The Role of Quality Assessment for Development of Sustainable Bus ...

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ScienceDirect Procedia Engineering 198 (2017) 926 – 934

Urban Transitions Conference, Shanghai, September 2016

The role of quality assessment for development of sustainable bus service in mid-sized cities of India: A case study of Patna Sanjeev Sinhaa, Shubhajit Sadhukhanb* and Shiv Priyea a

Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Patna, Patna-800005, India b Department of Architecture, National Institute of Technology Patna, Patna-800005, India

Abstract Public transport in urban areas has been observed to have contributed significantly to the reduction of traffic congestion and pollution, providing alternate means of sustainable transport mode and in a general improvement in ‘quality of life’ of city dwellers. In developing countries like India, rapid urbanization has led to increased travel demand, an increase in a number of the personalized vehicles; however, lack of commensurate comprehensive transportation planning in urban areas has put tremendous pressure on the existing inadequate and out of date transport infrastructure. In order to overcome such alarming situation, improved public transport both in qualitative and quantitative terms has been recommended from all quarters. The present study assesses the existing ‘quality of services’ of midi buses operating in Patna, India. Accordingly, a Likert-type ordinal scale rating based face-to-face survey was conducted among midi bus users in Patna. Respondents were asked to rate the 20 attributes of midi bus services in the city, in terms of satisfaction based on their experiences while commuting. A total of 402 refined questionnaires were analyzed using TOPSIS method. The findings will help to understand the shortcomings of the existing public bus service and provide the responsible authorities and bus operators with suggestions that can enhance the ‘quality of service’ and attract more users to public bus service. Commuters were found satisfied with ‘qualitative’ attributes such as ‘ticketing facility’, ‘seat comfort’, ‘condition of bus stops’, ‘ condition of bus’, etc. while dissatisfaction was found for ‘bus information at the bus stop’, ‘frequency of bus service’ and ‘buses being on time’. This study justifies the need of improving ‘qualitative’ aspects of existing bus services. The findings of the study will provide the policy makers and bus operators in planning and implement the effective and sustainable public transport system in future for small and mid-sized cities of developing countries. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-reviewunder under responsibility of the organizing committee the Urban Transitions Conference. Peer-review responsibility of the organizing committee of the of Urban Transitions Conference Keywords: Sustainability; Public Transport; Quality of Service; Midi Bus; TOPSIS

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9775549917; fax: +0-000-000-0000 . E-mail address: [email protected]; [email protected];

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the Urban Transitions Conference

doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.07.138

Sanjeev Sinha et al. / Procedia Engineering 198 (2017) 926 – 934

1. Introduction Transportation is the mean to satisfy users’ need for mobility. At the same time the transportation system that includes infrastructure, administration, vehicles and users, should be managed in such a way that it cater the needs of present without ‘comprising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (UN WCED, 1987). World Bank (2010) states sustainability as a balance of economics, environmental and social concerns. Ramani et al. (2009) introduced the idea of sustainable transportation, and has defined it as an expression of sustainable development in transportation sector keeping in view the three tenets namely economic, social and environmental. Public transit is supposed to score high on sustainability measures as it has lower economic cost, lesser environmental damage and social equity as compared to personalized vehicles (Maitra and Sadhukhan, 2013). Public transits cause lesser environmental pollution, has better affordability and accessibility, involves lower transportation cost and have enhanced efficiency and safety (Litman, 2008). Peng et al. (2011) have suggested various transportation planning strategies among which level of service based on multimodal transportation in which was based on person trips rather than vehicular trips, in this enough importance was given to transit system. Further, Green Transport Hierarchy (Keegan, 2001) has put public transit at a level immediately after walking and biking. These facts show the need for the development of public transportation system in the development of sustainable transport system. Transit operation in urban areas has been observed to have contributed significantly to the reduction of traffic congestion and pollution, providing alternate means of travel and in a general improvement in the quality of life of people (Maitra and Sadhukhan, 2013). The role of transit operation in developing countries is even greater, as it serves a larger number of people living in urban agglomeration in rapidly growing urban areas and thereby provides capacities to handle the requirements of urban transportation in these rapidly growing urban areas (Vuchic, 2005). In developing countries such as India, rapid urbanization has led to increased travel demand; however, lack of commensurate comprehensive transportation planning in urban areas has put tremendous pressure on the existing inadequate and out of date transportation infrastructure. Cities are characterized by severe congestion, high level of pollution, low travel speed and large travel time (Maitra and Sadhukhan, 2013). In order to overcome such alarming situation, transit-oriented development has been recommended from all quarters (MOUD, 2014). Even though with the rapid increase of population and expanse of the city, there has not been a proportional rise in public transit system both in qualitative and quantitative terms. This has contributed towards the tremendous growth of usage of the personalized vehicle in the city. Shrivastava et al. (2011) has reported that in spite of huge potential of patronage of urban trips by buses, it is about six per cent buses for non-slum population whereas for slum population it is about three per cent whereas usage of cars and two-wheelers together amount to thirty per cent in now –slum areas to about seven per cent in slum areas. This shows that the public transport patronage in the city is abysmally low as compared to that of the personalized vehicle. 2. Problem Definition Bus service in the city of Patna, a mid-sized city, and capital of eastern province of Bihar, has been in operation since the early 1970s. These buses are often overcrowded but have a low fare. Lately new buses namely midi buses have been introduced in the city funded by the central government funded scheme of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. These buses were operated by Bihar Urban Transport Services Limited (BUSTL), an institution under the state government of Bihar; however, its operation has been handed over to other state-owned institution named Bihar State Road Transport Development Corporation (BSRTDC). Midibuses have seating capacity for thirty-two passengers with nine seats reserved for ladies and one space for a wheelchair. They are semilow floor buses and operate on five routes in the city. In spite of being introduced for about two years now, the patronage of the midi buses has not been encouraging. In order to investigate the reasons for this, a survey was

