Service quality of public road passenger transport in Thailand

Abstract

     The service quality of public road passenger transport in Thailand was investigated. The research applied a modified SERVQUAL approach to evaluate service quality. The modified SERVQUAL model consisted of five dimensions-1) tangibility, 2) reliability, 3) responsiveness, 4) assurance, and 5) access-using 17 attribute that expressed expectations and perceptions of service quality. This research used a questionnaire to acquire 2,729 usable samples by stratified sampling from 16large provinces in six regions in Thailand. The results showed the biggest gap was the assurance dimension followed by the access and tangibility dimensions, respectively; at the .01 significance level, while tangibility was the most influential dimension affecting perceived service quality followed by the assurance and reliability dimensions, respectively at the .01 significance level. The results indicated that perceived service quality for passengers in both the Bangkok metropolitan area and the East region had the same level of poor perceived service quality that definitely required improvement. The study indicated that the on-board security attribute contributed to the service quality of passenger transport followed by staff courtesy and knowledge, and bus driver's' ability; respectively. Finally; the results could be used to identify the key attribute in each region that should be improved with respect to the modified SERVQUAL model in Thailand.