Gender and Age Do Matter: Exploring the Effect of Passengers’ Gender and Age on the Perception of Light Rail Transit Service Quality in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Abstract

Light rail transit (LRT) is a sustainable transportation mode that ensures sustainable environmental, economic, and social development. Generally, the rate of public transportation usage in many parts of the world remains low compared to private vehicles. There is a need to understand passengers’ perception of public transportation service quality to enhance passenger satisfaction and increase ridership. Thus, this study used the Kuala Lumpur LRT service as a case study to investigate the effect of a passenger’s gender and age on their perception of the LRT service quality and their overall satisfaction. This survey involved 417 respondents. The outcome of factor analysis indicated that eight factors—i.e., signage, comfort, speediness, safety, ticketing service, facilities, staff service, and provision of information—influenced passenger satisfaction. The results of the Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis test indicated that the factors influencing passenger satisfaction significantly varied across a passenger’s gender and age. A more in-depth and comprehensive analysis using the ordered logit model and segmentation approach proved that provision of information, comfort, staff service, and facilities were critical determiners of passenger satisfaction in most segments. Safety factors and ticketing services had no impact on overall passenger satisfaction. The findings of this research could help LRT service providers, researchers, and policymakers formulate effective strategies for enhancing passenger satisfaction and increase the ridership for LRT services.

Sex Disparity in Satisfaction and Loyalty towards Urban Rail Transit: A Survey of Light Rail Transit (LRT) Passengers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

“…In this study, the satisfied passengers may have a higher tendency to be loyal by reusing the LRT services in the future and recommending them to others. This finding is similar to other previous works in the transportation domain [19], [27]- [31].…”

The Influence of Service Quality on User’s Perceived Satisfaction with Light Rail Transit Service in Klang Valley, Malaysia

“…This approach is the most recommended technique, and previous studies, especially transport studies, often used this approach [64,86,87]. This study retained the eigenvalues ≥ 1 [25,88,89]. Eigenvalues are the variances of variables, each of which uses a specific factor to explain it.…”

“…The significant effect of the standard of public transportation services on user perceptions of satisfaction has recently been evidenced in the numerous case studies in the transport-focused literature, which has featured Malaysia [9,25,26], the Philippines [27,28], Indonesia [29,30], and Thailand [31,32]. The models that have been developed from previous studies to study the public transport user's perceived satisfaction mainly employed the conventional methodologies including the structural equation model [9,24,33,34], logit model [35,36], and the probit model [37][38][39].…”

The Impact of Public Bus Service Quality on the Users’ Satisfaction: Evidence from a Developing Asian City

“…The aim is in line with the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 11) on sustainable cities (access to transport and expanded public transport).Currently, the usage of public buses is only 20% which is relatively low in comparison with the target aimed by Malaysia's National Transport Policy (NTP) 2019-2030 of 40% public transport by the end of 2030. The low ridership in public transport is associated with the convenience gained in private transport such as flexibility, comfort, privacy, and speed (Ibrahim et al, 2021). Thompson and Schofield (2007) mentioned that negative perception leads to unsatisfied users commuting using public buses.…”