(1) to investigate qualitative issues in urban bus transportation from the
customer’s point of view; and
(2) to adapt and apply a modified SERVQUAL framework complying with the
requirements set by the European standard EN 13816 (2002).
The analysis has been conducted at dimension, attribute and LoS level. The main
difference with the original SERVQUAL methodology is in the lower number of items
investigated (15 instead of 22) and the inclusion of just four out of the five dimensions
(with the exclusion of empathy). The 15 questions of our proposed framework
encompass the eight quality criteria comprised in the EN 13816, thus enabling its use
for the obtainment of the standard quality certification. As to measurability issues,
each of the 15 items investigated is objectively measurable.
The SERVQUAL has been tested by means of an on-board survey in the metropolitan
area of Cagliari. The results show high qualitative expectations, not fully matched by the
qualitative perception of the service provided. This mismatch results in negative gaps
for each of the 15 attributes, four dimensions and five LoS analyzed. The highest gaps
refer to perceived cleanliness, bus reliability and frequency, whilst quasi ideal situations
are visible with relation to routes quality, bus stops location and ease of the ticket
validation process. Nonetheless, the sole presence of negative gaps does not necessarily
imply a negative judgement of the urban transport service, since the perceived quality
judgements are rather skewed to the high end of the scale adopted. Furthermore, the
bivariate correlation analysis conducted at attribute level suggests the need to pay a
close attention to perceived, rather than expected, quality. This necessity stems from the
significant correlations between perceived quality at attribute level and overall
satisfaction. An opposite pattern emerges between expectations and overall satisfaction,
with low to statistically insignificant correlations. To sum up, we get the impression of a
more than adequate level of perceived quality, with the gaps width almost entirely
resulting from the particularly high expectations held by the customers surveyed.
Despite several interesting findings, this research has suffered from some limitations,
mainly referring to the limited geographic area investigated and the exclusion of some
attributes from the set of questions included in the framework. Further studies might
tackle these limits by extending the analysis to wider areas, or including different
attributes to better suit the individual needs of different public transport providers. In
fact, it may also be sensible to adjust or refine the present framework by adding new
dimensions, so to increase its explicative capacity and overall reliability. Finally, it
would be worthwhile to consider the development of a “qualitative tolerance scale” for
the homogeneous evaluation of SERVQUAL gaps and/or synthetic dashboards
exploiting the possibilities offered by modern business tools. By standardizing and
making comparable the interpretation of quantitative gaps, these instruments might
facilitate benchmarking activities and the generalizability of individual studies, thus
further enhancing the usefulness of service quality measurement approaches applied to
urban bus transport systems