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Title

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN PUBLIC BUS TRANSPORT

- A study of travelers’ perception in Indonesia -

Supervisor:

Margareta Friman

Thesis by:

Oktiani Astuti Budiono

MASTER THESIS

Service Science Program

Karlstad University

Spring 2009

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Word of Gratitude

As a Master program student in service science, Karlstad University, I have felt privileged and grateful. I would like to therefore take this opportunity to express my gratitude to many people who have contributed to the completion of this master thesis.

First of all I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my main supervisor, Professor Margareta Friman (SAMOT). Margaret is not only a dedicated researcher and source of inspiration – she is also a great supervisor that makes me finish this master thesis due to limited time. Thank you for supporting and valuable insight. I also thanks to Professor Munawar for giving some positive feedback in order to improve my thesis.

I would like to thanks to Lars Haglund for his support and kindness to me and all Indonesian group in order to success in completing the program on time. Thank you for everything you have taught me for making the research paper. I could never have managed that on my own. I also would like to express my appreciation to Prof Siti Malkamah and all UGM staff for their hard work in order to make me could experience higher education in Karlstad University.

I would also express deep gratitude to my former boss in ministry of transportation, Wahyu Satrio Utomo for giving me an opportunity to take the scholarship and trust me from day one I joint in the ministry five years ago. Wahyu is not only a great boss that trust and motivate me to do better and never lose faith to change the organization, he is also being a great example and inspired me in many ways. I feel lucky and honor to have opportunity to work with him.

My education has been funded by Ministry of transportation. I am most grateful to this organization for supporting my education in UGM and Karlstad University. In addition, I would like to thank my friends that help me for collected data and give me support that I needed in order to complete my task.

Thanks also to my husband Dhori and my daughter Anisya, my mom Agustin, and my sister Andina and her husband. The love and support you given to me, not only during my academic education but also throughout my live, have been the most important reason for where I am today.

Karlstad, June 2009

Oktiani Astuti

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Abstract

An increase in population generates increasing in travel demand. Indonesia as one of the most populated countries in the world next after China, India, and USA face a large number of travel demand. Nowadays, Indonesia deals with an explosive growth in vehicle ownership and utilization. An increased road length and new roads generate faster and longer trips, more trips by car and higher car ownership all of which adds up to more traffic congestion and pollution. Public transport is one important solution for this problem. Public transport operators are forced to place emphasis on the monitoring and improvements of the services provided in an attempt to address the increasing rate of car ownership. This study focuses on traveler’s satisfaction with service quality attributes. Using self rate questionnaire to investigate overall customer satisfaction and factor that influence public transport users’ satisfaction. Data were analyzed using descriptive, correlation, factor and regression analysis. One main finding reported that customer is not satisfied yet with public transport service (M=2.5, SD=0.9). The correlation analysis reported frequency (r=.50,p=.001), comfort travel by bus (r=.49,p=.001), on board security (r=.48,p=.001),and travel time (r=.48,p=.001), are top four factors that positively correlate with overall satisfaction. Factor analysis grouped fourteen specific service quality attributes into two factors, functional and soft factor. Both the functional quality factor and soft quality factor demonstrated significant effect on overall customer satisfaction with public transport in Indonesia. The standardized regression coefficient reported that functional quality factors (β=.393, p=.001) that consist of frequency, price, punctuality and travel time, plays stronger influence on overall customer satisfaction than soft factor (β=.288, p=.001). It is highly recommended to pay more attention on functional factor in order to improve and develop attractive and marketable public transport. From regression analysis suggested that two factor that were measure only have low influence on overall customer satisfaction, and it is interesting to investigates another original factor from Indonesia perspectives that also has influence in overall satisfaction. To enrich and give the perspective in local level, data analysis also carried out for both cities; Jakarta and Jogjakarta. The results suggested similar result with the main finding. This means that so far, the condition is remain similar because customer in both cities evaluate that public bus transport were not satisfied.

Key word: Customer satisfaction attributes of service quality, public transport

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Table of Contents Title .................................................................................................................................i

Word of Gratitude ........................................................................................................... ii

Abstract ......................................................................................................................... iii

Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... iv

List of Figures ................................................................................................................. v

List of Tables ................................................................................................................... v

1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................1

1.1 Background......................................................................................................1

1.2 Indonesian Public Transport .............................................................................2

1.3 Objectives ........................................................................................................6

1.4 The scope ........................................................................................................6

1.5 Structure of the thesis .....................................................................................7

2. THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK .........................................................................................8

2.1 Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality .......................................................8

3. RESEARCH METHODS ................................................................................................ 17

3.1 Research Design............................................................................................. 17

3.2 Respondents .................................................................................................. 17

3.3 Questionnaire ................................................................................................ 18

3.4 Procedure ...................................................................................................... 18

3.5 Data analysis .................................................................................................. 20

3.6 Validity and reliability .................................................................................... 20

4. FINDINGS .................................................................................................................. 23

4.1 Demographics ................................................................................................ 23

4.2 Descriptive and Correlation analysis............................................................... 24

4.3 Factor analysis ............................................................................................... 27

4.4 Regression Analysis ........................................................................................ 28

4.5 Jakarta finding ............................................................................................... 29

4.6 Jogjakarta finding........................................................................................... 36

5. DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH ................................................. 42

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5.1. Discussion .......................................................................................................... 42

5.2. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 45

5.3. Practical recommendation .................................................................................. 46

5.4. Limitation of thesis ............................................................................................. 47

5.5. Future Research ................................................................................................. 48

REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 49

List of Figures

Figure 1: Asymmetric Reciprocal Influence between Quality and Satisfaction at the Encounter and Global Level ........................................................................................... 10

List of Tables

Table 1: Distribution of satisfaction responses .............................................................. 24 Table 2: Correlations between specific qualities attributes, Means (M) and Standardized Deviation (SD) ............................................................................................................... 26 Table 3: Rotated Component Matrix grouping service quality factor ............................. 28 Table 4: Distribution of satisfaction responses (Jakarta Area) ........................................ 32 Table 5: Correlations between specific qualities attributes, Means (M) and Standardized Deviation (SD) - Jakarta Area ......................................................................................... 33 Table 6 : Rotated Component Matrix grouping service quality factor (Jakarta Area) ...... 34 Table 7: Distribution of satisfaction responses (Jogjakarta Area) ................................... 38 Table 8 : Correlations between specific qualities attributes, Means (M) and Standardized Deviation (SD) - Jogjakarta Area .................................................................................... 39 Table 9: Rotated Component Matrix grouping service quality factor - Jogjakarta Area ... 40

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1. INTRODUCTION

The introductory section gives a picture of the incitements for this thesis. In this section

a brief introduction is given as well as the objectives of this master thesis together with

its limitations. The public transport in Indonesia is also presented with the aim to give

the reader a broader picture of the current situation. The final section will presents an

outline of the master thesis.

1.1 Background

Increasing travel demand and preferences in using private vehicle is causing

rapid motorization in many counties around the world. Most people are now highly

dependent on private motorize travel (Ellaway et al. 2003). This phenomenon was

caused because of attractiveness of car and people love to drive (Beirão & Sarsfield

Cabral 2007). An increased private motorization has resulted in an increased traffic

congestion which in turn result in longer travel times for many people (Beirão &

Sarsfield Cabral 2007; Asri & Hidayat 2005)

In addition to congestion, private motorization is also affecting the safety of

vulnerable road users (Kodukula 2009), high consumption of non-renewable resource

(Aßmann & Sieber 2005), and causes serious threat to the quality of human

environments (Goodwin 1996; Greene & Wegener 1997). In order to prevent more

problems caused by this increase in motorization it is highly recommended by many

researchers as well as public decision makers to provide an attractive public transport

service as an alternative transport mode in many cities.

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Public transport should become part of a solution for sustainable transport in

the future. However, in order to keep and attract more passengers, public transport

must to have high service quality to satisfy and fulfill more wide range of different

customer’s needs (Oliver 1980; Anable 2005). It is important to summarize knowledge

about what drives customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction in public transport area to

design an attractive and marketable public transport. The focus of this thesis is

Indonesian Public Transport where the number of private vehicles is increasing rapidly.

1.2 Indonesian Public Transport

Indonesia is the forth populous country in the word after China (1,324.7 million),

India (1,149.3 million) and United State of America (304.5 million). Indonesia’s

population includes 239.9 million people and is growing steadily at a rate of 1.6%

annually. This high number of population and positive population growth automatically

result in high number of travel demand nowadays and in the future. With an 3.32%

annual increasing rate of gross domestic product, an increasing rate of private vehicles

with 10.69% per year, and an increasing rate of road length with 2% (ADB & ASEAN

2003), Indonesia is now dealing with high level of traffic congestion.

