TITLE:
An Analysis of the Women Commuters’ Satisfaction in the Public Bus Service in Bangladesh: A Survey on Local Buses in Major Cities
AUTHORS:
Ayesha Umme, Kojima Aya, Kubota Hisashi
KEYWORDS:
Public Bus, Service Quality, Women Commuters’ Satisfaction, SEM
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Transportation Technologies,
Vol.12 No.4,
August
18,
2022
ABSTRACT: Bangladesh is one of the most populated developing countries where public
bus service plays a vital role as a public transport mode since it is easily
available and cost-effective. In the social, commercial, educational, and
administrative spheres, women’s participation in the labor force in economic
enterprises is steadily expanding in the country. Very little research
considers only women commuters to analyze the service quality of public buses
and they selected only Dhaka city as a study area. However, a large number of
trips were generated by women commuters in the industrial and commercial zones
such as Gazipur, Narayanganj, and Dhaka. This
paper ascertains the public bus service attributes that affect women
commuters’ satisfaction as well as finds out the major problems of women
commuters while traveling on public buses and the possible solutions to them.
This survey included 766 women commuters from Dhaka, Narayanganj, and Gazipur
who were interviewed face to face. Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used as
the instrument for identifying the service quality (SQ) attributes that
influenced the women commuters’ satisfaction. A series of models were developed
based on the trial-and-error method and the model M3 is selected as
the best fit according to SEM fit indices values. The study’s main goal was to
compile a list of service quality attributes that influence women commuters’
satisfaction. Major issues with the current public bus service in terms of
safety and security, as well as remedies, were identified through discussions
with experienced female commuters. These
findings reveal that women commuters’ satisfaction is primarily influenced by safety and security, as well as the degree of comfort provided by
bus service because they frequently encounter major safety and security issues
on public buses and want an immediate remedy. This paper offers some potential
strategies for addressing the issues, which may prompt policymakers to pay more
attention to these aspects in transportation planning.