MEASURING THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC CRISIS ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT QUALITY USER PERCEPTION

摘要

The aim of this paper is to present the results of a research, the objective of which is to measure the effects of the economic crisis on public transport quality, user satisfaction and transit demand. The present survey extends a research effort that begun in 2008, and aims to analyze the variability of users’ satisfaction within different public transport systems. The survey was conducted in Athens (Greece) from November 2012 to January 2013, during the peak of the country’s economic recession. The content of the questionnaire that was used for the needs of the survey was similar to the respective one of 2008, so that the results could be comparable. The passengers were asked to rate how important a series of metro and bus attributes are, their level of satisfaction with these attributes, their overall satisfaction for the main public transport operator they use and the increase/decrease of their individual demand for public transport. A factor analysis was first performed in order to identify potential common patterns between the individual importance attributes. Ordered logit models were then estimated with the overall satisfaction as a response variable. The results of the analysis are then compared with the findings of the earlier (pre-crisis) research, revealing interesting adaptations in the users’ perception of the public transport operators’ quality. Moreover, a hybrid choice and latent variable model was estimated, aiming to explore the overall satisfaction of the respondents. Finally, a demand model was developed revealing the characteristics that led to the increase (or decrease) of the public transit demand in the last five years.