Rapid motorization is derive from car and private motorize preference in choosing

travel mode in fulfill customer travel demand. According to several studies that the

writer summarize in previous report (Budiono 2009b), preference of using car because

public transport still could not compete with the attractiveness of private car or

motorcycle, such as low flexibility, no direct access, longer travel time, and unsafe when

traveling with public transport. Take Jakarta as example of high number car use

preference. As capital city, Jakarta is dealing with high traffic congestion since the road

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users are composed of 43% wheel vehicles and 57% motor cycles. 98% of the road users

are private vehicles that accommodate 44% of the total travel demand, 2% are public

transport users that serve 53% of the travel demand (Dinas Perhubungan, 2007).

Developing attractive and marketable public transport is an emergency solution,

otherwise Indonesia will suffer with high level of congestion and others negative causes

that related to car user preferences.

Another situation that causes traffic congestion is mix road use between

motorized and non-motorized vehicle, which is very common in Indonesia. There is an

intense competition for road space and traffic does not operate in good order. Lane

discipline is low and even nonexistent for motorcyclists. Motorcycles, making up the

majority in the traffic fleet and dictate how traffic behaves. They create very small gaps,

causing a very critical situation. Beside motorcycles as majority of road users, there are

several different types of public transport, from motorize public transport such as

commuter train, busses, minibus, bemo, ojek and Bajaj, to non-motorize public

transport such as becak and bike ojek.

Traffic congestion causes longer travel time, pollution, and high consumption of

non-renewable energy resource. Public transport, as suggested as a solution to this

problem, is already introduced in Indonesia. There is a wide range of public transport

operating in Indonesia, from human-powered pedicabs (becak) to minibuses that served

citizen’s daily travel demand. This wide range of public transport is not effective enough

to reduce traffic congestion and sometime become the source of congestion. Becak, non

motorized public transport, is served for short-distances trips and for maximal two

passengers. When becak operates in busy road, the congestion becomes worse. Ojeks,

motorcycle public transport, offer services for slightly longer distances and only serve

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one passenger. Hybrid three-wheeled motor-taxis, called ‘‘Bajajs’’, is a service for

maximum four passengers at a time and provide less comfort than a private car, while

the larger three-wheeled ‘‘Bemos’’ and ‘‘Toyokos’’ carry as many as up to eight

passengers in more crowded conditions. Finally, the larger microlets and minibuses carry

ten to twenty-five passengers. Overall, there are little concern for safety and traffic

discipline. The Bemos are registered in the district they serve, and operate thus in a

restricted territory. The mini- and micro- buses are regulated by the Public Transport

Authority, especially regarding vehicle feasibility, fares, and schedules (Cervero, 2000).

Indonesia needs public transport that could serve wide range of travel demand and do

not make road congestion worse.

Another problem regarding public transport sector in developing countries is

regarding with majority unit composed by small-sized vehicles, owned and operated (or

leased) by single individuals. Most drivers are low-skilled young men who migrated to

cities from the countryside. Overabundances of idle labor in developing countries makes

informal transport an attractive employment opportunity. This condition leads to

ignorance of passenger’s safety and discipline in using road.

Informal transport vehicles are often low-performing and old. The informal sector

almost always delivers paratransit-type services, meaning services are either door-to-

door or flexible enough to deviate from standard routes. Pricing is similarly flexible.

Informal services operate often in a laissez-faire environment, prompting operators who

survive on low profit margins to actively, and sometimes dangerously, compete for

customers. Almost all type of Indonesia public transport services stop almost anywhere

to board passengers, there are overloaded passengers, and unsafe driving habits.

Sometimes they only offer frequent services at peak hours and in peak directions, while

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leaving off-peak riders waiting until certain amount of seating capacity is filled which

may take more than an hour.

Based on a previous survey (Liden et al. 2008) it has been concluded that

Indonesian public transport is delivering poor service quality, poor maintenance of fleet,

and unsafe operation. A large share of the vehicle fleet consists of second-hand vehicles

purchased from industrialized countries (Aßmann & Sieber 2005) ages of the vehicles

are quit old and there is a low maintenance budget. For example, it is common that the

door is not closed during the trip which causes several security problems but also

facilitates the escape of pickpockets. There are also security problems when buses leave

and arrive at bus stops (Budiono 2009a).

Working conditions are low; the crew is paid as a freelance and the salary

depends on the sales of the day. The salary system have several consequences: longer

bus stop periods that could cause road congestion since the crew wants to have a

minimum of capacity before leaving and/or driving too fast in order to compete with

another driver in order to get higher number of passenger and thus secure the chance of

getting more customers. Accidents occur not only because of over-competition but also

because of a lack of driver training, lack of discipline, the use of inappropriate vehicles,

and poor vehicle maintenance.

Pedestrian facilities do not support the use of public transport. Serious problem

is associated with road space encroachment. Pedestrian facilities are normally misused

by street vendors and/or parked motorcycles which force pedestrians to walk on the

roads. In some cases, market activities may use part of the road, narrowing the effective

width used by traffic. Road signs and markings are not adequate and not effectively used

(Cervero 2000).

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1.3 Objectives

The objective of this master thesis is two folded. An overall aim is to gain a

better understanding of overall customer satisfaction in Indonesia public bus transport.

Assessing and improving quality of public bus transport service is important to address

the increasing rate of car ownership. More specifically, it is important to investigate

which service quality attributes that have the most influence to customer satisfaction in

Indonesia public bus transport. A second aim is thus to investigate the structure of

service quality in Indonesia’s public bus transport in order to make priority on quality

improvements in the future.

1.4 The scope

The scope of this master thesis is to investigate overall customer satisfaction

with conventional public bus transport in Jakarta and Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Since

Indonesia has a wide range of public transport, the study will be conducted to measure

the conventional public bus transport. The study of conventional public bus transport is

important sign to makes it up since, the conventional public bus transport one is

majority of the public bus transport in Indonesia.

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1.5 Structure of the thesis

The Initial section consists of background to the research area, overview about

Indonesia public transport condition, objective, scope and structure of master thesis.

The second section presents related studies regarding customer need and satisfaction in

public transport area. The third section presents the chosen research method,

respondents, questionnaire, procedure and method of data analysis. The fourth section

present demographic, travel behavior, and result from statistical analysis such as

correlation, factor, and regression analysis in global and local measurement. The fifth

section present discussion and conclusions drawn from this work, a summary of the

contributions, study limitations and a prospect of future research.

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2. THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter will give an overview of literature that is related to the research

problem. This chapter will introduce the concept of customer satisfaction and perceived

service quality by public transport users.

2.1 Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality

In recent times all organization has increasingly come to understand the

importance of customer satisfaction. It is widely understood that it is far less costly to

keep existing customers than it is to wind new ones. For many organizations in the

public sector, customer satisfaction will itself be the measure of success.

According to Oliver (1997), satisfaction is defined as the customer’s fulfillment.

It is a judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or service itself,

provided (or is providing) a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment,

including levels of under- or over-fulfillment. Need fulfillment is a comparative processes

giving rise to the satisfaction responses. Any gaps lead to disconfirmation; i.e., Positive

disconfirmations increases or maintain satisfaction and negative disconfirmation create

dissatisfaction.

Service quality (Parasuraman et al. 1988; Gronroos 1984) is defined as a

comparison between customer expectation and perception of service. Service quality in

general consists of five distinct dimensions: tangibles (Physical facilities, equipment, and

appearance of personnel), reliability (ability to perform the promised service

dependably and accurately), responsiveness (willingness to help customer and provide

prompt service), assurance (knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to

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inspire trust and confidence), and empathy (caring, individualized attention the firm

provide its customer).

The relationship between quality and satisfaction is complex due to the intricate

interplay between performance dimension used in quality judgments and those used in

satisfaction judgments, and due to the differences between encounter-specific and

global judgment. Performance based quality has been framed as a result from ideal

expectation and from idiosyncratic preference of individual consumer. Similarly,

satisfaction has been shown to respond to quality disconfirmations and to other

performance dimensions disconfirmations not related to the quality experience.

In the service area, although developed independently, quality and satisfaction

share one notable feature. Both view satisfaction as a function of expectancy

disconfirmation and service quality as function of satisfaction.

In proposing a quality influences satisfaction model, it is necessary to formally

endorse the perspective that satisfaction encompasses quality at the counter-specific

level. Thus, quality is one of the key dimensions which are factored into the consumer’s

satisfaction judgments. Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product

or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs. In short term,

product or service features determine quality which then satisfies consumer needs.

