Analysis of effects of prolonged travel delay on public bus operators' profit margin in metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examines the effects of uncertain travel time on public bus operators' monthly returns or profit margin in metropolitan Lagos, Nigeria. Importantly, the study relied on four objectives to achieve its purpose, and these are to; evaluate the demographic profile of public bus drivers; determine the daily cost of operating the buses and the percentage of bus returns spent on bus maintenance; analyze the bus running time and the associated cost attached to prolonged bus operations, and determine the number of trips made and lose daily due to prolonged journey time in metropolitan Lagos. The study relied on a survey research design and the use of primary data, which is derived from a questionnaire instrument administered at the three study locations. Further, the combination of clustered, stratified, and simple random sampling techniques was used while respondents (bus operators/drivers) were selected at different bus stop segments for questionnaire administration. The statistical correlation technique from the SPSS software was used for data relationship analysis, while descriptive tools were utilized for the presentation of the results. Furthermore, the severity of the problems encountered by bus operators shows that loss of daily revenue (52.9%) is the highest, followed by loss of bus trips (35.4%), and constant vehicle breakdown (11.7%). This poses a significant challenge to their business success as it grossly reduces their bus return and monthly profit margin. The study concluded that prolonged bus journey time has a negative socio-economic impact on the Intra-City public bus operators in metropolitan Lagos. Therefore, recommends among others: road highway expansion; provision of extended bus stop lay-bys, BRT corridor extension to other major highways, traffic agents' commitment and patriotism, and intensive enforcement of laws prohibiting bus stop obstructions by public bus drivers.