Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 7, No.

4, 2013

Comparison of Commuters' Satisfaction and Preferences with

Public Transport: A Case of Wagon Service in Lahore

Muhammad Ashraf Javid 1)*, Toshiyuki Okamura 2), Fumihiko Nakamura 3) and Rui Wang 4)
1)
Ph.D. Student, Department of Civil Engineering, Yokohama National University, Japan
*Corresponding Author. E-Mail: [email protected]
2)
Professor, Faculty of Regional Development Studies, Tokyo University, Japan
3)
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Yokohama National University, Japan
4)
Research Associate, Department of Civil Engineering, Yokohama National University, Japan

ABSTRACT
This study aims at making a comparison between different modes' users for satisfaction and preferences with
public transportation by taking wagon service in Lahore as a case study. A questionnaire survey was
conducted, and structural models were developed for satisfaction with wagon and preferences to use public
transportation. Structural model of satisfaction shows that commuters' satisfaction has positive relationship
with the improvement of symbolic and functional factors of wagon service. However, increase in cost and
time factors tends to decrease satisfaction level. Similarly, symbolic and functional factors of service quality
have positive influence on people’s preferences to use public transportation. The results of comparative
structural modeling revealed that there is significant difference for standardized estimates of structural
equations between different mode users. The models of public transport and motorcycle users have more
resemblance with the base model of satisfaction which implies that perceptions of current public transport and
potential users are adequate for evaluation of service quality of public transport modes. Moreover, it is found
that variation exists between different modes' users for preferences to use public transportation. The findings
would be helpful in improving the service quality of wagon service according to satisfaction and preferences
of different modes' users.

KEYWORDS: Public transportation, Para-transit, Commuters’ satisfaction, Service quality, Lahore.

INTRODUCTION transport, which was the common mode to link

different places in earliest times, has been replaced
The rapid increase in urban population and largely by cars in daily mobility, and by trucks for
automobile ownership and usage have resulted in urban freight movement (Fjellstrom, 2002). The insufficient
transportation problems in developing countries. In and/or inefficient transit facilities tend to generate more
developing countries, most of the cities are facing automobile usage, and thus shape the cities as auto-
problems of achieving the appropriate standard of dependent cities. Moreover, transportation policies in
urban mobility. Mobility is an important element of a developing countries support the use of private
community and it is mainly dependent on automobile vehicles. The situation in developing countries has
in most of the developing countries. Non-motorized become very complex in handling the increased travel
demand of passengers. Public transport system needs to
Accepted for Publication on 24/8/2013. become market-oriented and competitive in all aspects

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Comparison of Commuters'… Muhammad Ashraf Javid, Toshiyuki Okamura, Fumihiko Nakamura and Rui Wang