Subsequent to this more immediate effect, it will be assumed that satisfaction may

reinforce global quality perceptions but only indirectly. Thus, the relationship between

the two is as shown in figure 1. Quality is hypothesized as one dimension on which

satisfaction is based, and satisfaction is one potential influence on global quality

perceptions.

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Figure 1: Asymmetric Reciprocal Influence between Quality and Satisfaction at the Encounter and Global Level

Sources: Oliver {{102 Oliver,Richard L. 1997/a;}}

Under the assumption that customers can recognize quality as they have come

to define it, they can also form expectation of quality. Perceived quality then can be

compared to quality expectation, resulting in disconfirmation of quality which influences

their satisfaction judgments.

Several studies regarding satisfaction and dissatisfaction in public transport has

been conducted to develop and create attractive public transport. For instance,

Stradling et al. conducted a survey by sending self-completion questionnaire in eight

areas of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. From 68 these items that were measured as

“things that I dislike” or “things that discourage me from using the bus in Edinburgh”,

eight underlying factors were reported. One factor was labeled as “feeling unsafe”

which contain the behavior of other passengers, feeling unsafe while travelling at night

and feeling unsafe while waiting for buses. Another factors were labeled as “preference

of walking and cycling”, “problem with service provision like no direct route”,

“unwanted arousal” (i.e., intrusions and interruptions such as inconvenience journey

ENCOUNTER GLOBAL

Quality QUALITY

SATISFACTION Satisfaction

Very strong influence

Part or partial influence

Very weak or no influence

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because of overcrowded passengers, other passenger smoking habit, and other annoyed

people behavior on the bus), “preference of car use”, “cost”, “disability and discomfort”,

and “low self image” because of travelling with public transport.

Gatersleben and Uzzell (2007) investigated affective experiences of daily

commute. Surveys were sending to Surrey University’s employees. The results revealed

that commuting by car as well as by public transport can be stressful because of delays

caused by the traffic volume. Public transport was perceived as unpleasant and public

transport users expressed a more negative attitude toward their daily commute then

users of other transport modes. The negative attitudes were shown to be related to

stress as well as boredom caused by delays and waiting time. Gatersleben and Uzzell

(2007) also suggest that public transport is stressful due to unpredictability and longer

travel times. This study also acknowledges some sources of pleasure for public transport

users. Attributes relating to pleasurable feelings were as the possibility to read during

the trip, to listen to music, to interact with other people, and to look at the passing

scenery.

UK Department for transport (2003) has also conducted studies regarding

customer need in public transport. High frequency of service, services that are reliable

and fares that offer value for money are revealed as important needs of UK public

transport users. The bus also has to have a broad range of destinations to fulfill travel

demand of customer. In this report, the users also reported about the importance of

understandable time table information in bus stop and in local newspaper in order to

make them aware of the existence of the service. Simple ticketing arrangement is also

important in order to make them use public transport.

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Fujii et al. (2001) conducted an investigation in Osaka (Japan) during a temporary

closure of freeway that connected between Osaka and Sakai City. The survey was

distributed at three tollgates from 6:00 am to 8:30 am. An important finding was that

the closure of the freeway increased public transport use. Second, it was also found that

the expected commute time by public transport was overestimated by automobile

commuters. Third, after experiences of public transport the overestimates of commute

times were corrected. And finally, people who corrected their commute time continued

to use public transport when the freeway was reopened.

Van Vugt et al. (1996) conducted an investigation of the motivational factors

underlying the decision to commute by car or public transportation. 192 employees of a

publishing company participated and filed out a questionnaire containing questions

relating to social value orientation, the commuting situation and a series of post-

experimental questions. The findings provided strong evidence for the conclusion that

individuals prefer options yielding shorter travel time as well as an alternative with high

frequency of public transport.

Fellesson and Friman (2008) conducted a transnational comparison of customers’

public transport perceived service satisfaction in eight cities (Stockholm, Barcelona,

Copenhagen, Geneva, Helsinki, Vienna, Berlin, Manchester and Oslo) in Europe. The

result showed four general factors: system such as traffic supply, reliability and

information; bus and bus stop design that makes customer comfortable and enjoy the

travel experience; staff skill, knowledge and attitude toward customer; and safety not

only both in the bus and bus stop but also safe from traffic accident. Furthermore, it was

concluded that differences in public transport technology and infrastructure may cause

differences in individual item loadings.

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Eboli and Mazulla (2007) investigated service quality attributes important for

customer satisfaction with a bus transit service in Cosenza, Italia. Respondent were

asked to rate the importance and satisfaction with 16 service quality attributes (bus stop

availability, route characteristic, frequency, reliability, bus stop furniture, bus

overcrowding, cleanliness, cost, information, promotion, safety on board, personal

security, personnel, complains, environmental protection and bus stop maintenance).

The result shows that the latent variable important for global customer satisfaction is

service planning which is reflected in reliability, frequency, information, promotion,

personnel and complaint.

Beirão & Sarsfield Cabral (2007) summarizes advantages in using public transport

according to Portugal public transport users. The result highlights the importance of a

cost friendly and less stressful public transport service. It is perceived as less stressful

since there is no need to drive, it is possible to relax and one may be able to rest or read.

Travel time on exclusive bus lanes is considered faster than the car, there is less exhaust

emissions and there are opportunities to talk to fellow passenger while travelling.

A literature review (Oktiani 2009) confirms that there is research with an aim to

indentify unattractive and disappointing factors in public transport. For instance, Beirão

(2007) conducted depth interviews in Porto to find out dissatisfying factors. Customers

reported waste time, too crowded, lack of comfort, time uncertainty, lack of control,

unreliability, long waiting times, need to transfer, they cannot change route to avoid

traffic congestion, lack of flexibility, and long walking time. Edvardsson (1998) found that

driver incompetence, punctuality and information were important factors causing

dissatisfaction.

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Friman et al. (Friman et al. 2001) conducted a mail survey to investigate factors

affecting customer satisfaction in public transport service in Sweden. The results showed

that overall cumulative satisfaction related to attribute specific cumulative satisfaction

and remembered frequencies of negative critical incidents (i.g., the driver behaves

unexpectedly bad or the bus is leaving before scheduled departure time)..

In yet another study, Friman (1998) examined the effect of quality improvements

in public transport on customer satisfaction and frequency of perceived negative critical

incidents. The studies were conducted in 13 regions in Sweden that were conducting

quality improvements in public transport. Data were collected before and after

implementation. Comparing passenger reaction is a way to understand the type of

improvement that increases customer satisfaction. The conclusion of this study is that

customer satisfaction influenced by quality improvements only to a limited extent.

Furthermore, the effect was directionally opposite in that respondents reported less

satisfaction and higher frequencies of negative critical incidents after the quality

improvements had been implemented. Thus quality improvements do not always boost

customer satisfaction. Thus, it is not the improvements per se that determine the

success of public transport, but a given level of quality coupled with the perception of

the service.

Safety issues were found by Smith and Clark (2000) as a constraint for people to

choose public transport as travel mode of choice. Pick pocketing, overcharging facilitates

by overcrowding and lack of supervisor is important factors. UK Department for

Transport (2009) reported that young people (mostly male) involved in assaulting

behavior, theft, vandalism and criminal damage are a problem for public transport users.

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Adreassen (1995) conducted a survey among public transport users in Norway. As

a result, he argued that in order to keep market share, public transport should provide

service for different type of customers. Differentiation of service will lead to increasing

customer satisfaction because of higher degree of congruence between supply and

demand. Most important factors to work with are travel time, fare level and design of

public transport.

To summarize, knowledge from previous research shows that public transport is

still an alternative as a travel mode of choice for many people. In order to keep current

passenger, public transport has to improve the service to accommodate wide range of

customer need and expectation (Beirão & Sarsfield Cabral 2007; Andreassen 1995)

From the findings described in this paper, it is possible to classify important

service quality attributes into at least four broader categories. These categories are

equivalent to categories pointed out by Friman et al (2001): reliability of the system,

treatment by employee, simplicity of information and design. First, reliability of the

system consists of different dimensions like punctuality, travel time, and reliability in the

service. Second, treatment by employee includes driving skills and employee knowledge.

Third, simplicity of information contains service attributes related to information, price

and availability of ticket retailers. The last category design is related to comfort in the

vehicle, cleanliness and safety from traffic accidents.

Negative critical incident and customer dissatisfaction could be a constraint for

people to continue using public transport (Friman et al. 2001; Friman & Gärling 2001)..