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conducted to assess the existing quality of level of services of midi buses operating in Patna, as perceived by its users. A good knowledge of the quality of bus services and their performance is needed for providing a better quality bus services (Rohani et al., 2013). Badami and Haider (2007) reported that commuters of cities of developing countries like India hugely depend on public bus services. In order to encourage people to make public buses as their most desirable choice for travelling, a high level of quality in bus transport services is needed. Also, by encouraging commuters to public transport can be used as an effective plan in dealing with the fuel crisis and environmental problems related to motorized vehicles. Customer satisfaction survey is one of the best methods to assess the bus quality service. Any deficiency in the existing bus service or its functioning can be ascertained and sorted out through it (Rohani et al., 2013). The quality of bus service has been studied by various researchers (Tyriopoulus and Antoniou, 2008; Olawole and Aloba, 2014; Jain et al., 2014; Verma et al., 2013; Eboli and Mazzula, 2007; Redman et al., 2013 and Hensher et al., 2003. A successful customer satisfaction survey uses its results to maximize the retention of current customers and help operators to present themselves in a better way before prospective customers. Customer satisfaction surveys is an essential tool for listening to customers about their satisfaction levels and for developing strategies for improvement (Noor et al., 2014; Shaaban and Khalil, 2013). Customer satisfaction surveys have been carried out by various researchers in which ranking of the attribute is carried out using different statistical techniques. Technique for Ordered Preference by Similarity to Ideal (TOPSIS) which is based on multiple attribute decision making had been used by several researchers (Sadhukhan et al., 2014; Dodangeh et al., 2009). The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used by Saaty (2006) and Wong and Lee (2008). Another popular method is relative to an identified distribution integral transformation (RIDIT) analysis, which had been used by Sadhukhan et al. (2014) and Wu (2007). Each method of analysis has got its advantages and disadvantages and therefore, has been used accordingly. The objective of the paper is to give an account of assessment of quality or level of services available in the midi buses operating in Patna, as no such effort has been carried out in the past in Patna. Even a glance of the bus service shall find it to be inadequate, of poor quality and yet economical, the user satisfaction regarding the midi bus service is very much required to assess the quality of the existing system, and also to suggest for its improvement. This is required in order that the bus service providers take necessary steps to ameliorate the quality of midi bus service in the city leading to enhance its patronage (increase in both captive and choice ridership) and development of a sustainable transportation system in the city. The present study was carried out using a paper based survey instrument and responses were collected in terms of rating on four-point Likert scale. The data was analyzed using TOPSIS analysis as it makes no assumption about the distribution of population under study. Through these findings, the authorities will be able to identify all elements of public transport that should be addressed. 3. Survey and Database The present study is carried out for the assessment of the quality of the midi buses operating in the mid-sized city of Patna in India from users’ point of view through a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was composed of two parts; the first part consisted of socio-economic and trip related information and the second part has a rating of bus service attribute on a four-point Likert-type ordinal scale. The survey was carried out and responses were collected from bus users onboard a bus or at the bus stop. A total of twenty attributes were identified for getting the level of satisfaction of the road users and the data were compiled. In order to assess the quality of midi bus service and also to find out which attributes need to be addressed, the survey data was analyzed using a multi-criteria decisionmaking tool called TOPSIS. Initially, the bus service attributes were prepared in accordance with the literature review, subject experts and also through the feedback obtained from the bus users and a pilot survey was conducted. It was found that cheap fare was not getting much response and also people were adding comfortable seats as one of the attributes which were not taken initially. Finally, twenty attributes, as given in Table 1were selected and a questionnaire was prepared for final survey. During the survey, 507 bus users who were willing to respond were identified for


