A hierarchical customer satisfaction framework for evaluating rail transit systems of Istanbul

• An integrated hierarchical customer satisfaction framework is proposed.
• A total of 6150 surveys are evaluated for customer satisfaction level of RT lines.
• The rail transit line with the highest customer satisfaction level is determined.
• The proposed framework will be used in big and crowded cities’ rail transit systems.

This paper provides a hierarchical customer satisfaction framework to measure rail transit lines’ performances in Istanbul. The problems related to rail transit line systems are addressed via customer satisfaction surveys. Then, a framework is proposed combining statistical analysis, fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, trapezoidal fuzzy sets and Choquet integral to evaluate customer satisfaction levels. Next, the criteria need to be improved are determined and specific recommendations to enhance the operation for specific lines are suggested. The proposed framework provides directions for the future investments and it also can be used at a more macroscopic level to determine the operational deficiencies. Furthermore, it can be generalized and applied to complex decision making problems that include uncertain and subjective data or vague information.