A 2018 Customer Satisfaction Survey with Users of a Subsidised Private Bus Service in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

Golden Arrow Bus Services (Pty) Ltd. (GABS) is the largest private bus company in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It operates subsidised, scheduled transport services to commuters in Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality under a contract with the Western Cape Department of Transport. To independently assess service quality, the company has commissioned the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to undertake biennial customer satisfaction surveys. The survey’s 2018 iteration was conducted during the week of 10 to 14 September 2018 with a sample of n=2677 quasi-randomly selected customers interviewed during morning and afternoon peak hours at six bus termini. The main section of the questionnaire measured satisfaction using a perceived service quality (PSQ) scale consisting of 20 individual service quality items. Overall satisfaction was measured by aggregating individual item scores into a PSQ index and was also separately measured directly using a ten-point scale. A gap scoring technique was used to measure the relative importance of the service quality items, enabling an importance-performance analysis (IPA) to be conducted (cf. Martilla, 1977). Data was also collected on demographic characteristics and service usage. Self-reported customer satisfaction was reasonably high (a mean of 7.2 on a scale from 1 to 10). Items for which mean customer satisfaction was the highest were “Ease of getting on and off the bus,” “Driving ability of drivers,” and “Reliability of buses not to break down.” Items for which mean customer satisfaction was lowest were “Condition of bus stops and shelters,” “Level of safety from crime,” and “Level of crowding on buses.” The PSQ scale was found to be internally consistent in terms of Cronbach’s Alpha, and the PSQ index was found to correlate strongly with service usage indicators. The PSQ scale is suitable as a tool for measuring customer satisfaction with bus services in a South African context.