Should I Travel by Metro? Analyzing the Service Quality Perception of Elderly and Physically Disabled Passengers in Delhi, India
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
2023
Subject Area
place - asia, place - urban, mode - subway/metro, policy - disability, policy - equity, planning - surveys, planning - service quality, planning - service improvement, planning - personal safety/crime, planning - standards, ridership - old people, ridership - perceptions, ridership - modelling
Keywords
elderly, physically disabled, service quality, public transport, metro rail, passenger satisfaction
Abstract
Transit officials worldwide continuously learn from passenger perception surveys to improve service quality and enhance transit ridership. However, many elderly and physically disabled (E&PD) passengers are transit users with special needs whose service requirements have received insufficient attention in the past. In fact, providing satisfactory transit services to E&PD passengers is often a critical challenge for transit officials, since a theory of interrelations among service factors is not yet established from E&PD passengers’ perspectives. Therefore, the present study aims to establish interrelations among service quality factors and identify service improvements for E&PD passengers using satisfaction data from 254 E&PD passengers of Delhi Metro. For this purpose, this study has employed an integrated Bayesian networks and partial least squares path modeling approach. The obtained results have shown some remarkable and meaningful interpretations. For instance, a one-unit increase in satisfaction with the “safety & security” factor would induce a 68% increase in their satisfaction with overall service quality. Besides, importance–performance map analysis showed that Delhi Metro must consider “safety and security,”“passenger ease,” and “seamless connectivity” as high-priority areas needing improvements to promote E&PD-friendly transit services. Overall, the findings of this study suggest several policy measures that would enrich the service quality and achieve universal design standards in metro rail transit systems.
Rights
Permission to publish the abstract has been given by SAGE, copyright remains with them.
Recommended Citation
Mandhani, J., Nayak, J. K., & Parida, M. (2023). Should I Travel by Metro? Analyzing the Service Quality Perception of Elderly and Physically Disabled Passengers in Delhi, India. Transportation Research Record, 2677(9), 265-278.
