Passengers’ perspective of bus service quality in Bangkok: an ordered probabilistic modeling approach

Bus services provided by the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) can be plausibly viewed as a viable solution to the traffic congestion problem in Bangkok. Given the fact that the service has recently been enhanced with the ISO 9001: 2000 quality management system, it is still questionable if the system is acceptable from passengers’ viewpoints and how they perceive the bus service operations. In addition, measures of effectiveness to be used during the planning process have not been conclusively established for describing bus quality of service in terms of passengers’ perspective. These issues could lead to a poor transit planning and inefficient transit operation. In this study, a methodology was developed to investigate whether the current procedures outlined in the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) and the Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual can be applicable and transferred to Bangkok area. A quality of service measure was proposed based on the probabilistic models developed in the present study, utilizing both observational data as well as travel survey information. The findings of this research are expected to further the understanding of passengers’ perspective of bus service quality and the proposed quality of service measure can be potentially applied in transit planning as well as operation and management.