Chapter I

Introduction

I. Background of the Study

Throughout the 19th century until the extant period of time, the developments of public

transportation are constantly modify and ameliorate to meet the demand intended for the

satisfactory of passengers. Nowadays, transportation is one of the fundamental mean of living

in this modernize world. It is essential for multiple reasons that encompass the travel,

commercial, economic activity and mobility. There are a range of different types of transport

available to public; the type people choose to use will depend on the purpose for travelling,

length of the journey and anyone you may be travelling with. The utmost dominant modes of

transport are aviation, ship and land transport such as the bus transportation.

Commuting has always been a part of every person's life. Whether you are a student,

worker, married or single, there will always be a time that you need to commute. Almost all

people travel to get to their destinations because of a certain concern while others do it for

adventure, pleasure, or past time. With the increasing rate of negative occurrences that are

associated with travelling, expeditions uncontrollably de-escalates. Good thing in the 21st

century, people have broad options on the modes of transportation to choose from. With the

advancement of our technology, public vehicles are now designed ergonomically and more

practical. However, there are some certain accidents referring to transportation that could not

be controlled, which leaves the decision to passengers on what kind of vehicle they would most

likely to ride.

1
 Buses are one of the most practical and accessible vehicles that are designed hefty to

carry numerous passengers, which makes it one of the safest way to travel. Not only it avoids

the cost and hassle of parking, but it also saves you a lot of money because of the affordability

of bus fares which fits well to the economy.

Matyas (2015) stated that the total number of bus occupant casualties is small in the

casualty statistics of road accidents compared to cars, motorcycles, and etc. However, this does

not end the preference of passengers on bust transports. Comfort will always be one of their

options on their preference

People tend to have their bus choice depending on their comfort. But not all can afford

expensive bus fare that will guaranty their comfort. Some choose depending on the

affordability, some choose according to the availability on a specific time that they will travel,

some choose bus companies that will sure guaranty their satisfaction, most specifically their

comfort during the traveling period.

Public transport companies are in general concerned with the travels pattern, travel

behavior, ways to increase ridership etc. Many times it is necessary to understand the changes

in travel behavior due to changes in the operating systems in such it also essential to conduct

passengers’ survey that the researcher will carry out.

It is important to understand what drives customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction

towards public transport, so that the researchers can help in designing an attractive and

marketable public transport.

II. Statement of the Problem

2
 The study will focus on the bus transport as preference of passengers in Bicol region.

Furthermore, it is to identify the selected bus liners available in Naga City.

Specifically, the study will seek to answer the following questions:

1. What are the reasons for choosing bus as mean of transport?

2. What are the common problems that the passengers encounter in a bus transport?

3. What is the percentage of passengers who are riding a bus regularly? What is the

percentage for Female, Male, Students, Senior Citizen and Persons with Disabilities?

III. Scope and Delimitation

The main purpose of the study is to provide information regarding why passengers

prefer bus transportation as mean of transportation.

The researchers limited the study to 50 passengers at Bicol Central Station at Ninoy and

Cory Ave. Naga City, Camarines Sur. Each of the respondents will be given a survey

questionnaire to answer. The data gathering phase will start in Jan. 10-15, 2017.

In this research, bus drivers/conductors, barkers and storekeeper in the bus terminal

were excluded. The research study will focus on the passengers in bus transport of Naga City.

IV. Significance of the Study

The result of this study will be beneficial to:

To Passengers/Travelers. It will help be beneficial to passengers/travels by providing

information of the advantages of a bus transport.

3
To Transportation Companies/Bus Operators. This research study will serve as a guide in

giving additional information to different transportation companies in managing their amenities

and service offerings to people. Likewise improve their services to meet the demand and the

general norm of the passengers.

To Local Government. The knowledge achieved in this study will help the improvement of the

bus terminal thus might help in aggregating tourism and economy of the city.

To Future Researchers. This study, will serve as a guide to conduct further study on the

preference of passengers.

4
 End Notes

Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transport_bus_service

Retrieved from: http://www.unece.org:8080/fileadmin/DAM/trans/doc/2015/wp29grsg/GRSG-

109-26e.pdf

Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_in_the_Philippines

Retrieved from: http://mashable.com/category/transportation/

Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_in_the_Philippines

Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transport

5
 Chapter II

Review of Related Literature and Study

This part of the study will be discussing the relevant literature connected with the

present study.

Review of Literature

Tran and Kleiner (2005) described public transportation as a conveyance that provides

continuing general or special transportation to the public: such as trolleys, busses, subways, rail

and ferry boats. Public transportation plays a significant role as it improves the quality of our

day to day life by expediting traffic saves money and creates new jobs.

Anable et al. (2005) mentioned that public transport should become part of a solution

for sustainable transport in the future. In order to keep and attract more passengers, public

transport must to have high service quality to satisfy and fulfill wide range of different

customer’s needs.

