Customer Satisfaction Analysis of the Luxury Long Distance Bus Service in Sri Lanka

Transcription

1 Customer Satisfaction Analysis of the Luxury Long Distance Bus Service in Sri Lanka D.M.W. Kanishka K.U.K. RAMBUKWELLA a, Djoen San SANTOSO b a,b School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand; djoensan@ait.ac.th a kanishrambukwella90@gmail.com b djoensan@ait.ac.th Abstract: This study aims at examining the satisfaction levels of the users of the recently implemented luxury long distance bus service in Sri Lanka. This service was introduced to the public by the Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) as way of improving the current poor public bus service in the country. Data was collected through a survey questionnaire among the passengers and was tested using the statistical methods. The too pricy perception group showed a lower satisfaction compared to the fair fare perception group. It was identified that this difference was mostly influenced by the passenger s previous modes of travel. It can be concluded that a fair service is provided to the public for the price charged for the services. The attributes of low satisfaction are mostly terminal related attributes. One way to improve terminal attributes would be to provide feeders to the terminal and increase number of stops along the normal road to increase satisfaction regarding terminal accessibility. Keywords: Public bus, Service quality, Value of money, Satisfaction, Sri Lanka 1. INTRODUCTION Reducing traffic density for a better urban transportation is a challenging task. Especially in developing countries where the economic growth is high but with poor public transportation system more and more people have no option but to resort to use private vehicles (Almselati et al. 2011). Public transportation is the most sustainable and greener solution to reduce road congestion. Therefore a country s public transportation systems should be so that it appeals to all demographics of its users and by that have a competitive advantage over private means of transportation (Lai and Chen 2010). To improve upon an existing transportation system or to evaluate how well a newly implemented method functions the customer satisfaction level should be understood; because the long-term success of the system, both financial and performance vice, majorly depends on customer satisfaction and loyalty (Lai and Chen 2010). It s a well-established fact that the public road transportation has been the most dominant mode of transportation, not only in Sri Lanka but around the world. In Sri Lanka, the percentage of the users of the public transportation makes up 68% of the population as a whole. The history of the Sri Lankan bus service goes way back into the 1950 and in 1958 a state owned monopoly, Ceylon Transport Board (CTB), to control the public buses was created (Gwilliam, 2005). Ever since then, CTB has come a long way into providing Sri Lanka with a sustainable transport system. With the change in governments and country s open economic policy oriented system led to the creation of privatized bus services (Premadasa, 2013). As in many Asian countries Sri Lanka s dominant bus services, from then onwards, were provided by the privatized public transportation companies. In Taiwan, for example, the revenue of privatized public transportation sector is a clear indication of their 1272

2 customer satisfaction (Lai and Chen 2010). Due to the competitiveness of the privatized public bus system in Sri Lanka and with government mismanagements the CTB services was on a downfall. It can be well observed that the customer satisfaction levels of the existing private bus system are hindering with time. In numerous occasions this sector has been referred to as a mafia alike organization, largely due to their outrageous demands to increase bus fares and famous for bullying and carrying out acts of bus strikes throughout Sri Lanka when their demands are not met, affecting the middle class segment and the lower income population who uses the services daily (Premadasa, 2013). Evidently there are no quality facilities or services which are offered to the public, no passenger respect, no travelling comfort and due to the ever growing aggressive profit hunger, public transportation users in Sri Lanka are always in open arms to welcome such facility which promises to offer such but unfortunately due to the reasons of the 30 year civil war the country endured the government could not bear a infrastructure and service rehabilitation of this major scale. Along with the long awaited peace after the war, the recent country s infrastructure boost and intolerable difficulties from the private bus mafia, the government has decided to re-establish and popularize the government bus services. The re-established semi-government institute, the Sri Lankan Transportation Board (SLTB) has taken new measures to ensure its continuity and thereby its market. Nonetheless the SLTB still faces competition not only from the privatized public buses, but also from other lesser dominant public transportation methods, such as railway and also from the ever increasing number of private vehicles. For any public transportation system, comparatively better service quality and customer satisfaction are the most crucial traits it needs to stand above all its competitors (Huang et al. 2006). This is especially true when an unorthodox element is introduced to a traditional environment. Highway public transportation is an alien notion in Sri Lanka whereas the implementation of the luxury bus services is not as strange compared because SLTB was in the process of operating a few within some cities. With these new heights of infrastructure achievements it is reasonable to assume that the customers expectations for the services grow as well. However it is important to understand that the customers are expected to pay a higher fee than what they pay for the regular services, therefore through a customer satisfaction survey analysis it will help us to understand if the bus fare charged is fair compared to the services provided. Whenever a new system is to be implemented or has been implemented it is best to take the views and the opinions of the users of the services provided by that system. This is a common practice around the world. In Sri Lanka ever since the implementation and introduction of the highway travel there have been surveys conducted by the national transportation board to evaluate how impressed the passengers are with the transportation offered and to find out if they prefer it over the privatized buses. However the survey had neither evaluated each aspect of services provided or each service with regard to each demographic of the public and nor has it evaluated whether the amount of money the customer pays for these facilities of the luxury bus services can be justified. Therefore, an accurate measure of the customer satisfaction and to analyze the success of the current quality of the system all involved factors must be taken into account and analyzed, which is the main objective of this study. The analysis focuses on identifying the travel related attributes which favors the ridership of the luxury bus service over other modes of transportation and helps establish an interrelationship between the travel attributes and the demographical attributes of the riders. The impact on overall customer satisfaction in relation to the service attributes is also developed to determine commuter satisfaction level on the attributes and to understand 1273

