Assessing transportation system efficiency in its relationship with urban housing: A data envelopment analysis

Urban housing and transportation are strongly related systems. However, few studies have explored the balance between urban housing and transportation systems. Excess investment in transportation systems puts intense pressure on local governments' budgets, especially in shrinking urban areas. In this study, we measured the spatial efficiency of Sapporo city's transportation system using data envelopment analysis. Our results highlight that two-thirds of the urban area were running below capacity. Among them, car parking sites and car parking areas had the highest surplus capacity at 27.81% and 15.86%, respectively. Meanwhile, bus stops, road density, and train station service areas exceeded the demand by about 12%–16%. The results also show that the shortfall in the filling rate of housing was high at 3.82%. Finally, based on our analysis, we introduced recommendations for city policymakers to improve the city's overall efficiency.