SERVICE QUALITY AND PASSENGER SATISFACTION IN INTERCITY TRANSPORT OPERATION IN AKURE, ONDO STATE

Abstract

Regardless of the vital role that intra urban transportation play in any urban area, their services are frequently insufficient to meet passengers demand and services for their daily commuting. The study assessed the service quality and passengers satisfaction of intercity transport operation in Akure. The main objectives are to identify the nature of service rendered by the operators, identify the route they ply and the reason for plying the route, the quality of service provided by the operators, and the level of satisfaction of passengers to the quality of service provided by the operators. The research employed the use of primary data sourced through the use of structured questionnaire administered to passengers and focus group discussion with drivers. Five points likert scale, weighted mean, ranking, and Gap score were used to achieve the set objectives while Chi square and spearman rank correlation were employed for data analysis. It was revealed that the operators ply the same route (Akure-Ondo-ijebu ode expressway), because its shorter compared to other routes. Also the quality of service of sunshine express is higher than freeman transport because passengers felt highly satisfied with all the service quality attribute of sunshine express while freeman transport is of lower service quality to passengers, results showed that passengers are not satisfied with an attribute which is bus availability and this reason is a determinant for good service quality. The significance level (p.value) of 0.00 is less than 0.05.Also, the correlation coefficient of 0.919 signifies a positive and strong correlation. The study revealed that there is a statistical significant relationship between passengers’ satisfaction and service quality. Based on the findings, the study recommends that Freeman transport should use user-friendly printed material including Trip timetables, posters, brochures and also media for the public to market and advertise their company.