Assessment of Passenger Satisfaction with Intra-City Public Bus Transport Services in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate passenger satisfaction with the service quality attributes of public bus transport services in Abuja, Nigeria. To achieve this, a survey was conducted between February and July 2011. In 10 sample bus stop areas selected for this study, 300 public bus transport users were randomly selected to elicit their overall satisfaction and factors that influenced their satisfaction in the use of public bus transport services in Abuja using a self-rated questionnaire. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and principal component and regression analyses. The results of these analyses showed that passengers were not satisfied with the public bus transport services in Abuja. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), four underlying factors were extracted that influenced passenger satisfaction with public bus transport services in the city. The four components together explained 83.87 percent of the cumulative variance of PCA, leaving 16.32 percent of the total variance unexplained. The standardized regression coefficients further showed that comfort has the greatest impact on overall satisfaction, followed by accessibility. Adequacy and bus stop facilities were the third and fourth factors in the order of relative importance in influencing passenger satisfaction of public bus transport services in the city. On the basis of the findings, recommendations were made to improve public bus transport services in the city of Abuja.