CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
In recent times, mass transportation has become a workable solution to an old age problem of sustainable movement of people in great numbers from one place to the other with substantial travel distances. Public transportation offers the convenience of moving easily between different cities, towns and the movement of goods and services. Some key notable characteristics of public transportation are safety and comfort, convenience, availability, affordability and cost effectiveness, which improve and increase the quality of life of a people, reduce traffic congestion, improve rapid mobility, lessen the phenomenon of air and noise pollution, create job opportunities and upgrade in infrastructure among others. These are all necessary indicators in providing a level playing ground for the efficient and effective movement of people.
1.1.1 Background and Problem Statement
Road transport continues to be a leading transportation mode within all major cities in Ghana. Ghana continues to develop rapidly and has attained the rank of a lower middle income country (World Bank 2011). Its capital Accra is situated on the southern coast, along the Gulf of Guinea. It is a city spread over an area of 1,390 square-kilometers. Ghana as a whole covers a geographic area of 238,477 square kilometers (or 93,000 square-miles). The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is the local government authority responsible for running the daily affairs of the city. Almost all passenger trips within the boundaries of the city are completed by private commercial mini buses popularly called “trotro” that operate like jitneys. This means they do not have planned schedules although they may run specific origin to destination routes or stopover at vantage locations. This unscheduled nature of their services results in lengthy travel times. Meanwhile, these mini-buses mostly have problems such as bad seat provisions, overload travellers, non-following their assigned routes, reckless speeding and driving.
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1.2 Research Objectives and Research questions
1.2.1 Research Objectives
The broad objective of this research was to examine the relationship of service quality delivery on passengers‘ satisfaction using the Bus Rapid Transit system in Accra, Ghana. The aim of this research was to empirically measure the passengers or users of the BRT satisfaction level as against the quality of service received from management of the BRT using the SERVQUAL model. Additionally, this research sought passengers‘ experiences in order give the management a clear view of the BRT system‘s customer satisfaction level. Specific aims and objectives to be achieved are the following:
1. The study seeks to find out the differences regarding perception and experiences of male and female as users of the BRT.
2. To examine the influence of service quality dimensions on passenger satisfaction under the Bus Rapid Transit system.
3. To provide a breakdown of service quality attributes for the BRT system
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CHAPTER 2: STUDY DOMAIN
2.1 Study Area
Ghana is a sovereign nation in West Africa, which gained independence from British rule on March 6th, 1957. English is the official language of the country. The 2016 population estimates stand at 28,033,000. Ghana is the second largest exporter of cocoa after Cote D‘Ivoire, the sixth exporter of gold and recently a major exporter of oil since it was discovered in commercial quantities in 2010. Ghana was declared by the World Bank into the ranks of lower middle income country as been pursued in the introduction of Single Spine Structure by past and present governments. Each day, half a million commuters‘ travel to the city of Accra to carry out professional, administrative, educational, commercial and industrial activities (World Bank, 2010).
The city of Accra is the administrative, political, and commercial capital of Ghana, West Africa with a population of above (4) four million people and a growth rate of 4.4% per annum (World Bank GEF, 2006). Accra is bedeviled with numerous challenges regarding urban mobility of its inhabitants comprising peoples of all walks of lives from one point to the other. This implies that there is a heavy demand for public transport services within the city and surrounding areas especially in terms of more vehicles on the road and the need to commute from one place to the other. Accra‘s urban sprawl has moved away from what is known as ―compact city growth‖ occasioned by high population densities with mixed land use and highly concentrated residential patterns. The Accra Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system implemented was a measure to improve public transport systems through improvement in efficiency and affordability, reduction in congestion as well as reduction in GHGs emissions within the city.
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2.2 General Public Transport Situations in Ghana
Presently, in most urban areas across the globe, there are increasing numbers of vehicles seeking to use rather limited and insufficient transportation infrastructure. This has resulted in higher degrees of congestion and an increasing trend in the magnitude of travel times experienced by most road users. In most countries of the developed world, a conscious effort is being made to understand this phenomenon to enable prescription of appropriate remedies. The urban transportation situation in most sub-saharan African nations is similarly deteriorating rapidly.
In Ghana, the modern way of public transportation system dates back to 1898 when the first rail line was erected from Takoradi to Tarkwa for the commercial exploitation of the precious gold mineral, and the first road counstructed between Accra Harbour (now Jamestown) and Dodowa to Larteh in 1905 for the export of palm fruits.
In 1927, the Accra Town Council operated bus services in Accra, Obuasi, Sekondi–Takoradi and Kumasi. However, many different governments over the years have established bus service companies such as State Transport company (STC), the Omnibus Services Authority (OSA), City Express Services (CES), Intercity State Transport Corporation (ISTC), and lately Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Ltd. for several reasons including government social responsibilities, environmental factors, energy concerns and the advancement of a well-organized mass transportation system to increase production and economic growth.
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CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..................... 21
3.1 Theory of Sustainable Transport System and Sustainability ................. 21
3.2 Theory of Customer Satisfaction .................... 21
CHAPTER 4: LITERATURE AND HYPOTHESES Overview..............26
4.1 Literature Review on Service Quality ....................... 26
4.1.1 Literature review on Customer Satisfaction ..................... 33
4.1.2 Hypotheses Formulation ................ 35
CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................ 43
5.1 Study Population and Data Collection .................... 43
5.2 Respondents Profile ................... 44
CHAPTER 6: STUDY RESULTS
6.1 Results of face-to-face Interview Overview
Thematic analysis was chosen to analyze the results of the face-to-face interview since it was qualitative research which involved a structured interview guide to solicit for opinions, viewpoints, and experiences from passengers. The analysis involved the identifying recurring patterns across the transcribed speech and audio recordings to listen to data. ―Thematic analysis is a technique for identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns (themes) within data. It classifies and defines your data set in (rich) detail‖ (Braun and Clarke, 2006, p. 6). Thematic analysis involves a step by step guide which offers flexibility, highlights similarities and differences, and it is essentially a repetitive process in classifying themes.
The ideas generated through the transcription were considered pertinent to the research to establish links and relationships between themes and the whole data set was given equal attention as well as full consideration given to repeated patterns. A total of eight face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted to give a bit of rigour to the research.
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CHAPTER 7: MAJOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
7.1 Quantitative research findings
reference(omitted)