in order to reduce usage of private vehicles (Beirao and Punjab province and almost 81.7 % population is urban
Cabral, 2007). It requires improvements in service (Faiza and Jamal, 2009). Current population of Lahore
quality of public transportation modes. To make is almost 8.65 million increasing at a growth rate of
necessary improvements in public transportation, it is almost 3% per year. The vehicle growth rate has
required to evaluate service quality level of existing reached 17% per year between 2004 and 2008 (JICA,
public transportation modes (e.g., bus service, para- 2012). Nowadays, Lahore citizens are showing a high
transit,… etc.) based on public perceptions. In trend of motorcycle ownership and usage, which
developing countries, most of para-transit modes such tremendously increased by 483% during the past
as wagon or minibus can meet the specific needs of the decade. Motorcycle almost accounts for 45 % of road
passengers. For example, such mid size vehicles can traffic and 22.4 % of modal share (JICA, 2012). The
operate in narrow streets and they can stop wherever share of motorcycle is almost two times of public
the passenger might require (Okamura et al., 2011). It transport in modal share and is even sometimes used as
is essential to evaluate the potential of such para-transit a family mode. Rapid increase in motorcycle usage has
modes such as wagon service in a specific region. also threatened the safety of pedestrians and bicycle
Moreover, only few studies in developing countries users. The main reasons of increase in automobile
provide evidence of using structural equation modeling ownership and usage are the banking leasing policy of
techniques to assess the commuters' perceptions to the government to own a car and the absence of an
service quality of public transportation mode and to efficient public transportation system.
explore the factors responsible for their effectiveness
(Githui et al., 2010; Joewono et al., 2005; Joewono et Public Transportation
al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2005). Therefore, this study Currently, public transportation is under-developed,
aims to evaluate satisfaction of commuters with wagon highly fragmented and inefficient. More than 800,000
service and preferences to use public transportation. It passengers are using public transport in Lahore where
also makes a comparison between different segments only 800 high occupancy buses are operating along
of travel market for satisfaction and preferences. A with the concentration of para-transit service (JICA,
factor analysis was conducted and three factors 2012). Public transportation modes include: high
extracted of commuters' satisfaction with service occupancy bus, wagon or minibus, motorcycle
quality of wagon service. Using the results of factor rickshaw, auto-rickshaw and taxi. There are almost 53
analysis, structural models were developed of planned routes for buses and 48 routes for wagons
satisfaction and preferences for different groups. This along with the concentration of motorcycle rickshaws
paper is organized in the following manner. The next on some routes. The public transportation modes
section briefly describes the socio-economic and public constitute almost 20.1% of modal share (bus and
transportation characteristics of Lahore. Then, data wagon: 12.5%; rickshaws, taxi, 7.6%,... etc.) (JICA,
collection methods have been described, followed by 2012). High occupancy bus routes operate by many
an elaboration of results of commuters' satisfaction and private operators such as Daewoo, Niazi, Malik,
preferences. The key findings and policy implications Baloch, First Bus,... etc. Auto-rickshaw and taxi are on
of the study have been presented in the final section. demand modes, and their schedules and routes are not
fixed. Motorcycle rickshaws have fixed routes but
CHARACTERISTICS OF LAHORE some of rickshaws are running on un-authorized routes
due to lack of enforcement. Motorcycle rickshaw is
Socio-Economic Characteristics very common in high density and low profile areas.
Lahore is the capital and most advanced district of Initially, provincial government was responsible to

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Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 7, No. 4, 2013

own and operate public transport. However, from the wagon service are located at different locations within
past decade, the government has encouraged private urban areas. Some of the terminals are located near to
operators to enter into market and run buses. Therefore, main railway station and intercity bus terminals.
a large number of small private operators were
permitted to fill the gap between passenger demand DATA COLLECTION METHODS
and capacity in a fragmented way. The incomplete
routes, high fares, fewer buses, gender discrimination Questionnaire Design and Survey
and even the absence of buses on some routes are A questionnaire was designed consisting of the
common. Efficiency is acceptable on certain routes but following two parts: (1) personal and trip information,
reliability is poor, because there is no schedule at all. (2) level of satisfaction with service quality of wagon
Public transportation has now become the privilege of service. In part 1 of the questionnaire, frequency of
private sector in the absence of human resources and travel with different modes and for different trip
financial capacity of public sector. Recently, local purposes was asked using following scale: never, a few
government has established Lahore Transport times a year, a few times a month, 1-2 times a week, 3-
Company (LTC) to regulate public transportation 4 times a week and 5-7 times a week. A four point
system. Government of Punjab has taken various steps Likert scale was used for evaluation of satisfaction
at different occasions to provide efficient and response on service quality attributes of wagon service;
affordable public transportation for the public. In 1991, i.e., not satisfied, less satisfied, satisfied and totally
JICA proposed rail mass transit including the satisfied. The questionnaire survey was conducted
construction of light rail transit. This project has four during September 2011 with the help of university
lines; i.e., green line, blue line, orange line and purple graduate students and 631 samples obtained. The
line (Asian Development Bank, 2008). So far, this questionnaire was designed to know preferences of all
project has not been implemented due to financial and mode users especially car and potential car users (e.g.,
political issues. existing motorcycle, rickshaw, public transport users,...
etc.). Last question in Table 1 was evaluated using four
Para-Transit Service point Likert scale; i.e., strongly disagree, somewhat
In this study, para-transit mode comprises of only disagree, somewhat agree and strongly agree.
wagon or minibus (15-20 seats) service. Currently,
most of public transport users consider wagon service Distribution of Socio-economic Characteristics
as best choice due to its flexible nature, temporal and Sample represents a good mix of different mode
spatial coverage. Wagon service has higher routes users as well as different occupations. The female
coverage and accessibility as compared to bus service. respondents are less because they do not drive
This service is mainly provided by some private motorcycle and also do not work in commercial sectors
companies or on individual basis. The schedule of (e.g. business, shops,... etc.). Table 2 shows that 64.6%
wagon service is usually fixed, but sometimes drivers of respondents have education bachelor or above,
tend to delay operation because of fewer passengers. It which is much higher than actual literacy rate in
has been observed that sometimes drivers take longer Lahore. This is, because the majority of car and
time at intermediate stops to get more passengers and potential car users belong to medium to high income
cause delay to other passengers. It is noticed that many category in this study and thus the education level also
vehicles are operating without valid license, and many increases with the increase of income. Almost 50% of
do not follow the authorized route and sometimes do respondents have never experienced wagon or minibus
not complete the full route journey. The terminals of service. The modal share in this study is calculated

