Factors Influencing the Service Quality Expectations of Bus Passengers: Evidence from a Suburban Bus Route in Sri Lanka

The decline in public transportation usage in Sri Lanka, due to inadequate service quality, reflects significant challenges for suburban mobility. Against this background, this study investigates the factors influencing bus passengers' service quality expectations on the Mawanella-Rambukkana bus route, providing insights into the need of improving public transport services at suburban levels. The existing literature indicates the key service attributes such as the ticket price, waiting time, and environmental conditions that significantly affect passenger satisfaction. However, there is a gap in understanding these factors in suburban contexts, particularly gender-specific preferences in Sri Lanka. A conjoint analysis was conducted to evaluate six critical service quality attributes: walking time, waiting time, ticket price, travel time, in-bus environment, and bus stop environment. The data was collected from 400 passengers, including 197 males and 203 females, using a structured questionnaire. The utility estimates and relative importance scores quantified the impact of each attribute. The study revealed a significant set of gender differences in service quality priorities. The ticket price emerged as the most crucial factor for both genders, with a slightly higher importance for the females (27.125) than the males (26.807). The males valued the bus stop environment (19.189) more than the females (19.065), while the females prioritized the in-bus environment (17.822) more than the males (17.044). The waiting time was more critical for the males (14.485) compared to the females (13.981), while walking time and travel time were of lower importance for both genders. The findings underscore the need for certain public transport actions such as targeted improvements in fare affordability, waiting times, and environmental conditions to enhance passenger satisfaction. The study addresses thus an existing literature gap by focusing on suburban bus passengers and providing gender-specific insights, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the public transport service quality experienced by the people of Sri Lanka. KEYWORDS: Service quality, passenger expectations, conjoint analysis, gender difference, suburban mobility, ticket price.