This study, which is a deviation from the usual practice of using SERVQUAL or an adaptedversion thereof, uses McKnight, Pagano and Paaswell’s (1986) service quality dimensions,namely reliability; extent of service; comfort; safety; and affordability (RECSA) and structuralequation modelling to determine commuters’ perception of public bus service quality in amajor city in South Africa. The RECSA model was adapted and fitted to the data collectedfrom a convenience sample of bus commuters in Johannesburg, using structural equationmodelling. It was ascertained that reliability, service, comfort and safety influenced thepublic bus commuters’ perception of the overall service quality. The implications of theaforementioned findings for providers of public bus services are explained.

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Exploring public bus service quality in South Africa: A structural equation modelling approach

............................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................. iii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Table of

A Model for Improving the Strategic Measurement and management of Policing: The Police Organisational Performance Index (POPI)

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1996.

Toward a positioning strategy for transit services in metropolitan San Juan

65 In view of the recent successes of social marketing in the various areas within the public, nonprofit sector, this study considers public transit as a socially marketable concept. The study contends that although service marketing is also important for the transit industry, there is a greater need for emphasizing the social marketing of transit. It is argued that social marketing of transit will have to deviate from the conventional service marketing approach in the key areas of market identification and segmentation, communication, distribution, and consideration of price. Introduction The purpose of this study is to show that the social marketing approach can be a useful mechanism for reviving the deteriorating public transit market. Although current transit service marketing practices utilize some aspects of the social marketing approach, public transit is now essentially marketed as a service rather than a socially desirable concept. Based or this assertion, the study considers public transit in the framework of social marketing, or concept marketing approach, and provides some recommendations for the future. It is ex-

/pdf/public-transit-in-the-social-marketing-framework-3cqrp8dztw.pdf

Public Transit in the Social Marketing Framework

Public transit systems in the United States and elsewhere are often poorly marketed and thus poorly regarded by users and non-users alike. Several forces, including environmentalism, frustration with the costs of traffic congestion and increasingly higher demands on government sector performance are combining to provide transit systems with an opportunity to reform their image and play a larger role in shaping metropolitan areas. Given this background, marketing will be an important contributor in shaping transit's future. Sound transit marketing relies on three key principles, (a) an understanding of the breadth of the task, (b) a focus on maintaining existing ridership, developing new ridership and fostering a positive public image for the system and (c) a means of evaluating the results of marketing efforts to organize future agency planning. Each of these issues is addressed in this work and is then applied to the context of San Juan, Puerto Rico. San Juan, in the midst of a $1.3 billion dollar investment for its first modern rail transit system, faces a number of marketing related challenges, though few are unique. The challenges include transit's poor image and the technical difficulty in ensuring the integration of several transit modes for seamless service. This research addresses the first of these challenges, providing strategies to change and manage the image of transit. Thesis Supervisor: Joseph F. Coughlin Title: Principal Research Associate

Transit marketing : strategies for San Juan, Puerto Rico

The goal of this book is to examine the role marketing can play in assisting transit agencies to cope with providing a public service in a time of limited public resources. The state of the art of transit marketing in today's difficult environment is examined drawing upon research studies, programs, and management practices in use in the United States and abroad. As this book explains, the marketing of transit services extends far beyond promotional activities. To sell transit, an agency must develop a user orientation, which means that marketing implications are an integral aspect of decisions ranging from service design and pricing to quality control and strategic planning.

Jeg Bateson

Papers

Marketing Public Transit: A Strategic Approach