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Comparison of Commuters'… Muhammad Ashraf Javid, Toshiyuki Okamura, Fumihiko Nakamura and Rui Wang

based on highest frequency of travelling with a and lower travel cost of motorcycle. In Lahore, it is
particular mode. Initially, sample was classified into believed that travel cost by motorcycle is almost half of
four classes for vehicle ownership; i.e., no vehicle, public transportation in addition to its flexibility and
only motorcycle, both car and motorcycle and only car. convenience. From this cross analysis, four segments
Then, a cross analysis was conducted between the four were identified; i.e., car oriented (204), motorcycle
groups of vehicle ownership and modal share (most oriented (224), public transport oriented (145) and non-
frequent travel mode). This analysis depicts that people motorized oriented (58). These four segments were
having car or motorcycle prefer to use their private used to make comparison for satisfaction with service
vehicle instead of any other mode as shown in Figure quality of wagon service and preferences to use public
1. This may be due to inefficient public transportation transportation.

Table 1. Attributes of service quality of wagon service

1 Route coverage (RC) 2 Punctuality of service (PS)
3 Travel time reliability (TTR) 4 Frequency of service (FS)
5 Travel cost (fare)-(TC) 6 Crew attitude (driver& conductor)-(CA)
Safety and security at stop and travelling
7 8 Waiting time at wagon stop (WTWS)
(SS)
9 Comfort level (comfort) 10 Convenience level (CL)
11 Physical conditions of vehicle (PC) 12 Routes and schedule information (RSI)
13 Walking time to access stop (WTS) Physical conditions of wagon stop (cleaning,
15
14 Ticket and fare collection system (TFS) lightening,… etc.)- (PCS)
16 Overall performance of wagon service
17 Even if I have or will own a car, I do/would use public transportation sometimes.
Note: All attributes of service quality of wagon were evaluated using four point Likert scales: not
satisfied, less satisfied, satisfied and totally satisfied. Statement no. 17 was evaluated using four- point
level of agreement scale: strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, somewhat agree and strongly agree.

ANALYSIS OF PERCEPTIONS TO stop at other than fixed stop to take more passengers. In
WAGON SERVICE addition, sometimes vehicle crew stop operation at any
stage of trip because of few passengers. These factors
Comparison for Satisfaction with Wagon cause an increase in travel time and inconvenience to
A comparison was made between identified four the passengers. Moreover, due to absence of proper
segments of respondents for satisfaction with wagon fare structure and monitoring system, sometimes
service. This comparison as presented in Table 3 was conductors demand higher fare from the passengers.
made on average satisfaction as well as taking The comparison also shows that car-oriented
“satisfied” as threshold satisfaction point from four respondents have lower satisfaction with most of the
point ordinal scale. The satisfaction level is represented attributes. After public transport users, motorcycle and
by ‘■’ and more ‘■’ means higher satisfaction with the non-motorized modes' users have much higher
corresponding attributes. Table 3 shows that public satisfaction with some service quality attributes.
transport users are highly satisfied with most of the Motorcycle users are less satisfied with ticket and fare
attributes of wagon service except convenience level, collection system, punctuality, travel time reliability,
ticket and fare collection system, travel time reliability service frequency, crew attitude, walking time and
and service frequency. This is because drivers physical condition of bus stop. They are satisfied
sometimes take more time at the intermediate stop, and with some attributes but they do not use buses because

