Evaluating the Annual Operational Efficiency of Passenger and Freight Road Transport in Serbia Through Entropy and TOPSIS Methods

Abstract

Road transport emerges as a crucial segment of the transportation system, demanding comprehensive analyses of operational performance across passenger and freight domains. This investigation delineates a meticulous multi-criteria analysis of Serbian passenger and freight road transport, relying on data extracted from the Annual Statistical Reports promulgated by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia during 2015-2021. Initially, a compendium of eight pertinent criteria, namely carrying capacity, total number of passenger and tonne-kilometres, employee count, generating power, fuel consumption, and foreign currency receipts, is identified, with a subsequent emphasis placed on six criteria necessitating multi-criteria analysis, applicable cohesively to both passenger and freight transport sectors. Weighting coefficients for each criterion are calculated employing the entropy method, while a multi-criteria ranking of the operational performance of road transport is devised through the application of the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. The quintessence of this research lies in the execution of a novel multi-criteria analysis with an aspiration to architect a hierarchy regarding the operational performance within the scrutinised timeframe of road transport in Serbia.