Assessing bus user’s perception using structural equation modelling

ABSTRACT

This paper evaluates the user’s perceived quality of the service of a city bus and bus rapid transit (BRT) provided in the study areas of Navi Mumbai and Surat, India. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique was used to identify the significant variables and quantify the effect of those variables on overall satisfaction. The models were validated using validation indices such as Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Normed Fit Index (NFI), Goodness of Fit Index (GFI), and Cronbach’s alpha which are generally adopted for testing SEM models. Predicted models were observed to represent the actual data to a good extent. It was observed that users consider bus stop waiting time, bus on-time performance, and in-vehicle travel time as most important and riding comfort, safety, and end-to-end connectivity as relatively less important. The outputs provide policymakers with an understanding of the user’s perception of the overall service quality of the transit system.

KEYWORDS:

• User perception
• service quality
• transit
• structural equation modelling

Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank the management of Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India for providing all the support and cooperation in conducting this research study. Authors would also like to thank PG students of TEP section, SVNIT Surat, Mr. Lokesh and his team who helped in data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author Contribution Statement

The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design: Akhilesh Chepuri, Shriniwas Arkatkar, Srinivas Pulugurtha and Gaurang Joshi; data collection, analysis and interpretation of results: Learie Melville and Akhilesh Chepuri; draft manuscript preparation: Learie Melville, Akhilesh Chepuri, Shriniwas Arkatkar, Srinivas Pulugurtha and Gaurang Joshi. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Data availability statement

Data generated or analysed during this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The authors declare no specific funding for this work.