Productivity changes in Portuguese bus companies

This paper proposes a framework for benchmarking Portuguese bus companies and the rationalisation of their operational activities, using the Luenberger productivity indicator. A key advantage of this method is that it allows for both input contraction and output expansion in determining relative efficiencies and productivity changes. For comparative purposes, a Malmquist index is also estimated. The Malmquist index overvalues the Luenberger productivity indicator. Results indicate that public bus companies have similar efficiency to private bus companies. Several interesting and useful managerial insights and policy implications arise from the study. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.