An analytical hierarchy process-based assessment of factors affecting service performance of tollbooth operators

The efficiency of manual toll transactions is highly depen­dent upon the service performance of tollbooth operators. The latter is a multi-attribute decision making (MADM) problem, as the performance of the tollbooth operators is influenced by various criteria such as traffic operation, tollbooth ergonomics, etc. The present study has used the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), a MADM method, to evaluate the criteria affecting the service performance of tollbooth operators. The identified criteria are further ranked based on their significance so that the concessionaire as a decision-maker may identify the most important criteria and take appropriate decisions to improve the service performance of tollbooth operators. Based on the available literature, the criteria affecting the service performance of tollbooth operators included service time, their capability in terms of service training, shift timings and personal safety. A structured AHP questionnaire was prepared for developing the relative importance matrix from the perception of the tollbooth operator. The weights were obtained from the AHP relative importance matrix and used for setting the priorities. The results show that the operator’s capability as a criterion and training given to tollbooth operators as a sub-criterion have the highest priorities with weights of 0.51 and 0.214 respectively (global weight). Finally, sensitivity analysis was performed to check the effect of change in weights of criteria on the service performance of tollbooth operators. Thus, the output could be used by the concessionaire to meet the requirements of the tollbooth operators for enhancing their service performance in order to improve the service level of toll plazas.