interview, however only 437 actually participated in the survey. Out of 437 responses, 35 questionnaires were found to be incomplete and thus finally 402 fully filled questionnaires was taken for the compilation of data for analysis. Table 1 List of midi bus service attributes with their abbreviations Code Attributes Description A1 Bus being on time Maintaining the pre-defined schedule of operation from each main terminal. A2 Cleanliness of bus Regular sweeping and dusting of floors and seats respectively. (seats and floors) A3 Condition of bus stop Maintenance work done for bus stops and removing of encroachment. A4 Condition of bus Maintenance work done for buses A5

Smoothness of ride

Advanced techniques used for reducing the jerking effect of buses while traveling. Extra spaces or luggage racks provided for small and mediumsize luggage. Availability of low-floored buses and reserved seats.

A6

Easy to carry luggage

A7 A8

Convenience for elderly, disabled & children Bus information at bus stop

A9

Crowding condition

A10

Likelihood of getting a seat in the course of the journey.

A11

Probability of seat availability on the bus Frequency of bus service

A12

Easy access to bus stops

A13

Relatively cheap fare

A14

Convenient fare

The distance covered by passengers from nearby locality to bus stops The amount of fare taken by bus service in comparison to other modes of services. The fare may be taken in round-off figures.

A15

Bus route selection

The shorter or longer routes selected by bus service.

A16

Onboard safety during night

A17 A18

Safety at bus stops during night Driver’s behavior

This is related to the security of passengers and their belongings, mostly during nights. This is again related to the security of passengers and their belongings, mostly during nights. Skill wise and attitude wise behavior of drivers.

A19

Ticketing facility

This is related to the tickets provided by the bus service

A20

Comfortable seats

This is related to the spacious legroom provided by the buses

The information provided about the routes to be covered by each demarcated bus and arrival-departure time going through that bus stop Number of passengers more than the number of seats

How often the buses make trips during peak and non-peak hours.

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Fig. 1 Midibus and the bus stop The midibus exteriors, interiors and bus stop are shown in Fig. 1. It may be observed from Fig. 1 that the quality of seats installed in the midibus is good and even the leg space in between two seats is also found comfortable. Seating provision and overhead shading at bus stops help users for a comfortable waiting. However, users’ responses obtained through the questionnaire survey were compiled and the rating of each attribute was made. The total response is shown as a bar chart in Fig. 2.

1 = Very Dissatisfied 2 = Dissatisfied 3 = Satisfied 4 = Very Satisfied Fig. 2 Bus Riders’ responses in terms of the satisfaction level of selected attributes The above attributes try to incorporate all the three tenets of sustainability namely, environmental, equity and economic. The environmental indicators include pollution and land-use impact, the affordability and accessibility are indicators of equity and cost associated with it is an economic indicator. 4. Data Analysis TOPSIS is one of the most popular multiple attribute decision-making methods, introduced by Hwang and Yoon in 1981. TOPSIS takes the distances to the ideal solution and negative ideal solution respect to each alternative and choose the nearness to the ideal solution as the best solution. This means the best alternative is the nearest one to the ideal solution and farthest from the negative ideal solution. The TOPSIS method utilized in this paper consist of the following steps (Sadhukhan et al., 2014):

