Measuring the influence of bus service quality on the perception of users

ABSTRACT

Encouraging the use of public transport is a key policy goal in many countries. Therefore, public transport should offer the level of quality that accommodates the demands of current users, and importantly, the desires of potential users. This study investigates the influence of the perceived quality of bus service on the perception of both current and potential users. The study draws upon data from 512 questionnaires distributed across Belfast City in the UK. The study utilises a binary logistic regression model to quantify the relationships between the perceived quality of 29 bus indicators (independent) and the perceptions of users towards the overall bus service (dependent). Eleven significant indicators are reported to have significant influence on the perception of users. These indicators are utilised to propose scenarios for optimising the quality of bus service with the perceptions of current and potential users.

KEYWORDS:

• User perception
• bus service quality
• indicators
• binary logistic regression
• scenario development

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the Scientific Committee of the 13th World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR) for awarding the presentation of an abridged version of this article the ‘Best Paper Presented by a Young Researcher Award’.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Moataz Mahmoud http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1345-7240