Assessing the Urban and Rural Stage Bus Services Disparities in Peninsula Malaysia

Abstract

Disparities between services and goods provision have been the concerns of various regional development proponents. Among the gaps that needed to be addressed by regional policies and initiatives were accessibility and mobility levels between urbanites and the rural population. This study reports on the differences of the urban versus rural bus services. For this purpose, this study extends the exploration of approximately 48 routes within selected urban and regional settlements in Peninsula Malaysia, using a quantitative traffic engineering measure known as Level of Service standards or LOS. Three performance measures, namely fixed-route hour of service, fixed-route service frequency and passenger-load threshold were evaluated in determining the existence and extent of such disparities. The passengers’ satisfaction and preference survey were conducted to complement some qualitative explanations left void by the LOS evaluation. Methods of on-board face to face intercept survey and adoption of Geographical Information System (GIS) /Global Positioning System (GPS) were deployed in the collection of primary data. More than 1600 survey forms were distributed, but after collection and data cleaning, only a total of 1130 were analysed. Findings of the study supported and confirmed the existence of such spatial imbalances of services provision. They also further accentuated that many developing nations’ rural settlements were indeed stigmatised by a lower level of stage bus services (average at LOS D) compared to those enjoyed by the urbanites (average services at LOS C).

Evaluation of Level of Service (Los) on Routes of Smart Bus in Kajang, Selangor

“…Table 2 summarises each of the LOS indicators for this attribute. Ponrahono et al (2015); Transportation Research Board (2013); Yaakub & Napiah (2011) Fixed hours of service Table 3 below summarises the LOS indicator for hours of service. Ponrahono et al (2015);Transportation Research Board (2013;Yaakub & Napiah (2011) Passenger thresholds…”

“…The data were collected for three days on weekdays and one day during a weekend. Ponrahono et al (2015); Napiah, Kamaruddin, & Suwardo (2011) Bus speed According to Ponrahono et al (2016), bus speed is known as an acceptable indicator of how a bus deals with the traffic conditions along the designated routes. Table 6 shows the summary of LOS for the bus speed indicator.…”

“…The on-board survey was considered the most appropriate for studying the trip characteristics of passengers, demographics, and the attitude of passengers related to the service provided to them (CJI Research Corporation, 2016;Ponrahono et al, 2015). In this study, the on-board survey was employed to gain data on the frequency of service, speed of bus, and the arrival and departure time for the buses to arrive at the stop points for the analysis of LOS (Haron & Tahir, 2018;Napiah et al, 2011).…”

“…The LOS measurements were used to measure the buses' service quality from the perspectives of the actual passengers who ride the buses. Results from the assessment may be used to aspire improvement of the service delivery of the SMART buses for current and future passengers (Ponrahono et al, 2015). This study aimed to determine the service quality performance of SMART buses of selected routes in Kajang, Selangor.…”

An Analysis of Re Gional Imbalances in Iran: A Case Study of North Coastal Areas

“…Among the issues that need to be addressed by regional initiatives and policies are accessibility and mobility levels between urban and rural populations (Ponrahono et al, 2015).…”