3 the factors need to be improved to increase the public transportation ridership (Githui et al, 2010). 2. LUXURY BUS SERVICE IN SRI LANKA The privatized bus sector in Sri Lanka has breached all its previously assured business values and service provision, allowing way to a new concept of a more customer and quality oriented yet expensive public transportation system. Figure 1. Map showing the Southern Expressway Highway route In 2011 Sri Lanka commenced operation on its first highway route, the Southern Express way. The locality of the highway route on a map of the country is shown in Figure 1. With this Sri Lanka was making known to a luxury bus service by the SLTB, which is the only bus that has been granted permission by the department of highways and Road Development Authority to operate on the Southern Expressway. This luxury bus service costs three times higher than the costs of the standard bus service (privatized) charges on the same route. The higher price charged increases the perceived value of the services offered by this luxury bus system because it is offers services that are uncommon in other types of public transportation on the same route. If the customer perceives the services offered to be premium a higher price can be charged for the services to maintain the perceived standards (Biasi, 2012). What seems to draw in the customers to use this new bus system is the level of its comfort and it s much less travel time. The luxury or comfort enhancing attributes in long distance bus services are; Comfortable seats that includes built in features such as arm rests, food trays, recliner Air conditioning Prior seat booking services 1274

4 Baggage holds which can be accessed from outside Passenger service units which can be individually controlled e.g. reading lights, air conditioning On board rest rooms On board entertainment such as a movie Availability of on board refreshments such as a vending machine or provision of refreshments by the service provider Wheel chair accommodation Generally, buses which are categorized under long distance in countries such as Thailand are those that travel a distance of more than Four hundred kilometers according to the bus information retrieved from the web site of a Thai public travel company. The bus service under discussion however only travels a distance of hundred and twenty three kilometers and so the concept of luxury implied here is different from its ideal definition. Below is Table 1 showing which of the above mentioned facilities are incorporated in the luxury bus service in Sri Lanka. Table 1. Features included in Sri Lankan luxury buses Features of a luxury bus Comfortable seats Arm rests Food trays Recliner Foot rests Air conditioning Prior seat booking services Baggage holds which can be accessed from outside Passenger service units which can be individually controlled On board rest rooms On board entertainment such as a movie Availability of on board refreshments such as a vending machine or provision of refreshments by the service provider Wheel chair accommodation Availability Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No The newly implemented bus transportation is entitled luxury transportation mainly due to its appearance in design and its presumed high interior traveling comfort in comparison to the existing public buses in Sri Lanka. This also is the first public bus service to provide advanced seat booking or ticketing facility in the country and the maximum number of passengers carried is limited to the total number of seats on the bus, which is a notion that is unorthodox in the public transportation method in Sri Lanka as most of the community is accustomed to using buses that has a large surplus of people. Another variable which the luxury transportation system does not have in common with the standard bus services on this route is the course in which they take to reach their destination. The luxury bus service uses the highway whereas the standard buses use the normal roads. These unique and special services provided make the bus fare of these buses are much higher than of the other service providers on the same route. Therefore there is a belief among the general public that the fair 1275

