Doctoral Degrees (Industrial Engineering)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Industrial Engineering) by Author "Buenk, Reinhart"

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    Development of a monitoring and evaluation framework for sustainability assessment of microtransit systems
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-03) Buenk, Reinhart; Grobbelaar, Sara; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Industrial Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Background: Mobility has always been essential to nearly every aspect of human existence. Due to the intrinsic aim of transport systems to improve our lives, it is unsurprising that transport development is rarely considered without also considering ‘sustainability’. Evidence however suggests that current modes of transport are unsustainable. An abundance of research has been conducted on identifying and addressing current real-world problems faced due to our current and traditional modes of transport. Although the sustainability of transport systems is seen as a significant challenge, it is essential to ensure that future generations have the same opportunities we do today without compromising on environmental, social and economic development. Need: Due to technological advancements in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), the internet, and the sharing economy, alternative ‘smart mobility’ modes of transport like microtransit systems are emerging. Such solutions are regarded to have great potential to address several realworld problems and adverse effects of current modes of transport. Microtransit can be described as private vans/buses/small vehicles offering rides or freight transport along fixed or constantly changing routes operating as a more technology-enabled shuttle in a demand-responsive manner by utilising ICTs and the internet of things (IoT). It is however still in the developmental stage. Once microtransit systems have been fully deployed and integrated into current transport systems, decision-makers, policy-makers, and other stakeholders will require a carefully designed monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework towards assessing the system, which comes down to conducting sustainability evaluation and analysis of the transport system towards improving its sustainability performance. The framework could act as a management tool for decision support towards building realistic and profitable value propositions economically, socially and environmentally and will also enable the validation of decisions through continuous M&E. It could also assist microtransit and possibly also similar “smart mobility” businesses especially in penetrating public-sector verticals and securing funding since hard data is essential in proving real business cases. Method and Results: This research aims at developing such an M&E framework for microtransit systems concerning the degree towards which it contributes to sustainable development based on a systematic literature review. Following the development of a conceptual framework consisting of 12 areas of sustainability and 50 indicators, the framework is applied as a management tool to a microtransit company, Mellowcabs, as case study. Interview and survey results based on the framework allowed for determination of a sustainability index (SI) and the execution of importancesatisfaction analysis (ISA). From the analysis, top five over- and underperforming indicators were identified and an overall sustainability index of 7.78 was obtained which is considered a ‘satisfactory’ score. The generalisability of the framework to the wider context of ITS / “shared mobility” was also tested through a second case study application to GoMetro, a sustainability index of 8.62 obtained, and the validation thereof completed through final case study interviews. Conclusion: The original contribution of this study is a novel M&E framework designed specifically for microtransit systems’ sustainability assessment. The reproducable systematic approach developed and followed in this study allows for future development of similar needed frameworks, and also allows for easy adjustments like addition, modification, or removal of any elements as deemed necessary in future. While the validation process delivered positive responses and confirmed the efficiency, effectiveness, applicability, and validity of the tool, complete implementation of the tool on a microtransit system (once it has been fully deployed) could give rise to new issues that should be addressed in future. In the short term, results would assist in decision-making especially in the production-process. Its usefulness should also become apparent in the long-term as its overall goals are achieved through continuous monitoring and conducting regular evaluations.