Service recovery and information about service improvement do not always seem to

increase customer satisfaction. Another way to promote public service to attract people

is by publishing benefits of using public transport. Factors to put forward is that it is

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possible to take pleasure in public transport, that it is un-stressful and that is possible to

have a productive time journey (Beirão & Sarsfield Cabral 2007)

Environmental concerns such as reducing pollution and congestion (Anable 2005)

could also become good campaign material to attract people using public transport.

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3. RESEARCH METHODS

This chapter presents the research approach used in this study, research design,

sample selection methods, data collection methods, and data analysis method. At the

end of this methodology part of validity and reliability issues will be discussed to follow

the quality standard of the research.

3.1 Research Design

The independent variable used in this study is overall satisfaction with Indonesia

Public bus transport service. Dependent variables is specific service quality attributes

which consist of public bus transport departure frequency, travel time, punctuality,

price, information, cleanliness, staff behavior, bus comfort, seat availability, bus stop

security, safe from accident, on board security, bus stop condition, and information in

bus stop.

Data were collected using questionnaire, the most common tool to evaluate the

similar aim. Data analysis using statistical tool carried out in two ways, to investigate

both global and local satisfaction on public bus transport.

3.2 Respondents

Target respondent is a person that is in the range of age between 15 and 60, living

in Jakarta and Jogjakarta and has the experience of using public bus transport. The ages

range 15 to 60 years old chosen because people in these age have a routine commute

travel behavior and probably has taken public bus transport as their mode of choice.

From the age of 15, the children usually have to go to school that is not in their own

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neighborhood. After age of 60, people usually do not have routine commuter behavior

because they already pension.

3.3 Questionnaire

The questionnaire was divided into three parts: (1) Demographics, the questioner

item correspondent to city they live, age, sex, driving license, access to private transport

mode and recommendation to use public bus transport, (2) Travel pattern behavior, the

related item concern about routine commute pattern, commute purpose, distance of

travel, travel time, numbers of commute day in a week, majority daily transport of

choice, and public bus transport use pattern, (3) items measuring satisfaction with

frequency, travel time, punctuality, price, information, cleanness, staff behavior,

comfort, seat availability, bus stop security and condition, safety, and information.

The questionnaire was developed based on Benchmarking in European Service of

Public Transport survey’s tool and previous research that conducted in Jogjakarta (Liden

et al. 2008). Service quality items that are measured derived from Friman’s finding

(2001) for public transport, such as reliability, employee, simplicity and design.

Respondent were asked to rate their satisfaction to the item of overall satisfaction and

14 items in specific quality attribute for public transport. Likert-type scale rate ranged

from strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree and strongly agree.

3.4 Procedure

Self-rating questionnaires were used as a data collection method in this study.

Reasons of using three sections questionnaire to collect data are (1) The respondent has

break time when fill out the questionnaire in order to understand the aim of each

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section questionnaire; and (2) questionnaire offers confidentiality. The respondents

were asked to fill out the questionnaire at the office (Jakarta area) or at bus stops in

Jogjakarta. Jakarta and Jogjakarta were chosen since these two cities provide not only

one system in public bus transport, but the conventional and new system. The new

system is supposed to deliver a higher quality with concern to specifically bus stop

condition and security on board (because door is closed and bus is only stop in certain

bus stop). The data represents satisfaction with the conventional bus system, which is

very useful data for Public bus transport Authority if they want to increase the numbers

of public bus transport users in the future.

In Jakarta, data were collected by handing out the questionnaire in different

offices by instructed surveyors. This data collection method was used since it may be

hard to find people that are willing to participate in the bus stop. People waiting at bus

stops are often in a hurry and thus reluctant to fill out the questionnaire before the bus

arrive. In Jogjakarta, data were collected at bus stops.

In Jogjakarta, data were collected in at 8-10 in the morning and 3-5 in the

afternoon. For Jakarta area, data were collected during working hour, 8-16.

The filled out questionnaires were administrated and coded by one survey person

in each city. These surveyors were chosen due to their past experience in handing

similar surveys to make sure that all data were handled in the same way. Guidance for

coding was provided to guarantee an equal administration.

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3.5 Data analysis

The aim of this study is to measure overall customer satisfaction and investigates

the related service quality attributes that influence the most. Questionnaire is the most

common tool to investigate the similar aim. The data that were collected will be

analyzed using statistical method.

To summarize and rearrange the data several interrelated procedure are

performed during the data analysis stage (Muijs 2004). Statistical tools (SPSS) were used

for data input and analysis. Data Analysis was conducted in three steps; first correlation

analysis was undertaken to measure linear correlation between variables. Then factor

analysis was performed with the aim to identify group or cluster of variables. Third, a

regression analysis was performed to evaluate the contribution of each factor on overall

satisfaction.

Data analysis were carried out in two ways, the first one is to measure all data

collected to investigate the voice of Indonesia customer. The second analysis, data was

analysis according to the city, Jakarta and Jogjakarta, the aim is to investigate the data

locally to make recommendation for both citied, since the culture and traffic condition

has their own uniqueness.

3.6 Validity and reliability

Two key concepts in quantitative methods are validity and reliability. Validity has

three distinct aspects, such as content validity, criterion validity and constructs validity.

Content validity refers to whether or not the content of the manifest variable is right to

measure the latent concept that the study are trying to measure. An extensive search of

the literature on the concept that will be measured is one way to achieve content

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validity. Criterion validity also related to the theory and expected to be able to predict

certain outcomes. There are two ways to establish criterion validity; first, the good

knowledge of theory relating to the concept. Second, conducting statistical analysis

measure correlation between dependent variable and Independent variable. Construct

validity is a slightly more complex issue relating to the internal structure of an

instrument and the concept it is measuring. Factor analysis was design to see whether

each item measured the subscale it was supposed to measure to look at construct

validity.

Numbers of different steps were taken to ensure the validity of the study: Data

was collected from the reliable sources, from respondent who has experiences in using

public bus transport. Survey question were made based on literature review and frame

of reference to ensure result validity. Data collected within two weeks to minimize

major event has been changed with the related topic.

Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure. This notion can be taken to

comprise two elements: external and internal reliability. External reliability refers to the

degree to which measure is consistent over time. This approach gauging reliability is

known as test/retest reliability. Internal reliability refers to the degree of internal

consistency of a measure. One method of establishing in this sense is through split-half

method.

SPSS software offers “reliability analysis statistic”, Reliability analysis allows you to

study the properties of measurement scales and the item that make them up. The

reliability Analysis procedure calculates a number of commonly used measures of scale

reliability and also provides information about the relationships between individual

items in the scale.

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Numbers of different step were taken to ensure the reliability of the study:

Questionnaire was constructed based on BEST (benchmarking in European Service of

Public transport) and the previous study that conducted in Jogjakarta By Universitas

Gadjah Mada and Karlstad university. The questionnaire was divided into three parts in

order to make responders could more concentrate on each question; The theories that

have been selected for the study was clearly describes and research question has been

formulated based on the previous theory. Data have collected base on the frame of

reference that was drawn from the discussed theories. The objective to make sure that

the investigator will follow the same procedures and used the same questionnaires

object, the same conclusion would be made.

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4. FINDINGS

This section contains finding from statistical analysis. Demographic statistics,

correlation, factor, and regression analysis are performed on the collected data. The

additional finding from local measurement is also included to enrich recommendation

that could be applied in local area.

4.1 Demographics

278 questionnaires were filled out and 265 were accepted for further analysis.

The respondent consisted of 159 men and 119 women. 108 respondents lived in Jakarta

and 170 respondents lived in Jogjakarta. The age range of respondents consisted of 9.7%

age of 15-20;31.3% age of 21-25; 45% age of 26-35; 9% age of 36-45; and 5% age of 46-

60. 33.1% of the respondents were students; 29.9% civil servant; 29.5% worked in the

private sector; 5.4% worked at home and 2.2% were unemployed. 82.4% of the

respondents had a driving license. 26.1% travelled to work, 4.9% travelled to work

combined with a trip with another purpose; 22.8% travelled to school, 7.7% travelled to

school combined with a trip with another purpose, 6.6% were shopping trips, 12.1%

were leisure trips and 12.9% were other trips. Majority of respondents had access to a

private vehicle (83.3%).

Many respondents commuted frequently (92.1%). Primary transport mode of

choice were motor cycle (60.4%), bus (17%), car (8.7%), train (3.6%), walking (2.5%).

7.7% were combination of different travel modes. Of the respondents, 51.8% used

public bus transport rarely, 20.5% used public bus transport on a daily basis, 15.5% used

public bus transport 2-3 times a week and 5% never used public bus transport.

