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The limits of analyzing service quality data in public transport

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Abstract

In recent years, management and academics have increasingly focused on quality management in public transport. In particular, many public transport operators regularly monitor their service quality over time and use these data to assess quality performance (e.g., for performance-based quality contracts) and to determine managerial decisions (e.g., budget allocations for service improvements). However, despite the widespread applications of service quality data in practice, it is unclear whether cross-sectional analyses and cross-temporal comparisons of service quality data provide valid insights for quality management purposes. In this study, we investigate the usability of cross-sectional analyses and cross-temporal comparisons of service quality data by conducting an empirical study that tracked a panel’s perceptions of the service quality of public transport and its choice over the course of three consecutive years. The results demonstrate that cross-sectional analyses provide valid insights for quality management. However, cross-temporal comparisons should be interpreted carefully because the results of these comparisons are surprisingly unreliable. In fact, we find that service quality data do not provide reliable results over time and therefore conclude that cross-temporal comparisons of service quality data must be interpreted with caution for quality management in public transport.

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Notes

  1. Despite questioning respondents separately on each attribute is associated with limitations (Green and Srinivasan 1990), research shows that this approach does not perform worse than alternative methods to determine the importance of attributes (Srinivasan and Park 1997).

  2. Similarly, Hensher (2014) acknowledges the relationship by linking perceived service quality with passenger demand.

  3. This metric presumes that individuals have a choice between different modes of transport; in other words, it is assumed that individuals either own a car or have ready access to a car pooling arrangement.

  4. The indicators regarding the respondents’ satisfaction with service quality were rated on a five-point Likert scale.

  5. Respondents were asked to take the time for searching parking and the associated expenses into account.

  6. Despite the longer interval in between measurements, the procedure is analog to previous studies (e.g., Axhausen et al. 2002).

  7. The reconstruction work did not affect car journeys and was completed long before the survey period at time t 2.

  8. For each trip involving public transport, the study respondents were asked whether a car was a transport option; similarly, for each trip involving car travel, the study respondents were asked whether public transit was a transport option. Trips for which the alternative mode was not available were excluded in this study.

  9. This approach is similar to studies in transportation research that test antecedents of mode choice (e.g., McFadden 1974; Ortúzar and Willumsen 2005; Train 1980).

  10. An analysis whether the respondents systematically over- or underestimated the satisfaction ratings showed no significant difference between the over- and underestimation for 14 indicators. Of those 11 indicators where we could detect significant differences, 9 were underestimated and only 2 were overestimated. Overall, we can assume that over- or underestimation is neither resulting from nor causing the differences in importance of the dimensions.

  11. The differences over time for the independent variables (quality, travel time and costs) were calculated analogously to the calculations for the dependent variable of mode choice (e.g., ΔSatisfaction i1,0/1 = Satisfaction i1,1  −  Satisfaction i1,0).

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  1. Kühne Logistics University, Großer Grasbrook 17, 20457, Hamburg, Germany

    Jan U. Becker & Sönke Albers

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  1. Jan U. Becker
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Becker, J.U., Albers, S. The limits of analyzing service quality data in public transport. Transportation 43, 823–842 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-015-9621-2

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