ON MANAGEMENT'S AWARENESS OF TRANSIT PASSENGER NEEDS

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2003

Subject Area

planning - service quality, organisation - management, mode - bus, mode - mass transit

Keywords

Travel time, Transit operating agencies, Transit lines, Service quality, Questionnaires, Quality of service, Public transit lines, Passengers, Passenger service quality, Passenger comfort, Noise pollution, Noise, Needs assessment, Mass transit lines, Managerial personnel, Maintenance and repair, Maintenance, Kuwait, Journey time, Intracity bus transportation, Customer satisfaction, Climate control, Case studies, Businessmen, Bus transit, Air conditioning systems

Abstract

This study examines and evaluates management awareness of the needs of transit passengers. Two structured questionnaires were developed, pretested and separately administered to determine levels both of passenger satisfaction with current bus service performance and of management awareness of passenger priorities. The bus transit system servicing metropolitan Kuwait is considered as a case. A positive customer/management satisfaction cycle is presented. While nearly two-thirds of the sample passengers indicated that the Kuwait bus transit system offered a better level of service than that of their home nations, they ranked levels of noise inside the bus, low travel speed and lack of air conditioning as the top three deficiencies of the current bus service. Measured values of the noise level reflected a very noisy environment inside transit buses. The existence of a strong relationship between passengers' perceived annoyance and the actual measured noise levels inside buses was also quantified. Bus cleanliness, bus maintenance and bus air conditioning were the top service deficiencies in the view of management. The results of the test of difference between two proportions yielded statistically significant differences between the service improvement measures suggested by passengers and those suggested by management. Service measures deemed highly in need of improvement by passengers were often near the bottom of management's list of priorities for service improvement. Growing passenger dissatisfaction with transit services as well as misallocation of resources could result from this lack of compatibility between passenger needs and management perception of those needs.

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Transport Policy Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0967070X

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