Navigating the complexity of tram ride comfort assessment in growing urban environments: A cloud theory perspective

This study addresses the challenge of quantitatively assessing ride comfort in tram travel in Growing Urban Environments, where multiple influencing factors complicate developing a unified evaluation index system. A comprehensive evaluation framework based on cloud theory is proposed to overcome this challenge. The approach involves defining five‐level comfort evaluation grades to capture passengers' experiences and perceptions accurately. The Criteria Importance through Inter‐Criteria Correlation (CRITIC) method is employed to ensure objectivity to establish objective weights for evaluation indices. Subsequently, a cloud model algorithm is utilized to generate evaluation benchmark and actual result clouds, providing intuitive representations of the evaluation outcomes. The efficacy and rationality of the methodology is illustrated through a case study focusing on Suzhou Tram Line 2. This research contributes valuable insights for enhancing public transportation experiences in new urban settings by offering a systematic and objective approach to assessing tram ride comfort. This study constructs a ride comfort evaluation index system from an objective perspective to quantify the indices in the tram ride comfort evaluation process.