The Role of Decision Optimization in Urban Transport Management

Abstract

Multi-criteria decisions play a defining role in the management processes of any organization. In transport, conflicting criteria are frequently encountered in the evaluation of decision options, such as cost and quality. Techniques to optimize multi-criteria decisions can be applied in various situations, e.g., fleet vehicle procurement. Managers usually evaluate implicit criteria, but decision-making processes with major implications require an explicit and structured evaluation of several criteria. The application of multi-criteria decision optimization techniques leads to informed, optimized decisions and thus to risk reduction and resource savings. In practice, multi-criteria decision optimization techniques are mathematically modelled to achieve better accuracy. The analysis of multi-criteria decision optimization techniques involves objectives, preferences, evaluation criteria, decision alternatives, uncontrollable variables, and consequences. In this study, a decision optimization application made in Microsoft Excel and an application designed in Python that can assist managers of urban transport companies in the decision of choosing the most suitable vehicles for their fleet are presented.

Keywords

• decision optimization
• multicriteria decisions
• electre method
• urban transport