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Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 7, No. 4, 2013

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of socio-economic characteristics

Characteristic Description of category Distribution (%)
Gender Male 76.7
Female 23.3
Age (years) Under 20 14.4
21-30 56.3
31-40 20.0
41-50 6.97
Above 50 2.36
Education Below high school 8.9
High school 8.9
Higher secondary school 11.9
Diploma 5.7
Bachelor and above 64.6
Occupation Students 23.6
Government employees 20.8
Private employees 29.0
Entrepreneurs 15.7
Others [lawyers, labor… etc.] 10.1
Personal income per month Less than 10,000 37.3
(PKR: Pakistan Rupees) 11,000-20,000 23.1
21,000-30,000 16.0
31,000-40,000 10.9
41,000-70,000 7.3
More than 70,000 5.4
Car ownership No 52.9
Yes 47.1
Motorcycle No 31.1
Yes 68.9
Most frequent travel mode (modal Car 24.5
share) Motorcycle 35.5
Rickshaw/ taxi 10.1
Public bus 9.6
Public wagon/minibus 11.1
Walk/bicycle 9.2
Experience with para-transit Never 50.5
(wagon) a few times a year 15.5
a few times a month 15.2
1-2 days a week 6.5
3-4 days a week 6.1
5-7 days a week 5.8

motorcycle offers higher flexibility, freedom and do not use wagon service because they feel that it is
convenience in travelling. Non-motorized mode users expensive and less safe and secure. A ranking was
have less satisfaction with safety and security, waiting proposed for satisfaction with wagon service and
time, travel cost, vehicle physical condition and route ranking placed public transport group at first,
and schedule information. This means that such people motorcycle users second, NMM users third and car

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Comparison of Commuters'… Muhammad Ashraf Javid, Toshiyuki Okamura, Fumihiko Nakamura and Rui Wang

users fourth. It is believed that car users generally service quality level of public transport in evaluation in
perceive less satisfaction with public transport modes comparison to private cars. They do not look at the
and evaluate considering worst scenario (Beirao and actual service quality of public transportation.
Cabral, 2007); i.e., car users always consider worst

Table 3. Distribution of different mode users’ satisfaction with wagon service quality
Walking/
Car- Motorcycle- Public transport
bicycle
Attribute oriented oriented users
users (N:
(N: 204) (N:224) (N: 145)
58)
Route coverage ■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■
Punctuality ■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■
Travel time reliability ■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■
Service frequency ■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■
Travel cost (fare) ■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■
Crew attitude ■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■
Safety and security ■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■
Waiting time at bus stop ■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■
Comfort level ■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■
Convenience level ■ ■■■■ ■■ ■■■
Vehicle physical condition ■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■
Routes and schedule information ■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■
Walking time to bus stop ■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■
Physical condition of stop ■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■
Ticket and fare collection system ■■ ■ ■■■ ■■■■
Overall evaluation of performance ■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■
Note: More ‘■’ means higher satisfaction with wagon service attribute, N: number of samples.

Only car 75 4 11 1 9 3
Car & motorcycle 82 77 8 2 16 8
Only motorcycle 2 141 20 20 37 23
No auto ownership 2 6 27 32 24
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Car Motorcycle Rickshaw/taxi Public Bus Public Wagon/minibus Walk/Bicycle
(Values in figure represent number of respondents in each category)

Figure 1: Cross-distribution of most frequent travel modes with vehicle ownership

Factor Analysis software. These factors were named considering nature

A factor analysis was conducted using results of of attributes and tendencies associated with them from
commuters' perceptions to service quality of wagon users' perspective; i.e., symbolic, functional, and cost
service. Three factors were identified using SPSS and time as presented in Table 4. The indicators or

