Definition and measurement of quality of service for local public transport management

Following in the footsteps of the quality revolution in manufacturing industry, service businesses are awakening to the need for quality management processes. In the U.K., local public transport undertakings are facing a future in private ownership and operating in a deregulated market place. The need to maintain market share and increase profitability has focused attention on quality of service. The paper concentrates on the definition and measurement components of quality management processes for local public transport services. Existing methods based on passengers’ waiting times, lost mileage, expanded sets of measures and indices are reviewed. It is concluded that a single measure is unlikely to encompass all aspects of quality of service. Similarly, indices which collapse measures of different attributes of quality of service into a single abstract value appear to have limited appeal. Instead, a limited set of quality of service attributes can be defined, based on local operating circumstances and the goals and objectives of local interest groups. Both relevant performance measures, and psychometric measures, can be selected as indicators of the defined set of quality of service attributes. The application of a given set of quality of service indicators would then involve a comparison of measured values across time.