Abstract
This paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to investigate the efficiency of the public transport sector in Tunisia over the period 2000–2010 (Stage 1 Analysis—Cost Efficiency Estimation). Cost efficiency of the regional transport companies (RTC) is measured by the use of three input and two output variables. Capital (fleet size), labour and energy are considered as inputs and the number of seats per kilometre and turnover as outputs. The major findings showed that there are 4.7–43.6 % inefficiencies in these RTCs under the cost specification “variable returns to scale”. Besides, in the second stage of our study, we attempt to shed light on the determinants of efficiency. Our results indicate that the RTCs’ efficiency has not improved by increasing financial performance (return of equity (ROE)) and the number of trips. This means that the RTCs are not making the best use of the production factors and that the subsidy granted by the State negatively and indirectly affected (The lack of the managers and employees motivation is due to the belief that the government certainly funds the annual deficits through a subsidy) these companies’ financial performance.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Bus utilization (in kilometres) is defined as kilometres done per bus on road per day. It is calculated from dividing total effective kilometres done on a day by total buses on road on that day.
Load factor is the percent of the ratio of passengers actually carried versus the total passenger seating capacity.
Each point is a unit named decision-making units (DMU).
This is called CRS all over this work.
This is called VRS all over this work.
Beja, Bizerte, Gabes, Gafsa, Jendouba, Kairouan, Kasserine, Kef, Mednine, Nabeul, Sfax and Sousse
The capital is considered quasi-fixed since it is the property of the State, and in our analysis, we only take into consideration the RTC’s own operating costs.
The number of seat per kilometre is the product of the number of the travelled kilometres and the number of seats in each vehicle.
The capital ratio per unit of labour
The net profit of each RTC is calculated on the basis of its net operating income. We did not take into account the amount of the subsidy granted by the supervisory authority to every RTC at the end of the year.
References
Agarwal, S., Yadav, S. P., & Singh, S. P. (2011). DEA based estimation of the technical efficiency of state transport undertakings in India. Opsearch, 47(3), 216–230.
Ang, J., Lauterbach, B., & Schreiber, B. Z. (2002). Pay at the executive suite: how do US banks compensate their top management teams? Journal of Banking & Finance, 26(6), 1143–1163.
Banker, R. D., Charnes, A., & Cooper, A. A. (1984). Some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiencies in data envelopment analysis. Management Science, 30, 1078–1092.
Barro, J. R., & Barro, R. J. (1990). Pay, performance and turnover of bank CEOs. Journal of Labor Economics, 8(4), 448–81.
Barros, C. P. (2006). A benchmark analysis of Italian seaport using data envelopment analysis. Maritime Economics and Logistics, 8, 347–365.
Boame, A. K. (2004). The technical efficiency of Canadian urban transit systems. Transport Research Part E, 40(5), 401–416.
Bogetoft, P., & Otto, L. (2011). Benchmarking with DEA, SFA, and R. LLC: Springer Science Business Media.
Brown, L. D., & Marcus, L. C. (2009). Corporate governance and firm operating performance. Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, 32(2), 129–144.
Charnes, A., Cooper, W. W., & Rhodes, E. (1978). Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. European Journal of Operational Research, 2, 429–444.
Coelli, T., (1998). A guide to DEAP version 2.1: a data envelopment analysis (computer)
Cowie, J. (2002). Acquisition, efficiency and scale economies: an analysis of the British bus industry. Transport Reviews, 22(2), 147–157.
Farrell, M. J. (1957). The measurement of productive efficiency. Journal Royal Statistics Society Series. A General, 120(3), 253–281.
Farsi, M., Filippini, M., & Kuenzle, M. (2006). Cost efficiency in regional bus companies: an application of new stochastic frontier models. Journal Transport Economics Policy, 40(1), 95–118.
Filippini, M., Maggi, R., & Prioni, P. (1992). Inefficiency in a regulated industry: the case of the Swiss regional bus companies. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 63, 437–455.
Gedajlovic, E., & Shapiro, D. M. (2002). Ownership structure and firm profitability in Japan. The Academy of Management Journal, 45(3), 565–575.
Greer, M. (2006). Are the discount carriers actually more efficient than the legacy carriers: a data envelopment analysis. International Journal of Transport Economics, 33, 37–55.
Hilmola, O. P. (2007). European railway freight transportation and adaptation to demand decline: efficiency and partial productivity analysis from period of 1980–2003. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 56(3), 205–225.
Jong, G.C.D., Cheung, Y.H.F., (1999). Stochastic frontier models for public transport, paper presented at the eighth WCTR, Antwer
Kennedy, P. (1985). A guide to econometrics (2nd ed.). Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Lin, L. C., & Tseng, C. C. (2007). Operational performance evaluation of major container ports in the Asia-Pacific region. Maritime Policy and Management, 34(6), 535–551.
Lozano, S. (2009). Estimating productivity growth of Spanish ports using a non-radial, non oriented Malmquist index. International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 1(3), 227–248.
M’raihi, R., (2001). Efficacité-cout de l’industrie de transport collectif public en Tunisie : frontière de coût déterministe et stochastique
Martín, J. C., & Reggiani, A. (2007). Recent methodological developments to measure spatial interaction: synthetic accessibility indices applied to high-speed train investments. Transport Reviews, 27(5), 551–571.
Odeck, J. (2008). The effect of mergers on efficiency and productivity of public transport services. Transport Research Part A, 42(4), 696–708.
Prowse, S. D. (1992). The structure of corporate ownership in Japan. Journal of Finance, 47(3), 1121–1140.
Saxena, P., & Saxena, R. R. (2011). Measuring efficiencies in Indian public road transit: a data envelopment analysis approach. Opsearch, 47(3), 195–204.
Scheraga, C. (2004). Operational efficiency vs. financial mobility in the global airline industry: a data envelopment analysis and Tobit analysis. Transportation Research A, 38, 383–404.
Thiry, B., & Tulkens, H. (1992). Allowing for inefficiency in parametric estimation of production functions for urban transit firms. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 3, 45–65.
Viton, P. (1997). Technical efficiency in multi-mode bus transit: a production frontier analysis. Transportation Research Part B, 3, 23–39.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ayadi, A., Hammami, S. Efficiency Measurement and Determinants of the Public Transport Industry in Tunisia. J Knowl Econ 7, 613–629 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-014-0232-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-014-0232-5