The assessment of customer satisfaction on express bus provider using service quality dimension

Abstract

A service industry is a business to serve customers. It has become a catalyst to propel a nation's economy to a long-term shift in this competitive world. Hence, service industry plays a crucial role in raising and refining the Malaysian economy. This is because the service industry has transformed many developed countries economy such as the United States of America and the European Union. The industry expects to increase in the share of GDP as the economy matures and it is noticeable in the economy among developed countries. The significance of public transport services helps to forestall traffic congestion due to more numbers of vehicles operate during peak hours. Unfortunately, many customers declare the public transportation in Malaysia is unsatisfactory. Currently, customers often confronted with safety issues on express buses and these conditions deteriorated the quality of services provided. The negligence of bus drivers, over speeding and fatigue can jeopardize the safety of customers hence, reduce the quality of services. Punctuality has become a major issue in Malaysia among service provider. This paper studied the significant factors contribute to the customer satisfaction towards service quality of express buses and compare influencing factors of customer satisfaction between two bus terminals. Samples of 384 respondents were taken to represent the population of consumer from two terminals in Malaysia and was then analyzed by using statistical package and SERVQUAL tools. This study concludes that the most significant factor affecting the customer satisfaction towards express bus is empathy. The comparison shows that reliability, assurance and empathy have high Beta value for Terminal One Seremban compared to Melaka Sentral. Tangible and responsiveness as the significant contributing factors. For future research, a study on the overall customer satisfaction of express bus services in Malaysia is recommended.