Financial implications of specifying service quality in public transport service contracts with a large captive user base – the case of South Africa

Improved service quality is increasingly acknowledged as critical for increased patronage of public transport services. However, in markets characterised by large proportions of captive public transport users, typically found in developing or emerging economies with low car ownerships rates, the marginal benefits of improved service quality are not apparent. The paper uses historical financial and patronage data from existing bus contracts in South Africa and a conjoint-analysis based behavioural model to estimate the budgetary implications, and marginal benefits, of specifying service quality in public transport contracts, where marginal benefits are defined in terms of nominal welfare benefits to society. It is shown that the marginal benefits of improved service are significant and may outweigh the marginal cost of improved service quality or the business as usual alternative. Practical implications of the findings on contract planning and designs are also discussed in the context of markets with characteristically large proportions of captive public transport users.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Addressing knowledge and methodological gaps in transport planning for vulnerable rural transport users: A case study of selected villages in Limpopo province

Paper presented at the 32nd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 8-11 July 2013 "Transport and Sustainable Infrastructure", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.The paper reports on an empirical travel survey, undertaken in a deep rural area of South Africa, to illustrate how improved understanding of rural travel behaviour can enhance transport planning. A custom made instrument incorporating both quantitative and qualitative research methods adopted in the survey, generated spatial-temporal travel data covering weekdays and weekends, for vulnerable travel groups that included the elderly, disabled and young children. The investigation confirms the knowledge and methodological gaps that exist and need to be addressed for rural transport planning in South Africa.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material was published using Adobe Acrobat 10.1.0 Technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: nigel@doctech URL: http://www.doctech.co.zamv201

Specification of customer satisfaction in public transport service contracts

The research was aimed at experimentally investigating the relationship between public transport service quality and customer satisfaction in order to inform the specification of customer satisfaction in the design of public transport service contracts. This is important for helping understand how public transport services, and associated contracts, can be systematically adapted to meet the ever-changing needs of customers, potentially leading to increased customer satisfaction or minimisation of dissatisfaction, especially where public transport is explicitly planned to serve as a travel demand management instrument. Furthermore, while the specification of service quality standards is a common practice in public transport contracts, the relationship between the specifications and customer satisfaction is often methodologically unclear. The concept of customer satisfaction both qualitatively and quantitatively, including associated analytical models, was reviewed, which in turn informed the design, execution and interpretation of the empirical component of the investigation. The empirical component of the research was limited to a strategically important market segment comprising commuters who have access to personal cars but choose or are willing to use public transport. Based on the results of the qualitative and quantitative surveys, the research brought to light an improved understanding of this market segment, and benchmarked these against literature findings. Many of the theories in service research were confirmed, key among them being the important role of negative critical incidents in forming decisions, and also the importance of regarding a service as a package of attributes and not individual attributes. In the particular case of public transport, the entire journey comprises a service, and not just the in-vehicle component. It was also evident that even within this niche market segment, there are diverse needs, requirements and expectations of a public transport service, sometimes expressed incoherently. The quantitative component of the research confirmed aspects of the qualitative study. Through a conjoint analysis modelling framework it was shown that, due to non-linear effect on customer satisfaction, not only attribute but attribute levels are critically important in customer service evaluations. In particular, the Kano model effects within customer satisfaction responses were confirmed. It was shown that once a service design has been decided upon, existing and prospective customers are able to consistently evaluate its performance. Existing customers tend to be more tolerant of less than ideal service delivery than prospective customers. Also, customers who have been using the service for a relatively limited period tend to have satisfaction thresholds higher than those who have been using the service for prolonged periods. A logit mode choice model that uses customer satisfaction as input was estimated and showed that retention of existing customers and attraction of new customers are strongly associated with satisfaction. The public transport subsidy implications of this behaviour within the South African context were shown, using subsidised bus services as a case study. Based on the findings of the research, practical recommendations relating to the incorporation of customer satisfaction, and the manner of doing so, in public transport contracts were made. Key among these are: (i) The need to create, for service evaluation reference purposes, an agreed to service definition formulated by a tripartite arrangement comprising prospective operators, contracting authorities and prospective customers; (ii) Making contract provisions in respect of budgeting for service quality functions such as marketing and monitoring that is explicitly linked to service context, and (iii) Calibrating service performance monitoring instruments on the basis of empirical relationship between customer satisfaction and retention or attraction probabilities. This research contributes to the state of knowledge in three ways: (i) It empirically informs the design of public transport contracts through linkage with the concept of travel demand management where the current approaches emphasise contractor-authority relationship; (ii) The study brings together various disciplines, particularly service research and transportation sciences, to illustrate how they can be fused for social welfare benefits even for conventionally inert documents such as contracts, and (iii) It provides methodological insights and a method, based on a conjoint experiment and Kano model theory, for the treatment of service attributes in public transport service design, through which it was shown that public transport service attributes can be functionally classified on the basis of customer needs. This might in turn be helpful in setting priorities for service improvements and appropriate benchmarks.Thesis (PhD) - University of Pretoria, 2015.Civil EngineeringPhDUnrestricte