5 charged is unfair and pricey. This argument has led to the public blaming the government of mal-practice and unprofessionalism. 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This study was performed to monitor the satisfaction level of the services and facilities on the newly implemented luxury bus services on the Sothern Expressway. Hence the research was primarily based on data collected from passengers who utilize these services and the field data was collected at the two terminal entry points to the bus service. Most of the characteristics needed analyzing was identified through literature review. These characteristics included the tangible elements, the facilitated elements, the possible external influences and personal attributes that would impact an individual s satisfaction. To detect their satisfactory levels assessment feature will be given to them to rate each characteristic according to their estimation. The main features that will be included in the satisfactory rating are as follows; Terminal facilities Bus services Bus facilities Driver/Conductor behavior In addition to achieving the study overall objectives, the relationships or the hypothesis developed during the literature review were also tested on the data collected to see if the data behaves similarly or differently to the ones studied in literature review. Data collection was done using a survey based questionnaire which included passenger traits such as; the gender, age, income, travelling habits etc., rating questions and terminal evaluation. The questionnaire was designed to address the attributes which were identified during the literature review as the determinants of quality of a public transportation system; Reliability Tangibles Responsiveness Credibility Competence Access Courtesy Security Communication The field survey questionnaire was distributed to the waiting or transit passengers at the Maharagama and Galle bus terminals. The questionnaire was designed mainly for the passengers of age 18 to 60. According to the Sri Lankan legislation regulations, the minimum employment age of a person should be 14 and the legal drinking age is 21(International center for drinking policies) therefore 18 was chosen as an intermediate point between these two ages as a starting age range for the questionnaire. The optional age of retirement for public servants in Sri Lanka is 50 but in the United States the persons who usually take the public transportation are within the ages of (APTA, 2007). Considering the above facts the highest age limit for an adult to use this bus system is predicted to be 55 and anyone above that would be considered as an elderly 1276

6 traveler. The questionnaire was designed to be answered with providing a (X) near the passenger preferred option. For rating scales to evaluate satisfaction the customers are provided with 5 options. Many of the satisfaction analysis were carried out using the mean value of satisfaction for each attribute. Below shows how the perception of satisfaction of each attribute was rated and how many points each perception carried. Extremely satisfied - 5 Slightly satisfied - 4 Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied - 3 Slightly dissatisfied - 2 Extremely dissatisfied - 1 The mean satisfaction was again categorized according to a new scale; 1 to < 3: Low satisfaction, because in the previous scale any value less than 3 was towards a negative satisfaction 3 to < 4: Average satisfaction, because in the previous scale values between 3 and 4 meant that the attribute was neither displeasing or pleasing 4 to 5: High satisfaction, because in the previous scale any value more than 4 was towards a positive satisfaction. The rating attributes were subjected to an independent t-test to examine if there is a difference in the way people rated the satisfaction of each attribute given their perception on the fare of the service. The t-test was used to analyze this because in the fare perception only 2 groups existed; Group 1: Too pricey and Group 2: Fair. If the significant value of any attribute was less than 0.05 it means that there is a significant difference in the mean satisfaction between the two price perception groups. The mean values of each fare perception group can be observed using the group statistics table in the t-test. The independent t-tests were carried out not only to find difference in satisfaction between the fare perception groups but also in other areas where a difference of mean was need to be found out between two sub-groups. In areas where there are more than 2 sub-groups were involved to find if a significant difference exists between the means the sub-groups, one way ANOVA test was carried out. A significant difference between the groups were said to be present if the significant value of the attribute subjected to one way ANOVA was less than To perform multiple comparisons of means of satisfaction between all groups and to detect where the significant difference in mean satisfaction exists for a particular attribute, the Post Hoc test was performed. Post Hoc test will run all pair wise comparisons so the exact difference of means between two sub-groups and also whether that difference is significant or not can be identified for that pair of sub-groups. 4. DATA, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION In total, 194 questionnaires were distributed between the two terminals but only 150 were in useable state for this study. The data collected was first of all categorized according to the different socio demographic groups as presented in Table 2 for the ease of analysis and to have a clear idea of how weighted each sub group is within a category. 1277

