Investigating the Customer Satisfaction of the Bus Service in Qatar

Abstract

The city of Doha is witnessing a rapid growth in population; resulting in traffic congestion and stress on the city's infrastructure. One of the main challenges in the city is to attract more users to the only public bus service available since 2004. This paper investigates the quality of service and passenger's perception regarding many factors including comfort, convenience, safety, and cleanliness. Data was collected through administered questionnaires to investigate the quality of the existing service and the future of bus service in Qatar. To gain further investigation regarding the factors significantly affected the commuters’ satisfaction; Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach was developed. Finally, recommendations that aim to maximize the use of bus service as public transportation in the city of Doha were suggested. The findings help to understand the shortcomings of the existing public bus service and provide the responsible authorities with suggestions that can enhance the quality of service and attract more users to the public bus service.