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Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 7, No. 4, 2013

observed variables with higher factor loading have travel time have monetary nature or value from user
more influence in explaining the corresponding factor. perspective. Therefore, third factor was named as cost
The symbolic factor included satisfaction attributes and time factor. The Cronbach’s alpha values were also
related to image, aesthetics and attractive dimensions estimated for the three extracted factors. These values
of service quality; i.e., comfort, safety, vehicle physical are 0.81, 0.73 and 0.62 for symbolic, functional and
condition, staff attitude and information. The cost and time factors, respectively. These values
functional factor included attributes related to indicate that there is significant consistency among
instrumental dimensions of service quality of public respondents in evaluating the observed variables of
transportation; i.e., punctuality, route coverage, service extracted factors, and these factors are reliable in
frequency and convenience. It was assumed that time- estimating their impact on commuters' satisfaction and
related attributes such as walking and waiting time, and preferences.

Table 4. Rotated factor loading for perceptions to service quality attributes of wagon service
Factors Observed variables Factor loading Cronbach’s alpha
Comfort level (Comfort) 0.726
Physical condition of vehicle (PC) 0.696
Symbolic Crew attitude (CA) 0.655 0.81
Safety and security (SS) 0.608
Routes and schedule information (RSI) 0.480
Punctuality of service (PS) 0.664
Route coverage (RC) 0.656
Functional 0.73
Frequency of service (FS) 0.613
Convenience level (CL) 0.494
Walking time to stop (WTS) 0.663
Waiting time at wagon stop (WTWS) 0.519
Cost and time 0.62
Travel time reliability (TTR) 0.464
Travel cost (TC) 0.463
Note: Variables with a factor loading of 0.4 or more are reported only. All the correlations were
significant at 5% level of significance.

Structural Equation Modeling variables as well as latent variables specified as linear

In the field of transport and behavioral research, combinations of the observed variables (Golob, 2003).
structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques have It has the ability to test multiple hypotheses at one time
been widely used to evaluate travel behavior (Javid et with multiple dependents, provides flexibility in
al., 2012; Choocharukul, 2006; Golob, 2003; Steg, assumptions and can illustrate direct effects between
2003) and different software packages are available for variables and indirect effects through mediating
this purpose such as SPSS Amos 19.0 (Arbuckle, variables. Different researchers in the field of statistics
2010). The SEM approach is handy for multivariate have recommended permissible values for parameters
analysis. An SEM model includes measurement model, of goodness-of-fit of an SEM model. As the ratio of
which identifies latent constructs underlying a group of chi-square to the degree of freedom (χ2/DF) less than 5
observed variables, and/or structural equations which indicates a reasonable fit of model (Marsh and
depict the directional relationships among latent and Hocevar, 1985), GFI, AGFI and CFI greater than 0.90
observed variables. An SEM model can handle a large indicate good fit of model (Bentler and Bonett, 1980),
number of endogenous and exogenous observed RMSEA less than 0.08 shows a good fit (MacCallum et

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Comparison of Commuters'… Muhammad Ashraf Javid, Toshiyuki Okamura, Fumihiko Nakamura and Rui Wang

al., 1996), and RMR less than 0.08 is acceptable (Hu even if they have a car or will own a car”. The first
and Bentler, 1999). model was constructed to evaluate the influence of
The structures of commuters' satisfaction with extracted satisfaction factors on commuters' overall
wagon service and preferences to use public transport satisfaction with wagon service. The objective of the
were constructed using three factors as extracted in second type model is to check how commuters'
previous section. These two models are given in Figure satisfaction with service quality factors of a particular
2. Two types of structural models were developed in mode influences their preferences to use public
this section: (1) structure of commuters' satisfaction transportation. Comparison was made between
with service quality of wagon service, (2) structure of structural models of car, motorcycle and public
influence of extracted satisfaction factors on transport users for only estimates of structural
commuters' preferences “to use public transportation equations and indices of goodness of fit parameters.