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Step 1: Establish a decision matrix (d) for the ranking. The structure of the matrix can be expressed as follows:

B1 f11 f 21

A1 A2

B2 f12 f 22

Bj f1 j f2 j

Bn f1n f2n

d

(1)

Ai

fi1

fi 2

fij

f in

Aj

f j1

f j2

f jj

f jn

where, Aj represents the alternatives j, j = 1,2,. . .,J; Bi represents ith attribute or criterion, i = 1, 2,. . ., n, related to the ith alternative; and fij is a crisp value indicating the performance rating of each alternative Ai with respect to each criterion Bj . Step 2: Calculate the normalized decision matrix R (= [ rij ]). The normalized value

fij

rij

¦

J j

j 1, 2,3,..., J

rij

is calculated as:

i 1, 2,3,..., n

(2)

f2 1 ij

Step 3: Calculate the weighted normalized decision matrix by multiplying the normalized decision matrix by its associated weights. The weighted normalized value xij is calculated as:

xij

wij * rij

j 1, 2,3,..., J i 1, 2,3,..., n

(3)

th

Where, wi represents the weight of the i attribute or criterion.

Step 4: Determine the positive ideal solution ( S ) and negative-ideal solutions ( S ).

S

^x , x , x ,..., x ,`

S

^x , x , x ,..., x ,`

1

1

2

2

3

n

3

n

Maximum Values Minimum Values

(4) (5)

Step 5: Calculate the separation measures, using the n-dimensional Euclidean distance. Calculate the separation of each alternative from the positive ideal solution.

d j

¦ x

xi

n

ij

2

j 1, 2,3,..., J

(6)

i 1

Similarly, calculate the separation of each alternative from the negative ideal solution.

d j

¦ x n

ij

xi

2

j 1, 2,3,..., J

(7)

i 1

Step 6: Calculate the relative closeness to the idea solution and rank the performance order. The relative closeness of the alternative, Aj can be expressed as

C *j where,

d j

d j d j

j 1, 2,3,..., J

(8)

C *j is the index value lies between 0 and 1. The larger the index value means the better the performance of

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the alternatives. 5. Results and Discussion The twenty bus service attributes as given in Table 1 in the TOPSIS analysis were considered as alternatives and put in the TOPSIS model. Different satisfaction levels (i.e., 1, 2, 3 and 4) were taken as selection criteria of preference to an attribute. The four levels were weighted equally to give the equal probability of selecting. In TOPSIS analysis, the objective was to maximize the satisfaction levels 3 and 4, by assuming them as positive and minimizing the satisfaction levels 1 and 2 by taking them as negative in a positive ideal solution. In the negative ideal solution, the satisfaction levels 3 and 4 were minimized by assuming them as negative and the satisfaction levels 1 and 2 were maximized by taking them positive. In the final step, TOPSIS scores (C *j) were obtained for the bus service quality attributes considering positive ideal solutions (d j+) and negative ideal solutions (dj-). All C*j values as obtained from TOPSIS analysis are summarized in Table 2. Table 2 TOPSIS index numbers and derived ranking of midi bus attributes Code Attributes d j+

d -j

C*j

Rank

A1

Bus being on time

0.305

0.046

0.131

18

A2

Cleanliness of buses

0.243

0.216

0.471

9

A3

Condition of bus stops

0.221

0.23

0.509

3

A4

Condition of buses

0.23

0.229

0.500

5

A5

Smoothness of ride

0.226

0.229

0.504

4

A6

Easy to carry luggage

0.226

0.218

0.491

6

A7

Convenience for elderly, disabled and children

0.244

0.213

0.466

11

A8

Bus information at bus stops

0.292

0.002

0.006

20

A9

Crowding condition

0.246

0.205

0.455

12

A10

Probability of seat availability on the bus

0.243

0.213

0.467

10

A11

Frequency of bus service

0.326

0.021

0.059

19

A12

Easy access to bus stops

0.242

0.227

0.484

7

A13

Relatively cheap fare

0.261

0.186

0.416

15

A14

Convenient fare

0.263

0.184

0.411

16

A15

Bus route selections

0.262

0.165

0.386

17

A16

On board safety during night

0.246

0.205

0.454

13

A17

Safety at bus stops during night

0.247

0.201

0.449

14

A18

Driver behaviour

0.243

0.219

0.475

8

A19

Ticketing facility

0.031

0.328

0.914

1

A20

Comfortable seats

0.189

0.233

0.553

2

It may be observed from Table 2 that bus commuters in Patna have shown their satisfaction with the features of newly introduced midi buses explicit through high values of index numbers given to the attributes such as comfortable seats, the condition of buses, easy to carry luggage, smoothness of ride etc. In general, bus users are very much satisfied with the ticketing system (C*j = 0.914) which the bus operators have adopted because in midi buses tickets are issued through electronic ticketing machine in which all necessary information are printed.


