Abstract:
This study aims to build a framework for measuring the productivity in the public transport sector
through a data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique. This paper extends the Malmquist productivity
index (MP1) and Luenberger productivity indicator (I.P1) evaluation with the concept of an
input-oriented new slack model (NSM). NSM model measures the efficiency with the effect of
slacks and satisfies unit invariance, radial and translation invariance properties. In particular, the
purpose of the proposed extension is to obtain the overall productivity change in terms of technical
change (Frontier Shift) and technical efficiency change (Catch-up Effect) for Rajasthan State Road
Transport Corporation (RSRTC) bus depots from 2008 to 2019. For this purpose, the number of
buses, number of employers, fuel consumption and route distance arc are considered input variables,
while passenger-kilometres occupied, and vehicle utilisation are output variables. Finally, the
result demonstrates that the average total factor productivity (TFP) growth of 46 depots using MPI
and LPI over the study period is 1.956% and 1.409%, respectively. This study enables policy-maker
and managers to evaluate the input to reach consistent output up to an optimum level and understand
the process of improving the productivity level for the bus depots.