R. Kyte (2011) cited that the needs to increase the capacity of bus transport and make it

more complaisant to operate and answer the problems of societal congestions and bus

transportation problem will be recognized. Though private bus provides high capacity of

services, the fare is pricey that not everyone can afford. Many passengers choose buses having

low cost but high capacity in transporting making the public transport system increased. Things

6
considering the public transportation and changes affected in the provisioning of bus

transportation services will make it more effective, helpful, cooperative and efficient.

D. Csikos and G. Currie (2008) mentioned that the positive relationship between transit

service frequency and quality with ridership and passenger arrival behavior at stations.

Specifically, more frequent and more reliable service sees more passengers arriving closer to

the next scheduled trip, whereas less reliable, less frequent service sees more passengers

waiting longer at stops. Arrival patterns are also more predictable for peak period commuter

services vs. mid‐day, off‐peak services.

Parasuraman et al. (1988) defined quality as adherence to customer specifications which

sought to meet the criteria that customers want. Measuring the quality of service is important

to ensure that customers continue to visit the business for repeat purchases. In the transport

business principles apply. If the customer is satisfied with the performance of the bus, the

customer will return and use the same bus. Also likely customers will continue to use the bus

service which she feels will satisfy their needs.

Greene and Wegener (1997) said that in order to prevent more problems caused by this

increase in motorization, it is highly recommended by many researchers as well as public

decision makers to provide an attractive public transport service as an alternative transport

mode in many cities.

Disney (1998) quoted that friendliness of the personnel especially bus driver behavior in

relation to service frequency has an impact on customer satisfaction. Friendliness behavior of

the bus driver can satisfy customers by developing better communication and knowledge of its

customers’ needs.

7
Related Studies

UK Department for Transport (2003) has conducted studies regarding customer need in

public transport. High frequency of service, services that are reliable and fares that offer value

for money are revealed as important needs of UK public transport users. The bus also has to

have a broad range of destinations to fulfill travel demand of customer. In this report, the users

also reported about the importance of understandable time table information in bus stop and in

local newspaper in order to make them aware of the existence of the service. Simple ticketing

arrangement is also important in order to make them use public transport.

Gatersleben and Uzzell (2007) conducted survey among daily commuters of Surrey

University’s employees. The results revealed that commuting by car as well as by public

transport can be stressful because of delays caused by the traffic volume. Public transport was

perceived as unpleasant and public transport users expressed a more negative attitude toward

their daily commute then users of other transport modes. The negative attitudes were shown to

be related to stress as well as boredom caused by delays and waiting time.

Chavez and Palmiano (2013) exposed that companies with fewer units of buses have a

higher administrative cost per unit of bus than larger companies. Moreover, operating cost per

kilometer of urban buses is more expensive than that of provincial buses.

Budiono (2009) conducted several studies and reviewed that the preference of using car

as public transport still could not compete with the attractiveness of private car or motorcycle,

such as low flexibility, no direct access, longer travel time, and unsafe when traveling with

public transport.

8
 Dinas Perhubungan (2007) represented that in Jakarta, it has a high number of car that

causes high traffic congestion since the road users are composed of 43% wheel vehicles and

57% motor cycles. Also, 98% of the road users are private vehicles that accommodate 44% of

the total travel demand, 2% are public transport users that serve 53% of the travel demand.

Gatersleben and Uzzell (2007) also commented that public transport is stressful due to

unpredictability and longer travel times. This study also acknowledges some sources of pleasure

for public transport users. Attributes relating to pleasurable feelings were as the possibility to

read during the trip, to listen to music, to interact with other people, and to look at the passing

scenery.

Anderson et al. (2007) observed that what affect customers’ satisfaction are the

operation failures of the services such as delay of transportation. This creates bias to

customers, resulting in dissatisfaction.

9
 End Notes

“Managing for excellence in public transportation” by Toan Tran and Brian H. Kleiner (2005)

Retrieved

from:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242337547_Managing_for_excellence_in_public

_transportation

“An Evidence Base Review of Public Attitudes to Climate Change and Transport Behavior” by

Dr. Jillian Anable (2005) Retrieved from: http://www.china-

up.com:8080/international/case/case/1457.pdf

“Service Quality” by Parasuraman (1988) Retrieved from:

http://old.libqual.org/documents/admin/parsusbib.pdf

“Sustainable Transport” by Greene and Wegener (1997) Retrieved from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222489586_Sustainable_transport

“The Future of Air Transport” by UK Department for Transport (2003) Retrieved from:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-future-of-air-transport

10
“Customer Satisfaction In Public Bus Transport” by O Budiono Retrieved from: http://www.diva-

portal.org/smash/get/diva2:232419/fulltext01

Retrieved from: http://tripp.iitd.ernet.in/publications/paper/planning/mukti_ijtm06.pdf

Retrieved from: http://www.vtpi.org/sus_iss.pdf

Retrieved from: http://thescipub.com/PDF/ajebasp.2014.34.41.pdf

Retrieved from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263932765_Passengers_Preference_and_Satisfaction

_of_Public_Transport_in_Malaysia

“Modelling Public Transport Passenger Flows in the Era of Intelliget Transport System”

Retrieved from: https://books.google.com.ph/books?

id=DDmFCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA283&lpg=PA283&dq=D.+Csikos+and+G.

