3 rd Conference of Transportation Research Group of India (3 rd CTRG) Evaluation of bus route operations using fuzzy AHP Dewal Mishra a , Makrand Wagale b , Ajit Pratap Singh c, * , Ashoke Kumar Sarkar d a Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani-333031, India, dewal.mishra@gmail.com b Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani-333031, India, wagalemakrand91@gmail.com c Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani-333031, India, aps@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in d Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani-333031, India, asarkarbits@gmail.com * Corresponding Author Abstract. With Indian cities growing rapidly, both in population and size, the demand for transport is increasing rapidly. In the absence of adequate road infrastructure and increased number of vehicles on the roads, inflated travel time and congestion have become a chronic problem in most of the cities. In the process, Public Transport (PT) systems are lacking in providing the desired level of service. It is necessary to improve them in view of the fact that Indian government has set a goal of achieving 70 percent ridership by public transport modes in the cities by 2030. For the purpose of management of existing PT systems in cities, creation of a Route Evaluation System (RES) becomes paramount. The primary function of such a system would be to regulate operations on existing bus routes and reallocate transit resources for sustainable operations. This study develops a comprehensive RES model for City-bus service in Indore, pertaining to their monetary and operative status. Amalgamating data mining and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (F-AHP), the developed RES model integrates perceptible and dependent attributes of the bus routes in terms of passenger flow data. On the basis of analysis presented herein, prioritized route rationalization has been achieved to enable any existing or new city transport system to be productive and competitive. The RES developed will equip transport planners and policy makers alike with information that will enable them to make decisions concerned with improving route operations and further development of any PT operation. Keywords: Route Evaluation System, Passenger flow, Public Transport, Fuzzy AHP (F-AHP). INTRODUCTION Public Transport (PT) systems have time and again proven themselves to be an indispensable part of mobility structure in a metropolitan setting. Therefore, managing existing and planning new public transit routes in cities of a rapidly growing economy like India has become a humongous task for transportation officials. The effort to improve condition of PT and to provide citizens with a viable transport mode resulted into wide spread efforts in one such metropolitan city- Indore. Being the industrial capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh, Indore has seen major rise in population in the last decade [3]. When the population rose, so did the inevitable need for transportation. Introduced in 2006, the City-Bus initiatives gained immense popularity not just locally, but have been also recognized nationally and globally. This new approach towards better PT adopted an entirely radical modus operando in the field of public bus transport in India at the time, Public Private Partnership (PPP). City Bus service in Indore is currently providing its services across the city. With 16 routes connecting all the major parts of the city and a fleet size of 118 buses, the city bus service ensures an all-round connectivity to the passengers. With a total number of 203 stops in its network, city buses carry an approximate 1,00,000 passengers per day with an average trip length of