Please Include Excel Formulation!

Mid-Atlantic Bus Lines CASE 7.3 Mid-Atlantic Bus Lines was founded by a group of manag- was collected over several weeks and represents a typical day's ers from Trailways when that company was acquired by operation. Greyhound. They launched a first-class, express bus service Questions operating between the major coastal cities from Philadelphia, 1. Use DEA to identify efficient and inefficient terminal opera- Pennsylvania, to Jacksonville, Florida. By hiring laid-off Trailways drivers and leasing buses, they established franchises tions. Formulate the problem as a linear programming model, and solve using computer software such as Excel in each city with local entrepreneurs, who were given the right to operate a Mid-Atlantic bus terminal. A percentage of the Solver that permits input file editing between runs. passenger ticket sales and freight sales would be kept by the 2. Using the appropriate reference set of efficient terminals, terminal operator to cover his or her costs and profit. make recommendations for changes in resource inputs for After several months of operation, some franchisees com- each inefficient terminal. plained about inadequate profits and threatened to close 3. What recommendations would you have for the one seri- their terminals. Because other franchisees were pleased with ously inefficient terminal in regard to increasing its outputs? their experiences, however, a study of all terminal operations 4 Discuss any shortcomings in the application of DEA to Mid- in the system was undertaken. The information in Table 7.10 Atlantic Bus Lines TABLE 7.10 Outputs and Inputs for Mid-Atlantic Bus Lines Bus Depot 1 Freight Sales 300 600 700 Facility Dollars 500 500 400 City Served Philadelphia, Pa. Baltimore, Md. Washington, D.C. Richmond, Va. Raleigh, N.C. Charleston, S.C. Savannah, Ga. Jacksonville, Fla. Ticket Sales 700 300 200 400 500 500 800 300 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 600 Labor-Hours 40 50 50 50 40 50 40 30 500 400 500 500 200 400 500 600 400