Harnessing innovation in passenger transport research in Africa

Paper presented at the 25th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 10 - 13 July 2006 "2010: Will transport infrastructure and systems be ready?", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material on the CD ROM was published using Adobe Acrobat technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.doctech.co.z

How worthwhile is it to maximise customer satisfaction in public transport service contracts with a large captive user base? The case of South Africa

While improved service quality is critical for improved patronage of public transport services, in markets characterised by large proportions of captive public transport users, typically found in developing or emerging economies, the marginal benefits of improved service quality are not apparent. For cost-conscious public transport operators, therefore, it may be more convenient and logical to keep service improvements at a bare minimum, or to cut services altogether, in order to reduce operating costs. As a follow-up to Mokonyama and Venter (2013), the paper uses historical financial and patronage data from existing bus contracts in South Africa and a conjoint-analysis based behavioural model to estimate the budgetary implications, and marginal benefits, of specifying service quality in public transport contracts. This is especially relevant in an environment like South Africa, in which authorities seek some formulation of Pigouvian subsidy oriented transport policy. It is shown that the marginal benefits of improved service quality can be significant relative to the business as usual alternative. The non-linear response surface characterising the relationship between probability of using a service and the quality of the service implies that increased satisfaction of both captive and non-captive users produces disproportionately higher benefits for both and society

Incorporation of customer satisfaction in public transport contracts – A preliminary analysis

The design of public transport contracts provides an opportunity to define service quality standards to which an operator can be held accountable. While the specification of service quality standards is a common practice, the relationships between the specifications and customer satisfaction are often methodologically unclear. Based on a South African case study, the paper uses data collected from a group of passengers who have personal cars but choose to use public transport, and a control group of passengers who only use their cars, in the same corridor as the user group, to estimate a service quality conjoint model. The model is used to evaluate the effect of different public transport service packages, defined in terms of different combinations of service attributes, on passenger satisfaction. The paper confirms the need to classify service attributes in terms of their relative impact on passenger satisfaction, at the service design stages, where performance in respect of some attributes has a disproportionate impact on satisfaction, especially where public transport is competing directly with private transport. Practical applications and limitations of the methodology are also discussed

Strategic overview and analysis of vehicle ownership trends in South Africa with emphasis on light passenger vehicles

Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 14 - 16 July 2003 "National issues affecting the movement of people and goods - strategic approaches", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. ABSTRACT: The paper summarises the research work undertaken by CSIR Transportek, to evaluate the vehicle ownership trends and use in South Africa, within the context of transportation planning. The paper further highlights attempts made in the study to forecast the car ownership trends in South Africa and some selected urban areas using the logistic curve theory. The analysis of current and projected vehicle ownership and usage is primarily based on the information accessed from the National Traffic Information System (NaTIS) database of the National Department of Transport. Further data was sourced from the National Department of Minerals and Energy Affairs, Statistics South Africa and some metropolitan vehicle registering authorities. The study findings are interpreted in such a way as to provide useful insight into vehicle ownership in South Africa.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material on the CD ROM was published using Adobe Acrobat technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.doctech.co.z

Service design: pre-trip planning and the international visitors attending the 2010 Soccer World Cup

Paper presented at the 27th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7 - 11 July 2008 "Partnership for research and progress in transportation", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material on the CD ROM was published using Adobe Acrobat technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.doctech.co.z

The use of DRACULA Micro-Simulation modelling in the evaluation of public transport priority measures on the Soweto to Parktown corridor

Paper presented at the 24th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 11 - 13 July 2005 "Transport challenges for 2010", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material on the CD ROM was published using Adobe Acrobat technology. The original CD ROM was produced by Document Transformation Technologies Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.doctech.co.z

Forecasting household car ownership in South Africa : alternative models and future trends

The paper investigates the use of an alternative household car ownership modelling approach for South African urban areas, particularly the metropolitan areas, that moves away from existing race-based classifications, but instead uses household income and spatial attributes of an area captured in terms of dwelling unit types. The model has been successfully calibrated for the City of Johannesburg, and tested for other Gauteng areas. The paper also provides limited benchmarking of South African household car ownership against published literature, in which it is illustrated and concluded that localised research on behavioural market responses is critical. Topical issues such as development density and lifestyle choices within the context of the emerging nature of household car ownership in South Africa are also investigated, although the transitional nature of the South African economy presents some analytical challenges. Finally, the paper illustrates the model's application in the urban development planning context. The model results, supported by other qualitative considerations, point to a potentially explosive growth in car ownership to be expected in historically disadvantaged areas of South African cities as middle-class incomes grow. Thematic areas for further research in the field are also identified