Research on the Regional Transport Development Index and Its Application in Decision Making and Sustainable Development of Transport Services: A Case Study in Yunnan Province, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 

The manuscript presented to me for review requires in-depth revision in many respects.

 

The structure of the manuscript is disturbed, and unclear, but it can be changed.

 

In the introduction, some statements should be supported with references. Cited statistics should also be referenced.

 

The introduction lacks the purpose, specifying the methods/techniques and their purposefulness, the novelty of the research, the scope of the study, and the description of the article's structure.

 

The literature review is incomplete, random, and does not contain many important sources. It's hard to understand what the authors want to achieve with it. The literature review should be purposeful. Also, the citation style is different from MDPI.

 

In the methodological part, the authors mix two types of transport: passenger and freight (cargo transport), and in the introduction they refer to passenger transport. I suggest in the introduction to familiarize the reader with various classifications of transport, including horizontal, where there is a division into the transport of people and cargo.

 

Some patterns require a description of the markings - there is no description of the markings everywhere.

 

The conclusions lack reference to the purpose, novelty, limitations of the research and to whom they are addressed, or in what areas they will be useful.

 

The bibliography needs to be expanded with newer literature items (quantitative and qualitative improvement of references).

 

Maybe the authors will find more inspiration in:

1.       Szaruga, E.; Załoga, E. Environmental Management from the Point of View of the Energy Intensity of Road Freight Transport and Shocks. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 14417. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114417

2.       Szaruga, E.; Załoga, E. Sustainable Development Programming of Airports by Identification of Non-Efficient Units. Energies 2022, 15, 932. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15030932

3.       Kłos-Adamkiewicz, Z.; Gutowski, P. The Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic in Relation to Sense of Safety and Mobility Changes in Public Transport Using the Example of Warsaw. Sustainability 2022, 14, 1780. https://doi.org/10.3390

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Thank you for your comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Research on the Regional Transport Development Index and Its Application in Decision-Making and Sustainable Development of Transport Services: A Case Study in Yunnan Province, China” (Manuscript ID: sustainability-2136238). We have studied your comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval. Attached is our revised manuscript, and all the modifications are marked in blue. The main correction in the paper and the responds to your comments are as flowing:

• The comment: The manuscriptpresented to me for review requires in-depth revision in many respects.

The authors’ answer: We have made in-depth modifications to the manuscript, including: improving the structure of the manuscript, re-writing the literature review, refine data, giving a more detailed description of the results, conducting more in-depth discussion and analysis, and adding more latest references to support the research. The length of the article was increased from 13 pages to 19.

• The structure of the manuscript is disturbed, and unclear, but it can be changed.

The authors’ answer: We have improved the structure of the manuscript: we divide Chapter 4 into two sections, Results and a separate Discussion. The new structure is as following: Chapter 1 introduces the background of the study and presents the research problem. Chapter 2 describes the research object, Yunnan Province, China, with information about its geography, economy, and transport development. Chapter 3 is about the research methodology, data sources, selection of transport development indicators, and model construction. Chapter 4 presents the results of the study—the total, road, rail, water, and air TDI values as well as the values of the indexes for the five dimensions of transport in Yunnan in 2016 to 2021. Chapter 5 analyzes the transport service characteristics based on the TDI values for each year and the relationship between changes in the TDI values and economic growth, which proves that the results are reliable. Chapter 6 summarizes the results, innovations, and contributions of this study, recommends applications of the results, and provides an outlook for further research.

• In the introduction, some statements should be supported with references. Cited statisticsshould also be referenced.

The authors’ answer: We have carefully reviewed the statements in the introduction and carefully noted the references and statistics cited.

• The introduction lacks the purpose, specifying the methods/techniques and their purposefulness, the novelty of the research, the scope of the study, and the description of the article's structure.

The authors’ answer: We have improved the Introduction: Chapter 1.3 Problem Statement contain the purpose, specifying the methods and their purposefulness, the novelty of the research, the scope of the study. Chapter 1.4 Contents of this Paper describe the description of the article's structure.

• The literature review is incomplete, random, and does not contain many important sources. It's hard to understand what the authors want to achieve with it. The literature review should be purposeful. Also, the citation style is different from MDPI.

The authors’ answer: We have read a lot of the latest literature in related fields, and selected the helpful ones to add to the reference. We have re-wrote the literature review part, summarized the methods and results of existing literature, and expressed the differences of various studies in the form of tables (in Chapter1.2.2). We have summarized the Limitations of Current Research (in Chapter1.2.3). And we have modified the citation style according to the format requirements of MDPI.

• In the methodological part, the authors mix two types of transport: passenger and freight (cargo transport), and in the introduction they refer to passenger transport. I suggest in the introduction to familiarize the reader with various classifications of transport, including horizontal, where there is a division into the transport of people and cargo.