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4.2 Descriptive and Correlation analysis

Descriptive analysis was performed in order to examine respondent perceived

satisfaction on observed variable, overall satisfaction and specific service quality

attribute. Means and number of valid response were summarized in Table 1. Following

with correlation analysis was performed in order to understand how the specific service

quality attributes relate to overall customer satisfaction. Correlation coefficient between

observed variable are presented in Table 2.

Table 1: Distribution of satisfaction responses

SD D NA/D A SA Overall satisfaction N 33 113 87 44 % 11.9 40.6 31.3 15.8 Q1 Frequency N 24 115 80 58 % 8.6 41.4 28.8 20.9 Q2 Travel Time N 49 124 57 42 2 % 17.6 44.6 20.5 15.1 0.7 Q3 Punctuality N 39 139 62 35 % 14.0 50.0 22.3 12.6 Q4 Price N 14 72 94 93 3 % 5.0 25.9 33.8 33.5 1.1 Q5 Information N 44 113 75 41 % 15.8 40.6 27.0 14.7 Q6 Cleanliness N 56 138 55 27 % 20.1 49.6 19.8 9.7 Q7 Staff Behaviour N 54 118 82 22 % 19.4 42.4 29.5 7.9 Q8 Bus Comfort N 55 126 73 23 % 19.8 45.3 26.3 8.3 Q9 Seat availability N 30 113 83 49 1 % 10.8 40.6 29.9 17.6 0.4 Q10 Bus stop security N 30 93 102 51 % 10.8 33.5 36.7 18.3 Q11 Safe from accident N 27 95 97 58 % 9.7 34.2 34.9 20.9 Q12 On board security N 32 131 83 30 % 11.5 47.1 29.9 10.8 Q13 Bus stop condition N 31 127 76 38 2 % 11.2 45.7 27.3 13.7 0.7 Q14 Information in bus stop N 37 110 82 47 1 % 13.3 39.6 29.5 16.9 0.4

SD = Strongly Disagree, D = Disagree, NA/D = neither agree or disagree, A = Agree, SA = Strongly Agree

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As shown in Table 2, the associated means all service quality attributes

demonstrated that costumers were dissatisfied with service quality in public bus

transport (M < 3.0). Only a few customers responded that they were very satisfied.

Table 2 summarizes the distribution of responses. The mean of overall satisfaction also

indicate that customers are not satisfied with public bus transport (M=2.51, SD=0.90).

From 278 respondents, only 44 customers claimed that they were satisfied with the

service. No responded that they were very satisfied with the service.

Table 2 shows that all specific service quality attributes have a significant positive

relation with overall satisfaction (p<.001). This means that when satisfaction with a

specific service quality attributes increases, overall satisfaction increase too. Frequency

of departures (r = .50, p = .001), satisfaction with bus comfort (r = .49, p = .001),

satisfaction with security on board buses (r = .48, p = .001) and travel time (r =.45, p =

.001) has the highest relation to overall satisfaction. Thus, these attributes have a

strong and high relationship with overall customer satisfaction. Furthermore, as shown

in Table 1, satisfaction with the price of the service (r = .27, p = .001) and seat

availability (r = .27, p = .001) has the lowest correlation to overall satisfaction.

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Table 2: Correlations between specific qualities attributes, Means (M) and Standardized Deviation (SD)

Overall

Sat Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Overall satisfaction 1.00 Frequency Q1 0.50 1.00 Travel Time Q2 0.45 0.38 1.00 Punctuality Q3 0.42 0.40 0.47 1.00 Price Q4 0.27 0.34 0.21 0.27 1.00 Information Q5 0.32 0.28 0.31 0.44 0.23 1.00 Cleanliness Q6 0.42 0.30 0.36 0.43 0.29 0.43 1.00 Staff behaviour Q7 0.37 0.18 0.36 0.39 0.30 0.45 0.67 1.00 Bus comfort Q8 0.49 0.27 0.39 0.49 0.27 0.50 0.68 0.72 1.00 Seat availability Q9 0.27 0.33 0.28 0.35 0.24 0.35 0.48 0.38 0.50 1.00 Bus stop security Q10 0.32 0.33 0.37 0.47 0.34 0.42 0.46 0.47 0.53 0.42 1.00 Safe from accident Q11 0.36 0.24 0.32 0.31 0.20 0.30 0.37 0.47 0.56 0.37 0.52 1.00 On board security Q12 0.48 0.21 0.35 0.39 0.25 0.37 0.50 0.58 0.68 0.38 0.59 0.64 1.00 Bus stop condition Q13 0.40 0.18 0.24 0.34 0.17 0.35 0.35 0.36 0.44 0.30 0.41 0.42 0.54 1.00 Info bus stop Q14 0.40 0.27 0.32 0.51 0.20 0.55 0.48 0.50 0.56 0.44 0.54 0.47 0.50 0.54 1.00

Mean 2.51 2.62 2.36 2.34 3.00 2.41 2.19 2.26 2.23 2.56 2.63 2.67 2.40 2.46 2.51

SD 0.90 0.91 0.97 0.87 0.92 0.93 0.87 0.86 0.86 0.92 0.91 0.92 0.83 0.89 0.94

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4.3 Factor analysis

Factor analysis is a statistical tool to explore the structure of the perceived service

quality. The identified dimensions (factors) define broader areas for planning and

action. The general purpose is to find a way to summarize the information contained in

a number of composite dimensions. Principal component analysis with VARIMAX

rotation and selection of factor based on the Kaiser criterion was carried out.

Principle components analysis was used because the primary purpose was to

identify and compute composite coping scores for the factors underlying the short

version of the Attributes service quality. The analysis resulted in two factor solution,

which explained 53.8% of the variance. The eigenvalues for those factors were 4.9 and

2.6. All factors have reliability (cronbach’s alpha) greater than .677. The factor loading

matrix for final solution is presented in Table 3

The first factor summarizes soft quality, such as security issues and comfort. The

second factor concerns the functionality quality, i.e, frequency, travel time, punctuality

and price.

Internal consistency for each of the scales was examined using Cronbach’s alpha.

The alphas indicated a high reliability (0.90) for the functional quality factor and

moderate (0.68) for the soft quality factor. No substantial increases in alpha for any of

the scales could have been achieved by eliminating more items.

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Table 3: Rotated Component Matrix grouping service quality factor

Attribute Factor

1 2 Frequency 0.806 Price 0.619 Punctuality 0.597 Travel Time 0.596 On board security 0.819 Bus comfort 0.810 Staff Behavior 0.734 Safe from accident 0.720 Info bus stop 0.717 Bus stop condition 0.683 Cleanliness 0.629 Bus stop security 0.625 Information 0.509 Seat availability 0.473

4.4 Regression Analysis

The satisfaction scales were summed up and averaged to yield two factor indices

corresponding to Factor 1 and Factor 2. Regression analysis was then performed with

the purpose to predict values of the dependent variable (overall satisfaction) from the

two independent factors.

Overall satisfaction scores were regressed on a functional and a soft factor of

public bus transport service quality. The slope of the regression line was significantly

greater than zero, indicating that overall satisfaction tend to increased as functional and

soft quality factor increased. [y=154+(.400*soft quality)+(.541*functional quality)].

These two predictors accounted for under half of variance in overall satisfaction (R2 =

.375), which was highly significant F = 78.463, p< .001. For these data functional and soft

factor quality have a positive beta value indicating positive relationships. Both the

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functional factor (β=.393, p=.001) and the soft factor (β=.288, p=.001) demonstrated a

significant effect on overall customer satisfaction with public bus transport in Indonesia.

The standardized regression coefficients showed that the functional factor was a

stronger predictor than the soft quality factor

.

4.5 Specific analysis in Jakarta

Jakarta, as the capital city of Indonesia, has a high travel demand from Jakarta and

from the hinterland surrounding (Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi cities). High

travel demand pertain to that Jakarta is an attractive working place for many business

operators in Indonesia. Headquarters of big companies and government offices, both

national and local, are stationed in Jakarta.

4.5.1 Demographic

278 questionnaires were filled out and 265 were accepted for further analysis.

The respondent consisted of 159 men and 119 women. 108 respondents lived in Jakarta

and 170 respondents lived in Jogjakarta. The age range of respondents consisted of 9.7%

age of 15-20; 31.3% age of 21-25; 45% age of 26-35; 9% age of 36-45; and 5% age of 46-

60. 33.1% of the respondents were students; 29.9% civil servant; 29.5% worked in the

private sector; 5.4% worked at home and 2.2% were unemployed. 82.4% of the

respondents had a driving license. 26.1% travelled to work, 4.9% travelled to work

combined with a trip with another purpose; 22.8% travelled to school, 7.7% travelled to

school combined with a trip with another purpose, 6.6% were shopping trips, 12.1%

were leisure trips and 12.9% were other trips. Some respondents had access to a private

vehicle (83.3%) while the majority had not (16.7%).