Commuters have also shown satisfaction towards the condition of bus stops as the newly made bus stops have shelters of polycarbonate sheets and seating arrangements made of stainless steel which can be justified from the figure. But, the bus users are very dissatisfied from the non-availability of the bus information at the bus stops (C*j = 0.006) because due to this commuters face very hard time in finding buses of their route and also its schedule. People not familiar with the system face more problem and have constraints using the midi buses. Attributes related to the frequency of bus service (C*j = 0.059) and buses being on time (C*j = 0.131) are also among the causes of dissatisfaction among the commuters as these midi buses plying on the routes are not in enough numbers and the operators do not adhere the schedule of operation. The midi buses take the longer routes to cover the origin and destination which evoke dissatisfaction among the commuters as reflected by the lower value of the index number (C*j = 0.386). 6. Conclusion The study was carried out for the assessment of the quality of newly introduced midi bus service by the users and the ranking of the attributes associated with it. The attributes ranked lower by the users need to be addressed by the authorities and operators in order for increasing the ridership of this sustainable mode of transportation in the midsized city of Patna, in India. It can be seen that some of the problems associated with the mini buses plying in the city since 1970s like ticketing facility, the comfort of seating, the condition of bus and smoothness of ride are addressed to a large extent in the newly introduced midi buses. However, the midi buses need to improve the quality of certain attributes which have been ranked very poorly in the TOPSIS analysis to make the bus service more attractive mode of travel for urban transportation in the city. Lack of proper bus information system at the bus stops is a big concern for the users. Users have found the frequency of operation and its timely operation of midibuses in the poor state. The fare of midi buses was found to be higher and less convenient to pay as compared to conventional mini buses in operation. Significant numbers of respondents have also indicated that the route taken by the midi buses discouraged its large scale ridership. The analysis and subsequent discussion above give an account of problems associated with the operation of midi buses as perceived by it users. These problems need urgent attention to enhance the ridership and patronage of the sustainable mode of urban transportation at a lower cost. Lack of proper bus information system has been reported as a serious problem. In order that the passengers of the buses at the bus stops have access to the real-time information of the buses, it is recommended that the bus stops have ITS based passenger information system, which may work on any of convenient technology. This will make the passenger aware about the origin and destination of the bus of any particular number, its position and its expected time of arrival. The fare structure of the midi buses needs to be made comparable to that of mini buses making it attractive to the same extent as the captive riders in the city. The fare structure of the midi buses shall be made convenient so that the passengers find it easy to pay the fare and there is no problem associated with obtaining money of smaller denominations. The fare structures need to have the fare in general in round figures. As people in significant numbers have indicated that there is a problem associated with bus routes. In order to assess the exact situation an origin and destination (O&D) study need to be carried out, and based on the results of O&D studies the bus route may be modified. In order to further enhance the patronage of bus users, air conditioned bus service needs to be introduced. A greater comfort associated with this mode of public transport shall attract choice riders of middle and upper middle class also. The minibus service operation is a sustainable mode of transportation and it faces some problems related sustainability associated with equity and economic related indicators. The issues as mentioned above, once addressed, shall enhance the quality of service related to accessibility, affordability and economy. The benefit shall be more pertinent and tangible when the midi bus service operation is not done in isolation rather than it become a part of an integrated multimodal transportation system based on complementarity rather than competition. The present study is carried out taking responses of about four hundred bus users; however, in order to conclude more precisely a larger sample size covering all routes is to be taken. In order that if little modification in the operation of the midi buses can be introduced, the quality of bus operation in the city is bound to improve, it is

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recommended that the policy makers for the transportation in the city should introduce the recommendations made in the present study.

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