The authors’ answer: Our research contain the four common modes of transport: road, rail, water, and air. Both the data of passenger and freight transport for the four modes of transport are all indicator for research. Besides, we have selected other indicators of the four modes to establish the evaluation system, such as infrastructure, sustainability, safety and profitability, et,al. To this point, we have added a description in the Introduction.

• Some patterns require a description of the markings - there is no description of the markings everywhere.

The authors’ answer: We have carefully reviewed the statements in the manuscript and marked the description in necessary patterns.

• The conclusions lack reference to the purpose, novelty, limitations of the research and to whom they are addressed, or in what areas they will be useful.

The authors’ answer: We have improved the Conclusions: the purpose, novelty, application and limitations are described amply.

• The bibliography needs to be expanded with newer literature items (quantitative and qualitative improvement of references).

The authors’ answer: We have read a lot of the latest literature in related fields, and selected the helpful ones to add to the reference. Reference entries have been increased from 19 to 40. The 3 articles you recommended are very useful to us. We have cited them and described their results in the literature review.

We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made lots of changes in the manuscript. We appreciate for your warmwork earnestly, and hope that thecorrection comments and suggestions.

Yours sincerely,

Xuebing OuYang

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The subject of the article is interesting and the problem is worth exploring.
It would be appropriate to compare the results of the research presented in the article with other research in the area. In the discussion of the results, it would be necessary to refer to other studies in the subject area and point out the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of the solutions presented by the authors.
It would be necessary to characterize the authors' barriers and limitations in their experiments. It would also be required to elaborate on the literature study by indicating which type of data was used in similar studies. In the discussion of the results, it would be helpful to point out the differences in the studies presented in the literature studies concerning the methodology and results presented in the article. As for a scientific paper, few references to other studies were used in the article.
The purpose of conducting the research and research methods are entirely clear but need clarification. It would be helpful to provide a block diagram of the research conducted.
The descriptions of the results included in the tables and figures need more detailed explanations and comments.
The statements in Section 4.2 need to be expanded and explained. For example, the authors state „As more new-energy vehicles, new technologies, and new modes of transport are used, the sustainability of transport has improved year by year, despite a slight decline due to the epidemic in 2020." - Based on what data?
How are the indexes calculated for the five transport dimensions (infrastructure, development scale, transport efficiency, sustainability, safety, and profitability)? It would be necessary to characterize what factors and how they were considered in estimating the indexes.
Figure 3 should also be analyzed and described in more depth like the other figures. Have there been any comparative studies conducted to date in this area? Apart from the apparent influence of COVID, are the curves' relationships correlated in any way? Where might the relationship between the curves come from? Is the relationship parallel or distant in time?
The conclusions (Section 5) should have a reference and a deeper explanation in the discussion section (Section 4 would be good to divide into two sections, Results, and a separate Discussion). 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Thank you for your comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Research on the Regional Transport Development Index and Its Application in Decision-Making and Sustainable Development of Transport Services: A Case Study in Yunnan Province, China” (Manuscript ID: sustainability-2136238). We have studied your comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval. Attachment is our revised manuscript, and all the modifications are marked in blue. The main correction in the paper and the responds to your comments are as flowing:

• It would be appropriate to compare the results of the research presented in the article with other research in the area. In the discussion of the results, it would be necessary to refer to other studies in the subject area and point out the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of the solutions presented by the authors.

Response 1: We have added a new section (Section 5.4) to compare and discuss our results with other research. We have compared our research results (the TDI) with the similar research in the area (CTSI and TOI). We have compared the difference in the form of table (Table 9. Comparison of TDI, CTSI and TOI.), and discussed the advantages of our results.

• It would be necessary to characterizethe authors' barriers and limitations in their experiments. It would also be required to elaborate on the literature study by indicating which type of data was used in similar studies. In the discussion of the results, it would be helpful to point out the differences in the studies presented in the literature studies concerning the methodology and results presented in the article. As for a scientific paper, few references to other studies were used in the article.

Response 2: We have read a lot of the latest literature in related fields, and selected the helpful ones to add to the reference. Reference entries have been increased from 19 to 40. We have re-wrote the literature review part, summarized the methods and results of existing literature, and expressed the differences of various studies in the form of tables (in Section 1.2.2). We have summarized the Limitations of Current Research (in Section 1.2.3). We also have characterized barriers and limitations of our research in Section 6.

• The purpose of conducting the research and research methods are entirely clear but need clarification. It would be helpful to provide a block diagram of the research conducted.

Response 3: We have provided a block diagram (Figure 1. Construction of the TDI.) to elucidate the logic and method of this research.