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Many respondents commuted frequently (92.1%). Primary transport modes of

choice were motor cycle (60.4%), bus (17%), car (8.7%), train (3.6%), and walking (2.5%).

7.7% were combination of different travel modes. Of the respondents, 51.8% used

public bus transport rarely, 20.5% used public bus transport on a daily basis, 15.5% used

public bus transport 2-3 times a week and 5% never used public bus transport.

4.5.2 Descriptive and Correlation analysis

Means (M) and Standard Deviation (SD) in Jakarta were summarized in Table 5.

Correlation analysis was performed in order to understand how the specific service

quality attributes relate to overall customer satisfaction. Correlation coefficients

between observed variable are presented in Table 4. As shown in Table 5, the

associated means for all service quality attributes demonstrated that costumers were in

general dissatisfied with the service quality in public bus transport (M < 3.0). Only a few

customers responded that they were very satisfied. Table 5 summarizes the distribution

of responses. The mean of overall satisfaction also indicate that customers are not

satisfied with public bus transport (M=2.48, SD=0.97). From 106 respondents, only 22

customers claimed that they were satisfied with the service. No responded that they

were very satisfied with the service.

Table 5 shows that all specific service quality attributes have a significant positive

relation with overall satisfaction (p<.001). This means that when satisfaction with a

specific service quality attributes increases, overall satisfaction increase too. Frequency

of departures (r = .53, p = .001), satisfaction with security on board buses (r = .48, p =

.001), satisfaction with bus comfort (r = .45, p = .001), and cleanliness (r =.45, p = .001)

has the highest relation to overall satisfaction. Thus, these attributes have a strong and

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high relationship with overall customer satisfaction. Furthermore, as shown in Table 5,

satisfaction with safe from accident (r = .34, p = .001), bus stop condition (r = .35, p =

.001), and information (r = .36, p = .001) has the lowest correlation to overall

satisfaction. Table 5 also suggested that price did not have significant relationship with

overall satisfaction.

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Table 4: Distribution of satisfaction responses (Jakarta Area)

SD D ND/A A SA

Overall satisfaction N 16 43 27 20 % 15.0 40.2 25.2 18.7 Q1 Frequency N 10 52 26 18 % 9.3 48.6 24.3 16.8 Q2 Travel Time N 22 54 11 16 % 20.6 50.5 10.3 15.0 Q3 Punctuality N 17 55 24 8 % 15.9 51.4 22.4 7.5 Q4 Price N 9 29 33 32 2 % 8.4 27.1 30.8 29.9 1.9 Q5 Information N 17 49 23 14 % 15.9 45.8 21.5 13.1 Q6 Cleanliness N 30 55 11 9 % 28.0 51.4 10.3 8.4 Q7 Staff Behaviour N 24 48 24 9 % 22.4 44.9 22.4 8.4 Q8 Bus Comfort N 26 47 26 7 % 24.3 43.9 24.3 6.5 Q9 Seat availability N 19 57 20 9 % 17.8 53.3 18.7 8.4 Q10 Bus stop security N 14 44 32 15 % 13.1 41.1 29.9 14.0 Q11 Safe from accident N 11 41 37 17 % 10.3 38.3 34.6 15.9 Q12 On board security N 13 55 26 11 % 12.1 51.4 24.3 10.3 Q13 Bus stop condition N 17 55 20 11 % 15.9 51.4 18.7 10.3 Q14 Information in bus stop N 20 44 28 14 % 18.7 41.1 26.2 13.1

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Table 5: Correlations between specific qualities attributes, Means (M) and Standardized Deviation (SD) - Jakarta Area

Overall

Sat Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14

Overall satisfaction 1.00 Frequency Q1 0.53 1.00 Travel Time Q2 0.41 0.24 1.00 Punctuality Q3 0.40 0.57 0.34 1.00 Price Q4 0.26 0.34 0.29 0.25 1.00 Information Q5 0.36 0.35 0.33 0.51 0.27 1.00 Cleanliness Q6 0.45 0.29 0.31 0.47 0.30 0.58 1.00 Staff behaviour Q7 0.38 0.20 0.36 0.43 0.41 0.56 0.74 1.00 Bus comfort Q8 0.45 0.39 0.36 0.52 0.33 0.56 0.70 0.69 1.00 Seat availability Q9 0.41 0.39 0.29 0.46 0.19 0.51 0.59 0.49 0.64 1.00 Bus stop security Q10 0.36 0.38 0.32 0.44 0.44 0.31 0.52 0.55 0.50 0.51 1.00 Safe from accident Q11 0.34 0.32 0.21 0.25 0.31 0.33 0.46 0.48 0.48 0.37 0.47 1.00 On board security Q12 0.48 0.33 0.29 0.32 0.39 0.34 0.56 0.62 0.66 0.46 0.67 0.59 1.00 Bus stop condition Q13 0.35 0.14 0.12 0.09 0.16 0.28 0.26 0.25 0.29 0.22 0.18 0.30 0.46 1.00 Info bus stop Q14 0.41 0.31 0.35 0.50 0.29 0.70 0.61 0.63 0.63 0.60 0.47 0.47 0.51 0.29 1.00 Mean 2.48 2.49 2.20 2.22 2.90 2.33 1.99 2.17 2.13 2.18 2.46 2.57 2.33 2.24 2.34 SD 0.97 0.87 0.95 0.81 0.99 0.91 0.86 0.88 0.86 0.83 0.90 0.88 0.83 0.86 0.94

Note: The red mark is indicated that the correlation value is not significant (p>0.05)

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4.5.3 Factor analysis

Principle components analysis was used since the primary purpose was to identify

and compute composite coping scores for the factors underlying the short version of the

attributes service quality. The analysis resulted in three factor solutions, which explained

46.6% of the variance. The eigenvalues for those factors were 4.1, 2.4 and 2.3. All factors

have reliability (cronbach’s alpha) greater than .709. The factor loading matrix for final

solution is presented in Table 6

Table 6 : Rotated Component Matrix grouping service quality factor (Jakarta Area)

Component

1 2 3 Frequency 0.766 Price 0.637 Punctuality 0.588 Bus stop security 0.554 Travel Time 0.437 Information 0.808 Info bus stop 0.805 Cleanliness 0.747 Seat availability 0.703 Bus comfort 0.682 Staff Behaviour 0.677 On board security 0.758 Bus stop condition 0.737 Safe from accident 0.599

The first factor summarizes supporting quality, such as information, info in the bus

stop, cleanliness, seat availability, bus comfort, and staff behavior. The second factor

concerns the security and safety quality, i.e., frequency, travel time, punctuality and

price. The third factor concerned about primary quality such as frequency, price,

punctuality, bus stop security and travel time. Internal consistency for each of the

scales was examined using Cronbach’s alpha. The alphas indicated a high reliability

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(0.902) for the supporting quality factor, moderate reliability (0.734) for the primary

factor, and moderate reliability (0.709) for safety and security quality factor. No

substantial increases in alpha for any of the scales could have been achieved by

eliminating more items.

4.5.4 Regression analysis

Overall satisfaction scores were regressed on supporting, safety/security, and the

primary factor of public bus transport service quality. The slope of the regression line

was significantly greater than zero, indicating that overall satisfaction tend to increased

as functional and soft quality factor increased. [y=.217+(.276*supporting

quality)+(.351*safe and security quality)+(.333*primary quality)]. These three predictors

accounted for under half of variance in overall satisfaction (R2 = .337), which was highly

significant F = 15.616, p< .001. For these data, supporting, safe/security, and primary

factor quality have a positive beta value indicating positive relationships with overall

satisfaction. Safe/security factor (β=.249), and primary factor (β=.236) demonstrated a

significant effect on overall customer satisfaction with public bus transport in Indonesia.

Supporting factor (β=.204) did not have a significant effect on overall satisfaction in

public bus transport. However, the standardized regression coefficients showed that

safe/security factor was a stronger predictor than primary and supporting quality factor.

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4.6 Specific analysis in Jogjakarta

Jogjakarta is known as a student city. Student from all over Indonesia goes to

Jogjakarta to study because this city has good reputation in education area with UGM as

the center of attraction. Other universities are also located in Jogjakarta. The majority of

travel demand is for studying purposes.

