Evaluation of quality expectations for intercity bus firms by interval type-2 trapezoidal fuzzy AHP and firm selection

Abstract

Intercity bus firms aim to achieve maximum customer satisfaction by providing safe, quality and comfortable trips to their passengers. In the study, as a result of the literature review and interviews with experts working in the sector, six main criteria are determined as service, comfort, safety, transportation, financial features and customer relations in order to evaluate the quality expectations of the intercity bus firms. Five subcriteria are determined for each main criterion. Then, quality expectations are weighted with Analytical Hierarchy Process, which is one of the multi-criteria decision making method considering these criteria. Fuzzy logic approach is used to reflect the subjective expressions of the experts to the problem. By comparing these 30 sub-criteria, an importance ranking is determined for the quality expectations of the passengers. In addition, four different firms are compared and ranked according the criteria.