Public Transportation Quality of Service: Factors, Models, and Applications

Public Transportation Quality of Service: Factors, Models, and Applications is the first book to help researchers better understand the contributing factors that can improve public transportation perception among users. The book compiles in one place metrics currently dispersed in journal articles, government publications and book chapters. It critically analyzes currently available modeling methodologies such as the Ordered Logit/Probit model and Models of Structural Equations, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. The book addresses models of desired quality, including the views of users and non-users, discussing the gap between desired and perceived quality.

The book also examines data mining approaches such as decision trees and neural networks, showing how to involve the public in the decision-making process to create policies that encourage public transport demand. Measuring passenger’s views on public transportation is of critical concern to promote wider transit use in cities around the world.

Includes insights from both theoretical and practical points of view for both researchers and practitionersFeatures case studies in each chapter that apply models discussedHelps readers develop and design their own studies for measuring quality of serviceShows how to include perceived quality in contractsProvides access to the survey formulas and data to better enable implementation of models

1. Introduction 2. How to study the perceived quality in public transport 3. Public participation techniques and choice of variables 4. Surveys 5. Geo-social differences in the perception of quality 6. Most basic methods 7. Methods based on random utility theory 8. Structural Equations Models 9. Data mining approaches 10. Beyond perceived quality: desired quality 11. Inclusion of quality criteria in public transport service contracts