Investigating perception of captive and choice riders for formulating service standards of ordinary and premium buses in Indian cities

Abstract

This article presents an investigation on the perception of captive and choice riders for formulating service standards of ordinary and premium buses in Indian cities. The level of service standards were defined using Law of Successive Interval Scaling based on data collected from 2000 travelers in Kolkata city. As premium and ordinary bus services are predominantly used by choice riders (private car owners) and captive riders (non-car owners) respectively, LOS standards of these two services were defined based on the perception of choice and captive riders. The result shows a substantial difference in the perception of captive and choice riders which justifies the need for having distinct service standards for ordinary and premium services. The study also evaluated the level of service of a few premium and ordinary routes based on the developed service standards. The evaluation indicated that while the premium buses are introduced to attract the choice riders, a majority of them are operating below the expected service levels and thus, unable to fulfil the requirements of choice riders. The LOS standards developed in the present work may be used judiciously by the transit planners and service providers for improvement of premium and ordinary bus service in Kolkata city. Although the level of service standards developed in the present work are city specific, the work is of interest to the policy makers of public transport as several emerging countries are experiencing rapid urbanization and public transport has to play a dual role to serve the mobility needs of marginally weaker segments (captive riders) and act as a demand management instrument to attract choice riders.