“Howya gettin’ on?” Investigating Public Transport Satisfaction Levels in Galway, Ireland

Abstract

Public transport transforms urban communities and the lives of citizens living in them by stimulating economic growth, promoting sustainable lifestyles and providing a greater quality of life. Globally, the healthiest cities have one thing in common, a public and active transport network that does not depend on each person owning a personal motorised vehicle. Growing dependence on the automobile has created a multitude of problems, some of which public transport can help solve. Adverse social, environmental and health effects related to automobile emissions and car-dependency suggest that using public transport will result in a decrease in an individual’s carbon footprint, will lessen overall CO2 emissions, and will help to ease urban traffic congestion as well as encourage more effective and efficient land use. With many urban areas experiencing ongoing traffic problems, it is acknowledged that any sustainable long-term solution must entail a significant public transport element. The aim of this research study, conducted in November and December 2017, was to obtain essential baseline information on service user satisfaction levels with the existing public bus services in Galway City, Ireland. By measuring levels of satisfaction, it is possible to build our overall knowledge of the public transport network and thus identify improvements in the service that would lead to an increase in bus passenger numbers and result in reductions in the amount of cars on the roads. Results suggest deficiencies in public transport infrastructure, such as Dedicated Bus Lanes, and the lack of attention to customer services are hindering improvements in the public bus service.

(Re)emphasizing Urban Infrastructure Resilience via Scoping Review and Content Analysis

“…It was established in this paper that urban infrastructure resilience is an important research topic, and will remain a vital ingredient for creating sustainable communities in our rapidly changing world. Given the importance of infrastructure to the well-being of people living in cities [38,62], direct effort regarding related topics should be continued by others. To conclude, it is hoped that this research will serve as an important step in stimulating interdisciplinary dialog for further understanding the importance of urban infrastructure resilience when creating sustainable cities.…”

“…In order to maintain this coupled system, entities such as public works (utilities, structures, equipment, personnel) need to be in place for it to persist indefinitely. Improvement to urban infrastructure is a necessity for fast-growing cities, therefore the planning and engineering communities have focused much of their attention on questions related to minimizing resource consumption and maximizing efficiency through the redesign of infrastructure [35][36][37][38][39][40]. The terminology related to "urban infrastructure resilience" remains convoluted within the literature due to a lack of systematic review from a sustainable development planning perspective.…”

Sustainable Urban Transport Development by Applying a Fuzzy-AHP Model: A Case Study from Mersin, Turkey

“…It is correlated with the assessment of various criteria related to transport quality, service quality and tractability [2][3][4][5][6][7]. In recent years, the majority of research has focused on passenger gratification in different transportation fields [8][9][10][11][12]. The studies overviewed the most critical issues in order to develop the transportation systems.…”