Assessing Sustainability-oriented Transportation Services in Vietnam Using Advanced Machine Learning Techniques and Algorithms

In recent years, Vietnam has invested in modern transport systems, such as metro lines, to reduce pollution and traffic congestion. Urban transport systems in Vietnam have a major impact on achieving sustainable development objectives by shaping accessibility, affordability, and environmental performance. This paper measures the sustainability of five urban mobility solutions, including public bus, metro/urban rail, ride-hailing, electric taxi, and motorcycle taxi, through the multi-criteria framework combined with the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) compromise ranking approach. It considers 12 indicators across the economic, social, and environmental dimensions, including fare affordability, operational cost efficiency, reliability, waiting time, comfort, CO2 emissions, energy efficiency, noise pollution, safety, accessibility, policy support, and user satisfaction. The normalization of expert judgment and secondary data is done to develop a VIKOR decision matrix, using which the values of S (group utility), R (individual regret), and Q (compromise index) are obtained and visualized using radar and scatter plots. Findings reveal that metro/urban rail and public buses are the most sustainable options, with good performance in safety, accessibility, and environmental indicators, whereas motorcycle taxis are the least sustainable, with high emissions, noise, and safety risks. Intermediate roles are enjoyed by ride-hailing and electric taxis, where trade-offs are a factor in service quality, cost, and environmental impact. The suggested framework provides policymakers with a clear instrument for prioritizing investments and policies toward sustainable urban transit in terms of mobility.