Table 1 shows the distribution of t

Table 1 shows the distribution of the number factors selected and ranked. From the table, around 75%
of the respondents chose 3 to 7 factors as important criteria for evaluating public transport systems.
In order to analyze the data statistically, the rank orders were transformed into numerical scores. An ad
hoc procedure was used by first assuming that each respondent had 100 points to be distributed to the
reasons according to the rank ordered importance. A linear scale was assumed in the distribution of the
scores. A respondent with only one important reason for route selection was assumed to give all 100 point
to that single reason. A respondent with 2 important route selection reasons was assumed to allocate the
points in ratio of 2:1, resulting in a score of 66.67 for the most important reason and 33.33 for the other
reason. If three reasons were selected, the scores would be 50.00, 33.33 and 16.67. If 2 out of 3 selected
criteria have the same rank, for instance 1,1,2, one of the criteria with the rank of 1 will be considered as
the rank 2 and the one with the rank 2 previously will be transformed to rank 3 and the scores will be
assumed like the aforementioned example. By knowing that 2 of the factors have the same ranks, the
average of their scores will be applied. For instance in the previous example, the scores will be 41.67,
41.67 and 16.67. In general, the rank orders were transformed into numerical scores by