Lessons learned from evaluating options using multi-criteria analysis in two corridors within the city of Johannesburg

Abstract

The City of Johannesburg has adopted an Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) approach to design selected strategic public transport corridors within the city’s Strategic Integrated Public Transport Network. ICM is the use of all corridor elements to attempt to optimise the movement of people whilst improving safety and minimising environmental impact, all at an affordable cost. The ICM solutions developed were corridor specific and varied between targeted infrastructure upgrades, incentive schemes for minibus taxis, revitalisation of the rail network, land-use changes, and road-based public transport interventions. As such, the evaluation of the options required consideration of a wide range of quantitative and qualitative impact categories within an environment of limited available time and budget. Multicriteria Analysis (MCA) is a decision support tool that can simultaneously account for qualitative and quantitative criteria in evaluating strategies and options. MCA has been applied in various projects globally and across multiple sectors, including transport projects, with the aim of reducing the number of options to an optimal preferred option for the stakeholders involved. This paper highlights the challenges and lessons learned from applying an MCA to evaluate ICM options for two separate transport corridors in the City of Johannesburg. These included the challenge of ensuring clarity in questionnaires for participants in the process and the associated interpretation of results emerging from the process.