7 Table 2. Categorization of data Factor Group Number Percentage Gender Male Female Age Young Middle Old Income Low Middle High Frequency of use Infrequent use Daily Weekday Weekend Mode used before Private transportation Public bus transportation Train Overall Satisfaction and the Attitudes with Respect to the Bus Fare The basis of this study is on whether the satisfaction provided by this bus service suffices the amount paid by the customers as the bus fare. The general mean value for the particular attribute of satisfaction regardless whether the price is thought to be high or fare is shown below. In general the mean satisfaction levels seem to lie between 2.0 and 4. Table 3 shows the general mean satisfaction of the attributes and arranged in order of lowest mean values to highest value. The attributes are categorized into a new scale of satisfaction depending on its mean value; mean value 1-3 low, 3-4 medium, more than 4 high. Table 3. General mean values of the attributes Attribute Mean Standard Deviation Condition of the waiting area Terminal cleanliness Information availability at the terminal Terminal accessibility Transit time Noise On time departure On time arrival Friendly and helpful Appearance Smell Lighting Physical condition of the bus

8 Reliability The existing bus schedule Air Conditioner Cleanliness Travel time taken Safety of driving Seat availability Onboard security Attributes with low mean values; condition of the waiting area, terminal cleanliness and information available at the terminal are all related to the terminals or the bus stations. It is possible that these values are low because of the total examined population 17% of them have used private vehicles to travel before that they are not used to such begrimed conditions at a bus stop would be disappointing. Also 23% of the users have used trains before using this mode and the passenger waiting areas of a train station has better facilities such as seats, vendors and government appointed staff to maintain the facilities. Therefore it is expected that this group would have a low opinion of the bus terminal facilities at this long distance bus station. Using an independent t-test with respect to the modes of transport used before, it can be made clear which group had a greater influence in lowering the mean satisfaction of those attributes. Tables 4 and 5 show the mean satisfaction values of the 3 low attributes, with respect to the three previously used modes. The t-test result shows that the there is a significant difference in the mean satisfactions of those who used private vehicles and trains in compared to those who used public buses. Hence showing that the lower mean of those 2 modes (private and train users) affected in lowering the satisfaction mean of these attributes. Table 4. Showing the significant difference between the means according to the previous modes used Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference Terminal cleanliness Equal variances Information availability at the Equal variances terminal Condition of the waiting area Equal variances not Table 5. Mean with respect to the previously used modes of transport for the attributes with general low mean Mode used before Mean Std. Deviation Terminal cleanliness Private + Trains Public Buses Information availability at the Private + Trains terminal Public Buses Condition of the waiting area Private + Trains Public Buses

9 Attributes with high mean values; Cleanliness, travel time taken, safety of driving, seat availability and onboard security. These attributes have a high mean value because the percentage of those who previously used public bus transportation and train are very high and by using an independent t-test between the previous travelers of private vehicles and trains with previous public bus uses it can be proven that the high mean of satisfaction of previous bus users played a big role in increasing the mean satisfaction in the attribute (Tables 6 and 7). In these public transportation modes services such as advance seat booking is not available and unlike in the luxury service, in these modes the number of passengers transported exceeds the number of seats available so the vehicle is overcrowded and some even travel a long distance standing. Because in the luxury bus service it is illegal to transport passengers that manner and every passenger has to be allocated a seat therefore the seat availability and comfort is a given advantage the luxury service has over the others and hence possess a higher mean satisfaction. This can be shown clearly by comparing the mean of perception of the highly satisfied attributes based on the mode of transportation previously used. Table 6. Showing the significant difference between the means according to the previous modes used for high satisfaction attributes Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference Travel time taken Equal variances not Safety of driving Equal variances not On Board security Seat availability Cleanliness Equal variances not Equal variances not Equal variances not Table 7. Mean with respect to the previously used modes of transport for the attributes with general high mean Before modes Mean Std. Deviation Travel time taken Private + Trains Public Buses Safety of driving Private + Trains Public Buses On Board security Private + Trains Public Buses Seat availability Private + Trains Public Buses Cleanliness Private + Trains Public Buses Table 7 clearly indicates the mean of perception of the said attributes for the previous public bus users are noticeably higher compared to those who travelled using other modes. For the 1280

