Spatial variation of the perceived transit service quality at rail stations

Abstract

Passenger’s perception about transit service quality strongly depends on the context to which the passenger refers. Consequently, each attribute affecting service quality and rated in terms of satisfaction or importance could show spatial pattern across the region and/or temporal variations. Although transit service quality was largely investigated, few studies took into account the spatial variability of passengers’ responses, given that a large amount of previous studies considered customer satisfaction with transit services in a cross sectional manner only. In order to cover this lack, we propose a study focused on transit service quality evaluated at railway stations, aimed to suggest a methodology for treating spatial variation of service quality attributes. The research is supported by Customer Satisfaction Survey data collected by a railway operator providing regional services in the North of Italy, and particularly rail services of regional and suburban lines connecting different towns of the hinterland of the city of Milan. The emerging results show spatial patterns across the region of the transit service quality attributes which should be taken into account for a deeper investigation of passengers’ perceptions about rail services.