• The statements in Section 4.2 need to be expanded and explained. For example, the authors state „As more new-energy vehicles, new technologies, and new modes of transport are used, the sustainability of transport has improved year by year, despite a slight decline due to the epidemic in 2020." - Based on what data?

Response 4: We have discussed the results in depth with adding a new section (Section 5.2). We have carefully reviewed the statements in the manuscript and carefully noted the references and statistics cited.

• How are the indexes calculated for the five transport dimensions (infrastructure, development scale, transport efficiency, sustainability, safety, and profitability)? It would be necessary to characterizewhat factors and how they were considered in estimating the indexes.

Response 5: The analytic hierarchy process was used to determine the final weights for the five dimensions of each mode of transport. The method and the weights for the five dimensions are described in Section 3.3.3 ,and the result are discussed in Section 4.2. We have  characterized the consideration of the five transport dimensions (infrastructure, development scale, transport efficiency, sustainability, safety, and profitability) in Section 1.3. The infrastructure dimension characterizes the changes in transport corridors, transport network nodes, and means of transport. The development scale dimension characterizes the volume of passenger and freight transport. The transport efficiency dimension characterizes the utilization of transport means. The transport sustainability dimension characterizes the use of low-carbon, energy-efficient means of transport and public transport. The safety & profitability dimension characterizes the transport safety and the profitability of transport service companies.

• Figure 3should also be analyzed and described in more depth like the other figures. Have there been any comparative studies conducted to date in this area? Apart from the apparent influence of COVID, are the curves' relationships correlated in any way? Where might the relationship between the curves come from? Is the relationship parallel or distant in time?

Response 6: We have analyzed and described in more depth of Figure 3 with adding a new section (Section 5.3). The linkage between transport and macroeconomy have been discussed based on the result of TDI. We found that, for one thing, as one of the productive sectors in the national economy, transport provides services for passenger travel and freight movement and creates additional value for the economy. For another, as an important transmission sector, transport facilitates the intermediate links between other production sectors and makes social activities easier. Connectivity and service performance determine the circulation and quality of resources required for economic and social development.

• The conclusions (Section 5) should have a reference and a deeper explanation in the discussion section (Section 4 would be good to divide into two sections, Results, and a separate Discussion).

Response 7: We have divided the old Section 4 into two new sections (Section 4 Results and Section 5 Analysis and Discussion ) to deeper explain and discuss the results. The advantages and innovation of our research results are compared and analyzed in Conclusions (Section 6).

We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made lots of changes in the manuscript. We appreciate for your warmwork earnestly, and hope that thecorrection comments and suggestions.

Yours sincerely,

Xuebing OuYang

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This paper innovatively proposed the Transport Devel-12 opment Index (TDI), a new evaluation system with 38 indicators. Kindly refer to the follow comments for improvement.

1)Check the alignment of the equations and numbering

2)Include more latest references to support this study

3)Include the state-of-the-art table in the literature review section to show the research gap

4)Present the figures clearly

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

Thank you for your comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Research on the Regional Transport Development Index and Its Application in Decision-Making and Sustainable Development of Transport Services: A Case Study in Yunnan Province, China” (Manuscript ID: sustainability-2136238). We have studied your comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval. Attached is our revised manuscript, and all the modifications are marked in blue. The main correction in the paper and the responds to your comments are as flowing:

• Check the alignment of the equations and numbering.

The authors’ answer: We have re-edited the equations and numbering in alignment.

• Include more latest references to support this study.

The authors’ answer: We have read a lot of the latest literature in related fields, and selected the helpful ones to add to the reference. Reference entries have been increased from 19 to 40.

• Include the state-of-the-art table in the literature review section to show the research gap.

The authors’ answer: We have re-wrote the literature review part, summarized the methods and results of existing literature, and expressed the differences of various studies in the form of table (in Chapter1.2.2). We have summarized the Limitations of Current Research (in Chapter1.2.3).

• Present the figures clearly.

The authors’ answer: We have redrawn larger and clearer figures.

We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made lots of changes in the manuscript. We appreciate for your warmwork earnestly, and hope that thecorrection comments and suggestions.

Yours sincerely,

Xuebing OuYang

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

I am satisfied with the modifications to the manuscript and the authors' responses. The authors have made significant changes that make the manuscript much better in terms of quality. Contributions contribute to the scientific value of the manuscript, but also indicate that the authors have carefully applied themselves to the revision of the article. They displayed their scientific maturity, but at the same time defending their research approach.

I would like to mention that I re-evaluated the manuscript after the revision, increasing its overall rating.

Congratulations to the authors! Keep it up!

 

Best regards,

Reviewer

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors of the article took into account all my comments. I think the article can be published.

Reviewer 3 Report

All of the comments have been addressed. There are no further comments.