Evaluation of public bus transportation systems for sustainable cities using a parsimonious grey multi-criteria decision-making model

Public transportation is essential for those without private vehicles and plays a crucial role in reducing traffic congestion, air pollution, travel time, and energy consumption. To enhance user satisfaction and increase ridership, strategic planning is key to the sustainable development of urban areas. This study presents a novel Parsimonious Analytic Hierarchy Process (P-AHP) combined with the Multi-Objective Optimization Method by Ratio Analysis (MOORA) within a grey environment, aimed at optimizing the public bus transport system in Budapest. The parsimonious approach streamlines the evaluation process, saving time and resources, while the grey environment reduces subjectivity in multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). The results indicate that “Reliability” (C25) is the most critical factor, with a final weight score of 0.1269. “Time availability” (C23) and “Safety of travel” (C13) follow with scores of 0.0479 and 0.0254, respectively. These findings demonstrate the model's effectiveness in providing robust recommendations for public transportation improvements. The Budapest authorities can utilize these insights to enhance the transport system, ensuring more sustainable and efficient public transit solutions.