Comfort
1
PC
Symbolic
CA Overall evaluation
SS of wagon
performance
RSI
RC
1
PS Functional
FS
Even if I have or
CL will own a car, I
WTS do/would use public
Cost and time transport sometimes
WTBS 1
TTR
TC

Figure 2: Structure of satisfaction and preferences with wagon service

Structural Models of Satisfaction with Wagon car users' model, motorcycle users' model and public
Service transport users' model. The results of structural
The structures of commuters' satisfaction with equation modeling as presented in Table 5 show that
wagon service were constructed using extracted commuters' satisfaction has positive relationship with
factors; i.e., symbolic, functional, cost and time. An the change of satisfaction with symbolic and functional
observed variable of commuters' “overall evaluation of factors. However, the satisfaction level decreases with
wagon performance” was introduced for this purpose. the increase in travel cost and time factors. This means
A typical path diagram is presented in Figure 2 with that commuters' satisfaction would reduce with the
the above defined observed variables. Four models increase in fare, waiting and ingress/egress time. These
were constructed and their parameters were estimated; results implicate that commuters' satisfaction with
i.e., base model (overall satisfaction model including public transportation modes can be enhanced by
all kinds of respondents; i.e., model with all samples), improving the image of symbolic and functional

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Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 7, No. 4, 2013

factors, but ensuring the low travel cost. Talking about cost results in a negative impact on people’s
individual model, in all models cost and time factor has satisfaction regardless their travel mode. By comparing
negative impact on commuters' satisfaction whereas estimates of structural equations and values of
symbolic and functional factors have positive goodness-of-fit parameters of three models with base
relationship with overall satisfaction of wagon service model, it can be argued that the models of public
quality. These results imply that the increase in in- transport and motorcycle users have better
vehicle and out-of-vehicle travel time as well as travel representation of overall base model.

Table 5. Results of standardized estimates of commuters' satisfaction models

Base Car MC PT
Structural equations
model users users users
Symbolic Overall evaluation of performance 0.33** 0.43 0.23 0.21
Functional Overall evaluation of performance 0.87 0.74 0.73 0.93
Cost and time Overall evaluation of performance -0.58 -0.55 -0.32 -0.57
Indicies of goodness of fit parameters
Chi-Sq/DF 4.262 2.993 2.257 2.412
RMR 0.042 0.050 0.046 0.055
GFI 0.928 0.880 0.901 0.882
AGFI 0.895 0.825 0.855 0.828
CFI 0.914 0.855 0.903 0.877
RMSEA 0.072 0.099 0.075 0.084
Note: Base mode: overall satisfaction model with all samples, ** significant at 5%, PT: public transport,
MC: motorcycle.

Table 6. Results of standardized estimates of commuters' preferences models

Base Car MC PT
Structural equations
model users users users
Symbolic Even if I have or will own 0.16 -0.16 0.38** 0.11
Functional a car, I do/would use public 0.36 0.93 -0.69 0.47
Cost and time transportation sometimes -0.45 -0.60 0.42 -0.67
Indicies of goodness of fit parameters
Chi-Sq/DF 4.061 2.730 2.127 2.243
RMR 0.042 0.052 0.047 0.065
GFI 0.931 0.888 0.904 0.863
AGFI 0.900 0.837 0.860 0.800
CFI 0.911 0.862 0.904 0.838
RMSEA 0.070 0.092 0.071 0.093
Note: Base mode: overall preferences model with all samples, ** significant at 5%, PT: public transport,
MC: motorcycle.

Structural Models of Preferences to Use Public have or will own a car, I do/would use public
Transportation transportation sometimes”. Results of base model
In this part, again four structural models were (overall model with all samples) as presented in Table
developed for commuters' preferences to use public 6 indicate that commuters' preferences to use public
transportation using three extracted factors. For this transportation have positive relationship with symbolic
purpose, an observed variable was defined as “Even if I and functional factors. On the other hand, preferences

