Assessment of the satisfaction of bus passengers: Evidence from Dhaka,Bangladesh

<p>Increased population results in an increase in travel demand. Greater road length and construction of<br>new roads result in faster and longer travels and increased car ownership, which contributes to<br>increased traffic congestion and pollution. The bus form of travel is a critical component of resolving<br>this issue. A bus can carry 30-40 passengers per trip; on the other hand, a private car carries 2-3<br>passengers per trip. So, bus transport could decrease the number of vehicles on the road if it can<br>provide better service quality in bus mode. In this experiment, the main objectives are to understand<br>better passengers’ satisfaction with bus transport on the Uttara-Gazipur route and predict the<br>individual factors contributing to the comfort of the bus modes on this route. A questionnaire survey<br>form was created to evaluate this result with about 19 service quality parameters such as safe speed,<br>temperature, noise, required time, waiting time for the bus, station service, seat comfort service,<br>cleanness, staff behavior, and payment system fare. In this experiment, opinions of 100 passengers<br>were collected regarding service quality. Data were analyzed using descriptive and multiple linear<br>regression, analyzed by SPSS software. One main finding reported that passengers are not satisfied<br>yet with bus service quality. This study revealed that 75% of feedback was poor or very poor, and<br>25% was positive or good regarding the level of satisfaction for bus mode. The regression analysis<br>reported that the overall P-value is less than 0.05 and the regression coefficient, R2<br>is 0.64, which<br>rejected the null hypothesis and made the survey significant in assessing the overall comfort of<br>passengers traveling by bus on the Uttara-Gazipur route. It was also found that three parameters:<br>reliability (ẞ = 0.170, P=0.027), safe speed (ẞ = 0.240, P = 0.021) and travel time (ẞ = 0.320, P =<br>0.01) are individually contributing to overall satisfaction of passenger in Uttara-Gazipur route.</p>