Passenger satisfaction with minibus-taxi feeder services at the Mitchells Plain public transport interchange in Cape Town

Abstract

The replacement of unscheduled minibus-taxi services with scheduled BRT trunk-feeder networks in South African cities, as envisioned in the 2007 Public Transport Strategy, has proven difficult to achieve. Consequently, in Cape Town, the city authority is proposing a hybrid network, comprised of scheduled trunk services and unscheduled minibus-taxi feeder/distributor services, as a more feasible public transport reform. The Mitchells Plain public transport interchange in Cape Town includes three minibus-taxi ranks in close proximity to a rail station and two large bus termini. The minibus-taxi associations linked to these ranks offer unscheduled feeder/distributor services that mirror the trunk-feeder service integration envisaged in the hybrid network model. The aim of this paper is: to explore levels of satisfaction amongst passengers using these unscheduled feeder/distributor services; and to identity the attributes of these services that require priority improvement in the pursuit of a complementary hybrid service network. The method of analysis takes the form of a modification of the ‘quadrant model’, which plots service attribute satisfaction against importance, in order to identify priorities for service quality improvement. Analysis of (n=616) survey data indicates that, amongst transferring passengers, service attributes with highest importance and lowest satisfaction include: driver compliance; vehicle overloading; vehicle comfort; vehicle safety; and driver customer care. This analysis also suggests that the most satisfactory and important service attributes amongst transferring passengers include: service route proximity and flexibility; trip time; rank weather protection; morning service availability; and rank staff friendliness. The findings suggest that, apart from rank security, transferring passengers are relatively satisfied with the ‘hybrid’ trunk-feeder service integration