Service Supply and Customer Satisfaction in Public Transportation: The Quality Paradox

Abstract

Satisfaction measures obtained from citizens are frequently used in performancebased contracts due to their presumed link with company performance. However, few studies have actually examined the link between traveler satisfaction measures and objective performance measures in public transport. This research analyzes the relationship between the objective performance measures of public transport services and the satisfaction perceived by travelers. Data were collected in six different European cities. Three objective service performance measures were obtained for each city from the UITP Millennium Database. Three subjective satisfaction attribute measures were obtained from Benchmarking in European Service of Public Transport (BEST 2001), answered by 6,021 respondents in total. In addition to subjective attribute measures, overall satisfaction was also used as a subjective measure. Several correlational analyses show that the relationship between satisfaction and service performance in public transport is far from perfect.

Satisfaction with travel and residential self-selection: How do preferences moderate the impact of the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit line?

“…In addition, the SWT scale can be applied to measure one's overall satisfaction with travel for various purposes as determined by the quality of the transportation system, accessibility of relevant destinations and local opportunities for walking and cycling. For specific trips, satisfaction with travel has been found to be influenced by travel mode, travel duration, travel company, trip purpose, activities during travel, occurrence of delays/congestion, seating probability, and service supply (Friman and Felleson 2009). Individual preferences also play a role.…”

A New Passenger Oriented Performance Measurement Framework for Public Rail Transportation Systems

“…Passenger evaluations are subjective to reflect the actual conditions and a high level of satisfaction does not necessarily suggest a superior system or vice versa. Alternatively, given the fact that satisfaction is a relative concept, satisfaction scores should be evaluated within their own context [31]. For the overall performance evaluation of a public transportation system from the user perspective, a unique score is crucial.…”

Parametric Approach to the Assessment of Service Quality Attributes of Municipal Passenger Transport in Moscow

“…At the same time, as noted in some researches (Friman and Felleson, 2009), service quality is not always relevant to consumer satisfaction. There is a possibility that improving the quality of services provided, dissatisfaction will increase.…”