Methods, Instruments in Evaluating the Satisfaction Index of Passengers in Urban Public Transport

Abstract

Understanding the factors that lie beneath travelers’ satisfaction and how they relate with service performance and different improvements is a key issue for operators and public authorities when aiming to maintain existing users and to attract potential users from the car's users. The purpose of the research is to investigate the perceived quality of public transportation in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, a city with over two million inhabitants and additional other two millions of transit citizens. This approach aims to identify the aspects that mostly influence the perception of overall quality of service and to investigate the main methods/instruments for evaluating the passenger satisfaction index. Moreover, the research aims to assess the public transportation users that are ready and available to shift their travelling habits from a fixed and periodic timetable service to the "mobility-as-a-service" approach. Research methodology combines qualitative study based on focus group with quantitative study based on surveys. The representative sample is selected from the Bucharest public transportation’s users. The results of the research could be used by the both public transportation operators and public authorities that have to comply to the national and european regulations in public transportation quality assurance.