A Development of Integrated Evaluation Criteria for Quality of Service on Pedestrian Networks by Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

This paper proposes more accurate methods for estimating the quality of service (QOS) in the pedestrian movement space by developing composite indicators that integrate both quantitative and qualitative factors affecting pedestrian satisfaction, rather than simply relying on quantitative measures like pedestrian flow rate and pedestrian delay, which has been a major approach to the level of service (LOS) evaluations. To achieve this aim, we firstly conduct questionnaire surveys and record image in order to investigate perceived level of service (PLOS), considering the land use pattern of the survey areas. Then, we set up a new list of evaluation criteria based on survey results obtained in the previous step and to provide an evaluation framework by analyzing the degrees of importance and repetition existing on the criteria. Next, we consider pedestrians’ complex judgment processes through multi-criteria decision analysis such as Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Analytic Network Process (ANP). Finally, we select a case study area and apply the evaluation criteria in order to assess the developed evaluation framework, testing its applicability. The main results show that: first, ANP is better analytic methods than AHP due to the fact that pedestrians feel repetition when they judge level of service. Second, qualitative factors such as pedestrian behaviors, maintenance, scenery for pedestrians and environments should be considered. Importance of qualitative factors is higher in residential area than other areas. We expect that using qualitative indicators is appropriate in order to estimate pedestrians' QOS.