10 attributes of travel time taken and safety of driving the previous train users had a lower mean of satisfaction compared to the other two modes of transportation. This could be best explained due to the fact that rail travel is still faster than road transportation; travel time by train of the journey is 1 hour and 45 minutes and is much safer, as shown using the literature. The higher perception of mean values of satisfaction for travel time taken, for the other 2 modes, can be explained by the fact that these luxury buses uses the highway to transport the passengers which cuts down the travel time taken on the normal road for the same journey by 2hours. Hence a given advantage for the luxury long distance bus service over the other modes which uses the normal route. The use of highway can also be used to explain the higher mean values for the safety of driving and onboard security. The highway transport is very strict on road rules and speed limits and the roads are under constant watch by the authorities via the cameras installed at random on the highway therefore the drivers are forced to behave and abide the law which leads to higher safety compared to the reckless driving of the bus drivers on normal roads. Also for the reason that the highway luxury bus has limited stops before the highway and no stops on the highway there is no room for quick get a ways and room for shady activities on board therefore the passengers are also forced not to perform any social misconducts the entire trip unlike in other public modes where people can get on and off the bus as they please and because it is overcrowded misconducts onboard goes unnoticed. But by examining the satisfaction level as an overall it can be observed that many attributes fall within the medium range in the scale. There are few areas that needs attention of improvement, by the t-test shown below it will be more clearly shown which of these factors significantly affects the attitudes of the passengers towards the fare of the bus service. Table 8 below shows the mean values of satisfaction with respect to the perception of the bus fare. The result from an independent t-test is shown below. Table 8. Mean value with respect to the bus fare perception Attributes Sig. Mean Std. Error (2-tailed) Difference Difference Terminal accessibility Equal variances Terminal cleanliness Equal variances Information availability at the Equal variances terminal Condition of the waiting area Equal variances Transit time Equal variances On time departure Equal variances not On time arrival Equal variances Travel time taken Equal variances Safety of driving Equal variances Reliability Equal variances The existing bus Equal variances not schedule Cleanliness Equal variances On Board security Equal variances Smell Equal variances

11 Seat availability Equal variances Air Conditioner Equal variances Lighting Equal variances Noise Equal variances not Physical condition of the bus Equal variances Appearance Equal variances Friendly and Helpful Equal variances From the above graph the attributes which has a 2-tailed significant value less than 0.05 are identified as this indicates the attributes which has a difference in the satisfaction depending on the customer attitude on the fare. In order to find the difference in opinion, the mean values of those attributes are compared to identify how satisfaction differs. This would also help reflect on those areas that needs improvement where customer satisfaction is not met to the price paid for the service, especially taking into consideration any areas of very low means for those who believed the price of the fare is too high. Those means of significant difference and those that will be included in the discussion in more detail are highlighted in Table 9. Table 9. Means with significant different between fare the perception groups Attribute Bus fair N Mean Std. Deviation Terminal accessibility Too Pricy Fair Terminal cleanliness Too Pricy Fair Information availability at the terminal Too Pricy Fair Condition of the waiting area Too Pricy Fair Transit time Too Pricy Fair On time departure Too Pricy Fair On time arrival Too Pricy Fair Travel time taken Too Pricy Fair Safety of driving Too Pricy Fair Reliability Too Pricy Fair The existing bus schedule Too Pricy Fair

12 Cleanliness Too Pricy Fair On Board security Too Pricy Fair Smell Too Pricy Fair Seat availability Too Pricy Fair Air Conditioner Too Pricy Fair Lighting Too Pricy Fair Noise Too Pricy Fair Physical condition of the bus Too Pricy Fair Appearance Too Pricy Fair Friendly and Helpful Too Pricy Fair The highlighted means in the above Table 9 shows that the satisfaction means of those who alleged the fare is too steep has a significant lower value than those who alleged the fee is fair. This could be explained by taking a look at the statistics of previous modes of transportation that these groups of passengers have used in their respective groups on fare perception. Table 10. Statistics of previously used modes The Price Mode used Number Percentage before Too Pricey Private Vehicles Public Buses Train 8 17 Total 46 Fair Private Vehicles 0 0 Public Buses Train Total 104 Table 10 shows that the entire previously private vehicle travelers have the opinion that the fare charged is too pricey and this group makes up more than half of the too pricey category. The table of mean satisfaction for some of the above attributes of the too pricey group based with respect to their previous modes of transportation can demonstrate why there is a significant difference in mean satisfaction between the two price perception groups. Table 11. Means of too pricey group with respect to the previous modes of transport 1283

