Determining the service quality of the city bus service based on users' perceptions and expectations

This study aims to find out the service quality of the city bus service based on users' perceptions and expectations of the service. The results of this study show that both perceptions and expectations of the passengers' are important to estimate the service quality. To collect the passengers' perceptions and expectations data, a questionnaire survey has been conducted and the respondents are asked to rate some qualitative attributes of the city bus service as per their perceptions and their minimum expectations from the service. Data has been analyzed by a combination of statistical tools comprising of factor analysis, linear regression analysis, and structural equation modeling to find out the latent factors which affect users' perception and expectation. From these analysis four latent factors namely safety, comfort, accessibility, and timely performance have been extracted along with their perceived and expected values. Using the percentage differences of the perceived and expected values, a level of service (LOS) scale has been established to find out the service level of the city bus service. The range of this LOS scale varies from LOS 1 to LOS 5 depicting best to worst service quality. It is found that, safety, comfort, and timely performance fall under LOS 3 group while accessibility falls under LOS 2 group. Based on the results of the study, some recommendations have been made to improve the service quality of the bus service.