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Comparison of Commuters'… Muhammad Ashraf Javid, Toshiyuki Okamura, Fumihiko Nakamura and Rui Wang

to use public transportation are affected negatively with satisfaction of public transport users with symbolic and
the increase of cost and time factors. These results functional factors tends to generate more usage of
imply that commuters' preferences with public public transport. However, the impact of travel cost
transportation modes can be enhanced by improving and time factors needs to reduce from the perspective
the image of symbolic and functional factors, but of transit users. The indices of goodness of fit
ensuring low travel cost. parameters of all models as given in Table 6 are lying
The estimated parameters of structural equations for within or approaching permissible limits, which
different modes' users show that the preferences to use indicates that these models have reasonably good fit in
public transport vary under different factors. In the estimating the respondents' perceptions.
model of car users, the preferences to use public By comparing the results of separate models with
transport are negatively affected by symbolic as well as the base model, it can be said that the model of public
cost and time factors; whereas they are positively transport users has better resemblance with the base
associated with functional attributes. It means that the model and that they have more potential of using
increase in in-vehicle and out-of-vehicle travel time public transport with the above-mentioned
and bad image of symbolic attributes tend to reduce the improvements in service quality because they have low
usage potential of car users. These results imply that potential of owning a private car in the future due to
the image of symbolic and time dimensions of wagon low income. Moreover, to attract auto users towards
service needs to improve from car users' perspective; public transport, some significant improvements are
i.e., decrease in in-vehicle and out-of-vehicle travel required in all dimensions of public transport.
time, improvement of comfort level, better vehicle
condition, better safety dimensions and attitude of CONCLUSIONS
crew. Moreover, improvements in functional
characteristics would also help in improving the image This study was conducted to evaluate commuters'
of the service to car users, as their relationship is satisfaction and preferences with public transportation
positive with preferences. In the model of motorcycle and make a comparison between different mode user
users, satisfaction with symbolic as well as cost and segments for stated subjects. It is found that public
time dimensions of wagon has positive influence on transport users are highly, motorcycle and non-
motorcycle users' preferences to use public transport. motorized modes' users moderately, and car users less
The relationship between functional attributes and satisfied with most of the service quality attributes of
preferences is negative. This means that lower wagon service. Structural equation modeling results
satisfaction of motorcycle users with these attributes revealed that commuters' satisfaction and preferences
tends to reduce the use of public transportation. These with public transportation modes are affected
results imply that functional dimensions of wagon positively by the change of satisfaction with symbolic
service need to improve from the perspective of and functional factors. However, cost and time factors
motorcycle users in order to improve their satisfaction have negative impact on commuters' satisfaction and
and enhance usage of wagon service. In the model of preferences. Therefore, major steps are required in
public transport users, the preferences to use public order to improve the service quality of wagon service.
transportation have positive relationship with the It is suggested to improve symbolic and functional
change of satisfaction with symbolic and functional dimensions of wagon service along with reduction in
factors. On the other hand, preferences to use public cost and time factors in order to make it suitable for
transportation decrease with the increase of cost and users of all types. Such improvements would be handy
time factors. These results imply that higher in increasing public satisfaction and usage of wagon

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Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Volume 7, No. 4, 2013

service. the auto users. The developed structural models can be

It is revealed from comparative structural modeling used to evaluate the commuters' satisfaction and
that satisfaction of different mode users varies with preferences with other public transportation modes;
wagon service and that models of public transport and e.g. bus service. This study would help transport
motorcycle users have better resemblance with the base planners in taking necessary steps for the improvement
model. These results imply that current public transport of wagon service quality as per satisfaction and
and potential users (motorcycle users) should be the preferences of different modes' users. It will also help
target groups in making improvements in service in explaining the important attributes that need to be
quality. Moreover, the perceptions of current and considered in developing public transportation
potential users are more important for evaluation of facilities.
service quality of public transportation modes.
Similarly, modeling results for preferences to use ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
public transport revealed that model of public transport The authors would like to acknowledge the
users has good representation of the overall base financial support of “Research on Low Carbon
model. This implicates that improvement in symbolic Transport in Asia” project, supported by Ministry of
and functional features of wagon service with Environment, Japan and the financial support of
affordable travel cost would help in keeping existing “Engineering Research Management Program” of
public transport users. This would also be helpful in Yokohama National University.
enhancing the use of public transportation by attracting

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