Multi-method analysis to identify criteria interrelations for sustainability assessment of urban transportation services

To comply with the European Green Deal, decarbonization of transportation is decisive, especially a shift towards more sustainable transportation services is essential. Due to the tripartite nature of sustainability (society, environment and economy), multiple interrelated criteria are part of the sustainability assessment of transportation services. Discovering these interrelations between criteria to anticipate conflicts and integrate them appropriately into multi-criteria analysis is important for ranking urban transportation services. This paper presents a novel, two-folded methodology for assessing the sustainability of different urban transportation services. First, integrative structural modeling with polarity (ISM-P) is used for universally identifying sustainability criteria interrelationships and weighting them. Second, the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) method is applied to a sustainability assessment of five specific urban transportation services (public and sharing). In conclusion, applying the methodology to the example of urban transportation services in the Ruhr region, the importance of public transportation as the most sustainable alternative is proven.