Service Quality and Passengers’ Loyalty of Public Transportation Companies

Abstract

This study examined service quality and passengers’ loyalty of public transportation companies. It was carried out to determine the effects of passengers’ safety, passengers’ comfort, drivers’ competence, travel time and vehicle cleanliness on passengers’ loyalty of public transportation companies. The study adopted cross-sectional survey research design. Primary data were obtained from 228 passengers of public road transportation companies using an adapted structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics while multiple linear regression was adopted to test the hypotheses of the study with the aid of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 23) software. The findings of the study revealed that passengers’ safety, passengers’ comfort, drivers’ competence and vehicle cleanliness had significant positive effects on passengers’ loyalty of public transportation companies, while travel time had a non-significant effect on passengers’ loyalty in this regard. Therefore, the study concluded that, to a large extent, service quality has a significant positive influence on passengers’ loyalty of public transportation companies. Practical implications and suggestions for further studies were made consequently.