Perception of Passengers on COVID-19 Countermeasures: Case study of Blue and Purple Lines

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of perception of passengers on COVID-19 countermeasures taking the Blue and Purple Line as case a study. The samples were passengers of the MRT Blue Line and MRT Purple Line traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and second order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicates that passengers’ perception consists of five factors: Awareness (highest factor loading of 0.84), Confidence, Health, App, and Distancing (with factor loadings of 0.81, 0.81, 0.69 and 0.40 respectively). It was found that although passengers felt uncomfortable with respect to the social distancing measures such as alternate seat blocking and reduced capacity, they were aware of the consequence of the measures, so they felt confident to travel safely. It was also found that passengers are highly aware of measures related to public health such as temperature screening, strict enforcement of mask wearing and hand sanitization. The findings are applicable to operation of other public transport modes such as bus as well as post-covid operation.