13 Too Pricey Reliability On board security Smell Air Conditioner Private Vehicle Public Buses Train As it can be shown from Table 11, the private vehicle users had a much lower mean satisfaction followed by the train users. Due to these two groups being the major share of the too pricy category, the low average mean of the too pricy category is highly influenced by the low means of these two groups resulting in the significant difference between the two fair perception groups. Even though the luxury bus system has several service upgrades compared to the traditional public bus service, the private vehicle is still much more reliable, more flexible as it is accessible to the owner at any time and more secure as compared to travelling with strangers. Because of these more comfortable conditions which they are used to causes them to have a lower satisfaction with the above discussed services for the price they pay. The same argument could be used to explain why the satisfaction is higher among the passengers who believed the price charged was fair. The passengers in the fair category are made up of those who have previously used public buses to travel this route and trains. Both of these public transportation systems are of poor quality compared to the luxury bus service. Hence because of this change it can be expected that the passengers would have a higher satisfaction for the services they are currently receiving through the luxury bus service. Therefore they have a higher satisfaction mean value for the price they pay as the journey experience is made to be more enjoyable as it is more comfortable compared to the traditional public buses and trains. Taking results yielded form the independent t-test for the satisfaction with respect to attitudes towards the price of the ticket and the general mean value of satisfaction, it can be shown that there are attributes which both the groups of fare perception seem to agree on (not significant) for them to be of high or low in satisfaction rating or disagree on (significant). The contradiction on whether both of these groups agree on the overall satisfaction level of an attributes is further examined for those with a high mean and low mean. Table 12 below shows on which of these attributes the two groups would agree upon and whether the mean difference is a positive value, meaning those who think the price is too high has a higher satisfaction value compared to those who think the price is fair, or a negative value which indicates that those who think the price is fair has a higher satisfaction value. Table 12. Classifying attributes in accordance with mean level and significant value Not Significant Significant Low Mean Condition of the waiting area Terminal cleanliness Information available X(+) X(+) X(+) Medium Mean Terminal accessibility X (-) 1284

14 Transit time Noise On time departure On time arrival Friendly and helpful Appearance Smell Lighting Physical condition of the bus Reliability The existing bus schedule Air Conditioner High Mean Cleanliness Travel time taken X (-) Safety of driving Seat availability Onboard security A peculiar observation can be made about those attributes that has a lower mean of satisfaction. Even though there is no significant difference in opinions between the two fare perceptions groups, it is interesting to notice that the mean difference is positive, that is, the satisfaction mean of the too pricy group is higher than the fair group. This could again be related to the fact that majority of the too pricy group is made up of those who have travelled in private vehicles formerly and middle age males. This can be explained simply as males generally have low standards when it comes to cleanliness and comfort. Also because this group is mostly used to private vehicles they have low expectations on facilities of public transportation as they have not had much exposure to the public services and since this service is only about 2 years old, it is still operating quite well. Therefore their perceptions towards the public transportation are more positive because the actual service received is higher than their expectations. 4.2 Quality Gap This analysis is based on individual satisfaction and their gap in satisfaction from a perceived value of 100% satisfaction. Figure 2 displays the average gap in satisfaction for all individuals as a percentage arranged in order. This graph has four regions and lower the value is in the graph the higher the individual s satisfaction would be because this indicates a lower quality gap. 1285

