Customer Satisfaction with Service Quality of the Bangkok Mass Rapid Transit System
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Abstract
With the increasing number of rail lines being developed in Thailand for economic growth, it is imperative that the service provided meet the expectations of its customers. To help public agencies and rail transport operators improve the quality of service of the country’s rail transport system, the present study aims to determine the service quality indicators used to effectively measure rail transport passenger satisfaction; identify which aspects of service quality are the passengers most and least satisfied with; and assess how different are the levels of satisfaction of the passengers across their socio-demographic groups using Bangkok’s mass rapid transit system as a case study. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and cross tabulation analysis with comparison statistical tests are adopted. The PCA results in 7 components which are ticket sales, station facilities, station safety and security, station staff, public relations, rolling stock, and ride comfort. Overall, the average level of satisfaction for the transit system is high with value of 4.25 out of 5.00; but interestingly, passengers are least satisfied with ticket sale factors. The differences in satisfaction of the respondents according to their gender, age, income, and trip purpose are also observed. The results suggest that relatively low satisfaction levels are found from females, young passengers, those earning less than 30,000 Baht/month, and travelers who use the train for shopping-related trips. Considering that these groups represent a large proportion of the respondents, some recommendations are summarized as drawn from the result interpretations such as further in-depth studies on the value of money of ticket prices to be appropriate for travel distance and service quality as well as enhanced information dissemination practices.
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