4.6.1 Demographic

170 respondents lived in Jogjakarta. The age range of respondents consisted of

15.2% age of 15-20; 35.1% age of 21-25; 41.5% age of 26-35; 7% age of 36-45; and 1.2%

age of 46-60. 48.5% of the respondents were students; 26.9% civil servant; 13.5%

worked in the private sector; 8.2% worked at home and 2.9% were unemployed. 87.7%

of the respondents had a driving license. 20.8% travelled to work, 1.2% travelled to

work combined with a trip with another purpose; 31% travelled to school, 6.6% travelled

to school combined with a trip with another purpose, 8.3% were shopping trips, 14.9%

were leisure trips and 12.5% were other trips. Majority of respondents had access to a

private vehicle (85.9%).

Many respondents commuted frequently (91.2%). Primary transport modes of

choice were motor cycle (73.1%), bus (9.4%), car (0.6%), train (0.6%), and walking

(4.1%). 4.2% were combination of different travel modes. Of the respondents, 62.6%

used public bus transport rarely, 15.2% used public bus transport 2-3 times a week, 8.2%

used public bus transport on a daily basis, and 7% never used public bus transport.

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4.6.2 Descriptive and Correlation analysis

Means and number of valid responses are summarized in Table 7. Correlation

analysis was performed in order to understand how the specific service quality

attributes relate to overall customer satisfaction. Correlation coefficients between

observed variables are presented in Table 8. As shown in Table 8, the associated means

for all service quality attributes demonstrated that costumers in general were

dissatisfied with the service quality in public bus transport (M < 3.0). One exception is

the price (M=3.06) were the respondents expressed a more satisfied opinion. Only a few

customers responded that they were very satisfied. Table 7 summarizes the distribution

of responses. The mean of overall satisfaction also indicate that customers are not

satisfied with public bus transport (M=2.53, SD=0.86). From 171 respondents, only 24

customers claimed that they were satisfied with the service. No responded that they

were very satisfied with the service.

Table 8 shows that all specific service quality attributes have a significant positive

relation with overall satisfaction (p<.001). This means that when satisfaction with a

specific service quality attributes increases, overall satisfaction increase too. Satisfaction

with bus comfort (r= .52, p=.001), frequency of departures (r =.48, p=.001), satisfaction

with security on board buses (r=.47, p=.001) and travel time (r=.47, p=.001) has the

highest relation to overall satisfaction. Thus, these attributes have a strong and high

relationship with overall customer satisfaction. Furthermore, as shown in Table 8,

satisfaction price (r=.28, p = .001) and seat availability (r = .19, p = .001) has the lowest

correlation to overall satisfaction.

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Table 7: Distribution of satisfaction responses (Jogjakarta Area)

SD D ND/A A SA

Frequency N 17 70 60 24 % 9.9 40.9 35.1 14.0 Q1 Travel Time N 14 63 54 40 % 8.2 36.8 31.6 23.4 Q2 Punctuality N 27 70 46 26 2 % 15.8 40.9 26.9 15.2 1.2 Q3 Price N 22 84 38 27 % 12.9 49.1 22.2 15.8 Q4 Information N 5 43 61 61 1 % 2.9 25.1 35.7 35.7 0.6 Q5 Cleanliness N 27 64 52 27 % 15.8 37.4 30.4 15.8 Q6 Staff Behaviour N 26 83 44 18 % 15.2 48.5 25.7 10.5 Q7 Bus Comfort N 30 70 58 13 % 17.5 40.9 33.9 7.6 Q8 Seat availability N 29 79 47 16 % 17.0 46.2 27.5 9.4 Q9 Bus stop security N 11 56 63 40 1 % 6.4 32.7 36.8 23.4 0.6 Q10 Safe from accident N 16 49 70 36 % 9.4 28.7 40.9 21.1 Q11 On board security N 16 54 60 41 % 9.4 31.6 35.1 24.0 Q12 Bus stop condition N 19 76 57 19 % 11.1 44.4 33.3 11.1 Q13 Information in bus stop N 14 72 56 27 2 % 8.2 42.1 32.7 15.8 1.2 Q14 Frequency N 17 66 54 33 1 % 9.9 38.6 31.6 19.3 0.6

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Table 8 : Correlations between specific qualities attributes, Means (M) and Standardized Deviation (SD) - Jogjakarta Area

Overall Sat Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14

Overall satisfaction 1.00 Frequency Q1 0.48 1.00 Travel Time Q2 0.47 0.44 1.00 Punctuality Q3 0.44 0.30 0.53 1.00 Price Q4 0.28 0.34 0.15 0.27 1.00 Information Q5 0.30 0.23 0.29 0.39 0.20 1.00 Cleanliness Q6 0.41 0.28 0.36 0.40 0.27 0.34 1.00 Staff behaviour Q7 0.36 0.16 0.35 0.36 0.21 0.38 0.62 1.00 Bus comfort Q8 0.52 0.19 0.40 0.47 0.21 0.46 0.66 0.73 1.00 Seat availability Q9 0.19 0.27 0.24 0.27 0.25 0.26 0.38 0.31 0.42 1.00 Bus stop security Q10 0.30 0.29 0.38 0.47 0.25 0.47 0.40 0.42 0.54 0.34 1.00 Safe from accident Q11 0.37 0.18 0.36 0.34 0.12 0.27 0.31 0.46 0.60 0.36 0.54 1.00 On board security Q12 0.47 0.14 0.38 0.43 0.14 0.38 0.45 0.55 0.69 0.33 0.54 0.66 1.00 Bus stop condition Q13 0.45 0.18 0.29 0.46 0.15 0.39 0.36 0.41 0.51 0.28 0.51 0.47 0.57 1.00 Info bus stop Q14 0.40 0.22 0.29 0.51 0.13 0.45 0.38 0.41 0.51 0.31 0.57 0.46 0.49 0.66 1.00 Mean 2.53 2.70 2.45 2.41 3.06 2.46 2.32 2.32 2.29 2.79 2.74 2.74 2.44 2.60 2.62 SD 0.86 0.92 0.97 0.91 0.87 0.94 0.86 0.85 0.86 0.90 0.90 0.93 0.83 0.89 0.93

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4.6.3 Factor analysis

Principle components analysis was used in order to identify and compute

composite coping scores for the factors underlying the short version of the attributes

service quality. The analysis resulted in three factor solutions, which explained 43.5% of

the variance. The eigenvalues for those factors were 3.6. 2.8, and 1.9. All factors have

reliability (cronbach’s alpha) greater than .580. The factor loading matrix for final

solution is presented in Table 9.

Table 9: Rotated Component Matrix grouping service quality factor - Jogjakarta Area

1 2 3 Frequency 0.807 Price 0.657 Travel Time 0.525 bus crew attitude 0.801 Bus comfort 0.783 Cleanliness 0.744 Seat availability 0.480 Info bus stop 0.797 Bus stop condition 0.771 Bus stop security 0.696 On board security 0.614 Punctuality 0.613 Safe from accident 0.584 Information 0.543

The first factor summarizes supporting quality, such as security issues and

punctuality. The second factor concerns the comfort quality, i.e, and staff behavior,

satisfaction in bus comfort, cleanliness and seat availability. The third factor concern

functional quality of bus, such as frequency, price and travel time.

Internal consistency for each of the scales was examined using Cronbach’s alpha.

The alphas indicated a high reliability (0.864) for the supporting quality factor, high

reliability (0.810) for comfort quality), and moderate (0.58) for the functional quality

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factor. No substantial increases in alpha for any of the scales could have been achieved

by eliminating more items.

4.6.4 Regression analysis

Overall satisfaction scores were regressed on a functional and a soft factor of

public bus transport service quality. The slope of the regression line was significantly

greater than zero, indicating that overall satisfaction tend to increased as functional and

soft quality factor increased. [y=(.009)+(.355*supporting quality)+(.114*comfort

quality)+(.494*functional quality)]. These three predictors accounted for under half of

variance in overall satisfaction (R2 = .409), which was highly significant F = 08.259, p<

.001. For these data functional and soft factor quality have a positive beta value

indicating positive relationships. Both supporting factor (β=.278, p=.001) and functional

factor (β=.389, p=.001) demonstrated a significant effect on overall customer

satisfaction with public bus transport in Indonesia. Comfort factor (β=.092, p>.005) did

not have a significant effect on overall satisfaction in public bus transport. The

standardized regression coefficients showed that functional factor was a stronger

predictor than supporting quality factor.

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5. DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH

This section contained discussion, conclusion, practical recommendation, things that

could have been carried out in better way. In the end of the section future study

recommendation are presented.