15 Figure 2. Individual satisfaction gap The individuals quality gaps under each region were subjected to further examination to determine which key demographics are present in each area. a. 0 % 25 % Table st quarter gender composition Group Number % within 1st quarter Too Pricey Fair Too Pricey Fair Total Gender Male Female Table 14. Significant difference in satisfaction between the genders of the first quarter Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference Satisfaction Equal variances not Table 15. Group statistics of the 1 st quarter genders Gender Mean Std. Deviation Satisfaction M E F E Out of the 55 individuals that fall in this region 42 have thought the price charged for the trip is fair and 13 individuals though the ticket was too pricy. 1286

16 b. 25 % - 50 % Table nd quarter gender composition Group Number % within 1st quarter Too Pricey Fair Too Pricey Total 94 Gender Male Female Table 17. Significant difference in satisfaction between the genders of the second quarter Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference Satisfaction Equal variances not Fair Table 18. Group statistics of the 2 nd quarter genders Gender Mean Std. Deviation Satisfaction M E 0 F E Examination of the gender composition of the 2 quarters of the quality gap graph it shows that, all the females who believed the price to be too pricey were present in the 1 st quarter suggesting that even though they perceived the price to be high they were still very satisfied with the service attributes and the negative mean difference suggests that the female satisfaction for both quarters were higher than that of males. These results indicate that the price factor is not the only thing that determines the satisfaction rating of a female. Also the females rated the facilities highly because the facilities offered by these luxury bus system is more female accommodative than those offered by the ordinary public bus system, because naturally females are happier when the conditions are more comfortable and safer than the males. 5. CONCLUSIONS This research mainly investigated that the perceptions on the service satisfaction is affected by the perception of price charged and also by the other individual social traits such as gender, age, income and general travel characteristics. The problem that this research was mainly trying to address was, whether the price paid by the customer for the services is justified by the quality of the facilities provided by the service provider. In this study quality of the services provided is taken to be related and measured in terms of customer satisfaction. Therefore if the customer satisfaction of a particular facility is high it is that the quality of it is high as well. But it was shown in the analysis not only the actual quality of the luxury bus service influenced the perception 1287

17 of the customers but also their previous travel characteristics. It can be seen the state of their previous modes, if the modes are better negatively influenced their satisfaction and if the general quality of the previous modes were relatively low their satisfaction of the attributes offered by the luxury bus service is comparatively high. A general overview of the surveyed population it is observed that the current service users represents a solid percentage of each of the modes of transportation used previously. Hence it can also be concluded that the quality of this service is well enough to attract passengers of other transportation modes therefore thriving among the competition of those other modes and can be used as way of reducing private vehicle use. Many of the terminal related attributes received low satisfaction. This could be an area which needs improvement; especially the competition in attracting passengers is not only between luxury and regular bus. Rail mode may soon revitalize their services as well as the popularity of this mass transit is increasing as a way to solve traffic congestion. Also during the hypothesis testing, it is found that the terminal accessibility was negatively related to the time taken to access the terminal. Therefore the system can adopt its own ways to improve accessibility to the terminal. They could provide feeders to the terminals from other nearby and far bus terminals which people can use to come directly to the terminal and they could also increase the number of stops at which the bus can collect customers. When considering the price perception verses satisfaction, the general satisfaction of the too pricey group was comparatively lower than that of the fair group. The too pricey group mainly consisted of those who previously used private modes to make this journey. In order to improve their general satisfaction and to attract more private mode users the service should improve their general public image and improve the quality of their time and security related attributes. By the means of the individual quality gap it shows that all most all of the surveyed passengers fell below the 50% of quality gap. This therefore suggests that the bus fare charged is justified because the quality of the services provided is fair enough. If a more quality service is provided to the public by improving these above mentioned attributes the system could even charge the customers a higher price for the services. Because as mentioned in the literature review as long as the service quality remains high the passengers are more tolerable to paying a higher price as their satisfaction would be high. REFERENCES A look at Melbourne CBD Transport. (2011) Retrieved from Almselati, A.S.I., Rahmath, R.A.O.K., Jaafar, O. (2011) An Overview of Urban Transport in Malaysia. The Social Sciences, 6: APTA (2007) Public Transportation: Benefits for the 21 st Century. Report by the American Public Transportation Association. Retrieved from ntury.pdf Azwer, M. (2010) The pervert on the bus. The Sunday Leader. Retrieved from Biasi, A. (2012) Increasing Perceived Value (of your product or services). Retrieved from

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