“More Than a Free Bus Ride”—Exploring Young Adults’ Perceptions of Free Bus Services Using a Qualitative Approach: A Case Study of Penang, Malaysia

Sukor, Nur Sabahiah Abdul; Airak, Surachai; Hassan, Sitti Asmah

doi:10.3390/su13063294

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Young adults between the ages of 12 and 18 are given free bus rides in other nations, like Malaysia. The purpose of a free bus service in developing nations is to help the low-income population improve their quality of life and employment opportunities by lowering their transportation expenditure (Sukor et al, 2021).…”

Section: Free Bus Travel Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Tamil Nadu’s free bus travel policy impact women’s lives?

Joel Premkumar,

M.S.,

2024

HASSS

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Sustainable Development Goal 5 aims to achieve gender equality by 2030, and various national and state policies and programs are being implemented with a gender-inclusive perspective. Women often rely on male members of the family to meet their needs and due to COVID-19 pandemic losses and ongoing price hikes on essential goods, many working women in the informal sector, such as domestic workers, construction workers, agricultural workers and daily wage employees, are finding it difficult to survive. Poor women who are destitute, separated, widowed, disabled or migrated are the worst affected as they have no choice but to work and earn money to survive. Women pushing for their livelihood means their mobility is more important in the face of job losses and economic opportunities. Also, in the face of rising petrol and diesel prices, transportation costs have been identified as a key burden for families, which many women have been unable to afford. In this context, the Tamil Nadu government announced free public bus travel for women in June 2021 in an attempt to alleviate travel costs and enhance women's work participation rates. This research paper investigates the economic and social impact of the 'Free Bus Travel Policy' on women in the Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu, by using a mixed method design adopting both quantitative survey (150) and qualitative interviews (30). The free bus travel policy has impacted women's economic and social lives, especially among women from lower-income groups, and the majority of them have agreed that this scheme has increased their access to economic resources, mobility, and financial independence. However, the scheme suffers limitations such as lack of proper time management, lack of suitable infrastructure, and lack of frequent buses that are to be provided to have an effective implementation of the scheme.

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Section: Free Bus Travel Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Tamil Nadu’s free bus travel policy impact women’s lives?

Joel Premkumar,

M.S.,

2024

HASSS

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“…Thus, offering free-fare buses represents a proactive step towards building more sustainable and liveable cities. The implementation of free-fare bus services is actually another form of stage bus and have been used in various places across the globe which include London, United Kingdom [4], [5], Johor and Penang, Malaysia [6], [7], Santiago, Chile [8], Frýdek-Místek, Czechia [1], Tallin, Estonia [9] and many more. According to the referenced paper, the aim is always to provide a practical and functional to every targeted citizen of the country.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Redefining user experience: a study of free-fare buses and its service quality in Johor, Malaysia

Zakaria,

Rohani,

Nordin

et al. 2024

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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In Malaysia, public transport is well renowned for assisting its residents from place to place while also working to lower the travel cost. However, from the perspective of the bus supplier, free-fare bus service may have significant fuel, maintenance, personnel and infrastructure costs that might not be met by money from passenger fees. In the long run, this can have an impact on the service’s viability and financial sustainability. In order to assess the return on an investment that does not anticipate a monetary return, a study of passengers’ satisfaction of the performance of free-fare bus service operations was conducted in Johor, Malaysia among 375 passengers. The survey covered five aspects, including comfort, responsiveness, facility, safety and information availability. Through the usage of 5-point Likert-scale questions, frequency and descriptive analyses were included. According to a population sample taken at random, more than half of free-fare buses users are female, teenagers or students who does not own a driving licence and without a source of income, making it impossible for them to acquire a motorized vehicle. All factors had a mean score of greater than 3.50, indicating that users are satisfied. This is advantageous because it demonstrates how government funding can result in the best service possible for users. In other way, the good free-fare bus services can attract more passenger in embracing the sustainability strategy to improve the traffic flow.

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“…In such an attempt, Tamil Nadu introduced a program in June 2021 named "Free bus travel for women in public transportation" to alleviate the cost of travel and enhance women's participation in the workforce. Free bus travel programs are being introduced in several countries for a variety of reasons, including to improve the quality of life for elderly and low-income people (Sukor et al, 2021) and to reduce traffic congestion, energy consumption, and air pollution in industrialized nations (Guerreiro, 2013). However, India was the first nation to provide free bus travel for women in Delhi in 2019, and Punjab followed in 2021("Free bus travel," 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does The Scheme “Free Bus Policy for Women in Public Transportation” Contributes to The Achievement of The Sustainable Development Goals?

Joel Premkumar,

M.S.,

2023

IJSR

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Tamilnadu, one of the states in India is performing better in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by implementing various schemes and programmes. One such scheme “Free bus travel for women in public transportation”, was launched in June 2021 in an effort to reduce the cost of travel and enhance women’s work participation rates. Women's mobility is essential for increased labour force participation, higher wages and salaries. The aim of this scheme is to help women, especially those who earn a living on a daily basis, become economically independent and free from poverty. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyse the impact of the scheme with the various relevant SDGs. It is a descriptive paper that highlights the policy’s various benefits on women, whether it contributes to the achievement of various sustainable development goals such as Goal 1.4 (access to basic services), Goal 4.3 (Equal access to tertiary education), Goal 5.2 (elimination of violence against women in public and private sphere), Goal 8.5 (decent work) & Goal 11.2 (safe public transportation) using both quantitative survey and qualitative interviews which was carried out among 150 women commuters in Sivagangai District. The scheme was shown to have a good effect on women by assisting them in meeting their practical needs, such as gaining access to markets and schools, and by assisting them in strategically empowering themselves by providing access to social and economic possibilities.

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“More Than a Free Bus Ride”—Exploring Young Adults’ Perceptions of Free Bus Services Using a Qualitative Approach: A Case Study of Penang, Malaysia

Cited by 7 publications

References 65 publications

Does Tamil Nadu’s free bus travel policy impact women’s lives?

Does Tamil Nadu’s free bus travel policy impact women’s lives?

Redefining user experience: a study of free-fare buses and its service quality in Johor, Malaysia

Does The Scheme “Free Bus Policy for Women in Public Transportation” Contributes to The Achievement of The Sustainable Development Goals?

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