998. "The weighted Russell measure of technical efficiency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 438-451, July.
    13. Ravelojaona, Paola, 2019. "On constant elasticity of substitution – Constant elasticity of transformation Directional Distance Functions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(2), pages 780-791.
    14. Hu, Jin-Li & Wang, Shih-Chuan & Yeh, Fang-Yu, 2006. "Total-factor water efficiency of regions in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 217-230, December.
    15. Biorn, Erik & Hagen, Terje P. & Iversen, Tor & Magnussen, Jon, 2006. "Heterogeneity in Hospitals' Responses to a Financial Reform: A Random Coefficient Analysis of The Impact of Activity-Based Financing on Efficiency," MPRA Paper 8169, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Ruiz, Jose L. & Sirvent, Inmaculada, 2001. "Techniques for the assessment of influence in DEA," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 390-399, July.
    17. Philippe K. Widmer & Peter Zweifel, 2008. "Public Good Provision in a Federalist Country: Tiebout Competition, Fiscal Equalization, and Incentives for Efficiency in Switzerland," SOI - Working Papers 0804, Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich, revised Dec 2010.
    18. Suriyan Jomthanachai & Wai Peng Wong & Khai Wah Khaw, 2024. "An Application of Machine Learning to Logistics Performance Prediction: An Economics Attribute-Based of Collective Instance," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 63(2), pages 741-792, February.
    19. Martín-Bofarull, Mónica, 2000. "Technical Progress And Efficiency Change In Spanish Port System," ERSA conference papers ersa00p134, European Regional Science Association.
    20. Wen-Chi Yang & Wen-Min Lu, 2023. "Achieving Net Zero—An Illustration of Carbon Emissions Reduction with A New Meta-Inverse DEA Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-20, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:31:y:1997:i:1:p:23-39. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/548/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.