Multicriteria multistakeholder decision analysis : applications to transportation planning

Abstract

Due to their magnitude and longevity, transportation investments can determine the long term success or failure of a transportation system. Thus, it is vital for decision-makers to have deep understanding of the alternatives available before they chose to invest. In this thesis, we examine the current state of the practice for transportation investment decisions. We draw upon the literature and this existing state of the practice to develop a new decision aid which we believe is an improvement over existing aids. We then apply this new decision aid to a transportation investment decision facing the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and draw conclusions about the usefulness of our new tool. Our decision aid, the CLIOSjre Process, is designed to help decision-makers compare multiple alternatives and make an informed transportation investment decision. The process examines the decision from multiple perspectives where each of these perspectives represents one of the priorities of the decision-maker. By considering each priority separately, the CLIOSjre Process provides a detailed understanding of each alternative. The CLIOSjre Process also combines these individual evaluations into a single overall evaluation of each alternative. This overall evaluation provides the decision-maker with an actionable ranking of the alternatives. In combination, these perspective-specific and overall evaluations of each alternative provide a detailed and holistic understanding of the decision facing the decision-maker. Unlike many other decision aids, the CLIOSjre Process accounts for both the multistakeholder nature of transportation investments and the uncertainty inherent to these decisions. The multifaceted nature of the CLIOSjre Process examines each alternative from multiple perspectives. This approach better facilitates negotiation between stakeholders. In addition, the CLIOSjre Process formally identifies and addresses uncertainty in the analysis - the primary source of risk in transportation investment decisions. Thus, the CLIOSjre Process is a unique multicriteria, multistakeholder decision aid which addresses uncertainty. We hope that this thesis provides the reader with a better understanding of the application, challenges, and opportunities of multicriteria multistakeholder decision aids.