5.1. Discussion

This thesis aimed at investigating whether overall customer satisfaction with

Indonesian public bus transport is related to service quality attributes. Jakarta and

Jogjakarta citizen were asked to rate their satisfaction on the conventional bus on the

paper and pencil questionnaire. Descriptive, correlation, factor and regression analysis

were used to investigate these relationships.

From the central tendency finding it reported that respondent is not satisfied with

all the quality attributes. This indicates that the quality of Indonesia public bus transport

is under the travelers’ expectation of the service. Correlation analysis suggest the top

four attributes that have strongest relationship with overall satisfaction are frequency,

comfortable travel experience, security on board and travel time. This finding is not

surprising since these quality factors is reported in extensively in previous research of

customer satisfaction in public transport (Departement for Transport 2003; van Vugt et

al. 1996; Fellesson 2008; Eboli & Mazzulla 2007). Public bus transport market share in

Jakarta is only 2% while serving 53% of the total travel demand. In conjunction with

findings in this study it is concluded that the supply is not enough to fulfill public bus

transport users travel demand.

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The second service quality attributes that is highly related to overall satisfaction is

comfort. Furthermore, the analysis shows that comfort is positive related to public bus

transport supply, which is in accordance with Stradling (2007) who has pointed out that

overcrowded vehicles is perceived as uncomfortable. Fellow passenger behavior (e.g.,

smoking and talking to loud) is annoying (Stradling 2007). Customers expect to enjoy

their travel experience as comfortable as using their own vehicle.

The service quality attributes that related to Indonesian public bus transport

customer satisfaction is security on board. Stradling (2007) showed that feeling unsafe

could affect customers’ willingness to choice public bus transport. UK department for

transport (UK Department for Transport 2009) and Smith & Clark (Smith & Clarke 2000)

found that security issues such as pick pocketing has a relationship to overcrowded

vehicles and lack of supervision. Increasing supervision in the bus by adding security

personal on board or install the monitoring device on the public bus transport could

increase the felling of safety and influence overall satisfaction with public bus transport.

Travel time also has high correlation with overall satisfaction. Travel time is

considered when choosing travel mode. Customers are more satisfy when they

perceived shorter travel time. Fuji et al (2001) found that after car users corrected they

overestimates travel time using public bus transport; they travel more frequently with

public bus transport. Van Vugt et al. (1996) also found that shorter travel time influences

the decision of customer to choose public bus transport as a means of transport.

Exclusive lane bus that applied for Transjakarta is one effort to shorter travel time.

The factor analysis conducted to reduce numbers of factor that correlated to

overall customer satisfaction to simplify the decision maker to make an improvement,

instead looking on specific items. From fourteen single services quality attributes that

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were observed to investigate customer satisfaction in public bus transport, the factor

analysis suggest simplifying them into two factors called the functional factor and the

soft factor. The factor analysis grouped together frequency, price, punctuality and travel

time as one factor that was interpreted as a functional factor of public bus transport and

the other hand, soft factor of public bus transport service quality consist of safety and

security (safe from accident, on board security and bus stop security), the comfort when

traveling with public bus transport (bus comfort, cleanliness, seat availability, and

information on the bus) and staff behavior. These two factors were analyzed with

regression. The results demonstrated that there are other factors as well that influence

customer satisfaction in public bus transport. This result is confirmed by Oliver (1997)

that noted as quality is one of several key dimensions which are factored into

customer’s satisfaction judgment. Since the two factors only have low influence in

overall customer satisfaction, it is interesting to investigate such factor in order to get

more complete picture to develop an attractive public bus transport in the future.

Analysis was also carried separately for the Jakarta and Jogjakarta cities due to

their differences in travel demand. Jakarta is a busy city where a majority of the travel

demand pertains to travel with a working purpose whereas a majority of the travel

demand in Jogjakarta pertains to travel with a studying purpose. The analysis showed

that different types of factors influence customer satisfaction in each city but the

strongest factor in each city is the same. Jakarta primary factor is similar to functional

factor with bus stop security quality as additional factor.

To summarize, the overall result show that service quality attributes influences

overall customer satisfaction in using public bus transport. The service quality could be

evaluated and improved by analyzing single attributes but also by analyzing factors

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based on several attributes. The overall aim is to make public bus transport an

attractive, satisfied, and marketable mode of transport.

5.2. Conclusion

High increasing motorization in Indonesia causes many problems in traffic

congestion, a high level of pollution, a high consumption non-renewable energy

resource, a threat to quality of life and a high number of traffic accidents. Public bus

transport should become the solution for sustainable transport in the future, which is

the reason to increase customer satisfaction. High quality public bus transport not only

keep customer to continue using public bus transport to fulfill their travel demand but

also attract potential customer.

The functional factor has a strong influence on customer satisfaction and need a

higher attention to improve customer satisfaction. Frequency, price, punctuality and

travel time are the crucial factor that is responsible in bringing higher level of

satisfaction.

Listen the voice of customer is a common and effective way to identify the

customer need and the way to satisfy them. Several cities in different European

countries are already measuring customer satisfaction annually. United Kingdom also

conducted a study to identify customer need in public transport. The effort in research is

dedicated to develop a attractive and marketable public transport.

According to the results of this study, Indonesia customer is not satisfied with

public bus transport service. Thus, public bus transport can not compete with the

attractiveness of the private car (Steg 2003). Indonesia Public bus transport Authority

should start to pay attention to the voice of customer to make better public bus

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transport otherwise disappointed existing customer will turn their choice into private

motorize. The study should be conducted annually to evaluate public bus transport

performance and create some corrective improvement to satisfy customer.

Additional analysis was carried out in Jakarta and Jogjakarta. The results showed

that a functional factor is most important in both cities. Frequency is pointed out due to

limited number of supply that could not fulfill high number of travel demand. Travel

time pointed out due to certain number of capacity fulfillment in public bus transport

bringing longer travel time. Price pointed out because customer do not experience of

better value that they pay for public bus transport. This three related service quality has

to be improved to keep existing customer and attract more customer.

5.3. Practical recommendation

In order to improve customer satisfaction on public bus transport, public

transport decision maker and provider have to improve service quality in public bus

transport. The service attributes could be improved as single attributes or as the factor.

1. The functional factor has a strong influence on customer satisfaction. Public bus

transport decision maker and provider could start to pay attention to increase

public bus transport supply due to high number of travel demand especially in peak

hour, shorter travel time of public bus transport with giving special line in order to

avoid high congested road, and giving more value to the price that customer pays

for their public bus transport service.

2. When service quality is analyzed at an attribute level it is revealed that on board

security is very important. One way to increase on board security is to limit the

opportunity for pickpockets and other criminal activities onboard the buses. There

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are several possibilities: add security personal, close bus doors during operation

time and install surveillance tools.

5.4. Limitation of thesis

As already mention in the discussion section, the two factors that were measured

had low influence on overall customer satisfaction. This result could be explained by a

low number of respondents and a paper & pencil questionnaire technique. It is

suggested to adopt more powerful methods to investigate what factors influence

customer satisfaction judgments by recruiting (randomly) a larger number of

respondents.

Another limitation in this was that not all respondents were recruited in the bus

stop which resulted in a majority of respondents using private motorize as their main

transport mode of choice. These respondents have higher expectations because they

have alternative in fulfill their travel demand. For future research, it is important to

recruit respondents that use public bus transport as daily transport mode to get more

significant picture about their expectation of the public bus transport service.

The study was conducted in two cities, Jakarta and Jogjakarta, with limited

number of respondents. The result of this study could thus not generalize to the voice of

Indonesia customer. Future studies should recruit a higher number of respondents in a

wider area in Indonesia.

Additional analysis were carried out to investigate whether different character in

travel demand influence overall customer. The finding suggests there were no significant

difference between these two cities. This similar finding failed to explain differences

customer need between two cities due to minimal size of respondent.

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5.5. Future Research

The result of this study demonstrated that there is other factors that influence

customer satisfaction judgment. In future research, it is important to investigate such

other factors. In-depth interviews and brain storming that involving higher number

respondent could help to create more relevant customer satisfaction measurement.

It is possible to attract car user to use public bus transport (Budiono 2009b). In

future research, it is important to investigate how to persuade them to shift their mode

travel of choice by conducting the research that could investigate what type of public

bus transport that suit with their need.

The additional analysis that requested to investigates the need of customer in

local way is conducted. Unfortunately limited number of respondent for both cities

caused result failed to explained significant differences between two cities. Recruiting

higher number of respondent will be more suitable to conduct a local analysis.

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