Abstract
While cities are moving towards environmentally friendly public transport such as electrification of public buses, the attractiveness of such innovative solutions among the bus users is yet to be explored. We study young people’s perception of hybrid electric buses (HEBs) incorporating environmental performance in the bus service quality assessment framework. We collect data using a structured survey questionnaire from young people aged between 18 and 34 years, living in Southern Norway. Methodology-wise, we use the covariance-based structural equation model (SEM). As of contribution, we examine service quality of HEBs, using contextually modified measurement scales adopted from the SERVQUAL framework. We introduce a four-item perceived environmental performance construct in the context of HEBs. We find that tangible features of HEBs, bus service provider’s empathy and perceived environmental performance of HEBs have a significant positive association with customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction is positively associated with life satisfaction of young people. Finally, a post hoc analysis using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis reveals that the levels of young people’s perceived service with bus drivers’ quality, empathy of the bus service provider and customer satisfaction with HEBs are higher in colder temperature.
Highlights
Transportation is often referred to as the blood system of society (Banister et al, 2011)
As the measurement model is established in the previous section, we proceed with the structural model to examine associations among the latent variables
The ratio between chi-square statistic and degrees of freedom (DF) should be below three (Bollen and Long, 1992), which is evident in the estimated structural equation model (SEM) model (496.106/313 = 1.585) indicating a good model fit
Summary
Transportation is often referred to as the blood system of society (Banister et al, 2011). Young population, when moving from their parents’ house and stepping forward to make further life choices, are on a verge of certain challenges regarding decision of new residence and job which affects their health, social and family life, finance, leisure and overall quality of life (Xiong and Zhang, 2016) In this context, Barton (2009) suggest that better public transportation can influence their quality of life by (1) reducing inequalities in pursuing residence, jobs and other public facilities, (2) reducing lifestyle diseases, (3) improving the environment and living condition by reducing GHG emissions, and (4) making life more enjoyable and safer. In Norway, currently, about 25% of the total population is young adults (Statistics Norway, n.d.), aged between 16 and 34 years old, which indicates the importance of the perception of this age group for promoting environmentally friendly public transport.
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