+Currie+(2008)&source=bl&ots=y3vIddw925&sig=4iW2OpRg0JY_-

fWNxUSbTW2UzSY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjawLHkofDQAhUCwLwKHQ9jAqoQ6AEIGDAA#

v=onepage&q=D.%20Csikos%20and%20G.%20Currie%20(2008)&f=false

“The Psychology of Sustainable Transport” by Gatersleben and Uzzell (2007) Retrieved from:

https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-25/edition-9/psychology-sustainable-transport

11
Synthesis of the State-of-the-Art

Synthesis of the many related literature and studies on bus transport as

preference of passenger.

The study of Tran, Kleiner (2000), Anable (2005), Kyle (2011) and Green (1997)

are closely related in terms of the importance in the day today activity of people, sustainability

of transport and traffic volume.

The study of P. Csikos, G. Currie (2008), Parasuraman (1988) and Disney (1988)

are similar along quality and friendliness of bus drivers for the satisfaction of passengers.

However, some study contradicts on these opinions and concluded that public

transportation is stressful because of the delay services caused by traffic volume and failure of

their services as shown in the study of Gatersleben, Uzzel, Anderson (2007). While the study of

Budiono (2009) focused on the use of private car for daily transport.

12
 This related studies and literature on the importance of public transport qualities

of busses, drivers, and preference on the use of private cars will bridge the gap in the study on

Bus Transport as Preference of Passengers.

Theory of Science

The field of Humanities is the study of the human mind as a subject (Collin &

Køppe, 2003). To understand the underlying causes of a phenomenon it is very vital within the

theoretical framework of a humanistic project to keep in mind that it is not adequate to solely

describe a phenomenon; you have to first understand the phenomenon, such as social

behaviour. In this project we have been studying behaviour of passengers based on the

hypothesis that passengers behave on the basis of social and cultural frameworks, including

norms. When reviewing the early stages of this project, we found it interesting to understand

the public in public transportation, but have since decreased our problem field to focus on a

concrete discipline, in which we can conduct reliable observations of passengers in order to

understand how they behave in public transportation. Through the use of psychology, we have

been observing the behaviour and culture of passengers, in order to understand why

passengers behave as they do in certain cultural matters. In this project, there were four

people observing, thus it has been vital that the observations are intersubjective1 to maintain

13
reliability. According to Collin & Køppe intersubjectivity is when you can do the same

experiment several times and get the similar result every time. This is a method that is very

common in nature sciences (Collin & Køppe, 2003). Consequently, this project enables the use

of hermeneutic as the main theory of interpretation where the theoretical aspect is concerned.

Hermeneutic is a scientific method about the understanding of a phenomenon. There is an

emphasis on expression2 (Collin & Køppe, 2003), and how an internal feeling, for instance, can

be expressed. Therefore, it is science that strives to understand human action and how inner

feelings are conveyed. Where this project is concerned, the theories are used to justify our

observations on behaviour in public transport to broaden our understanding of why passengers

behave as they do. The hermeneutic aspect lies within the fact that in order to further broaden

the understanding of social behaviour, it is imperative to have an understanding of the

phenomenon in a social context, thus why in this project the theories are derived from the field

of psychology and anthropology as well as used terminology from the respective fields to

interpret the behaviour of passengers in its entirety. Entirety is of great significance when using

hermeneutics. Entirety is represented in the hermeneutic circle3, where you go back and forth

between understanding concepts and understanding a phenomena in it is entirety (Collin &

Køppe, 2003). In proportion to this project, we have used our observations to trace patterns in

public transport and applied theories to understand the patterns in a social and cultural context.

With regard to the scientific aspect of our observations, adequate and false knowledge are

incorporated into the situation of our research for the reason that our observations have been

conducted in both London and Copenhagen. We chose to observe London in order to obtain

more adequate knowledge to observe passengers in Copenhagen. Without this prior adequate

knowledge of social behaviour in London, the observation data collected in Copenhagen would

have proven to be false as the observation of patterns would not have been noticed. Through

14
observations in London, we were able to clearly notice the behaviour between the London

passengers and Copenhagen passengers. Taking this into consideration, we have chosen not to

compare the social behaviour of passengers in the respective cities As explained in the section

on qualitative research, our methodological approach on the observations and the

epistemological details concerning reliability and validity will further be discussed in the

analytical discussion.

Social Psychology Theory

This project is concerned with seeking general patterns in people’s behaviour

when being in the public transportation system, and thus it is essential to look into social

psychology. The connection between social psychology and the observations the group has

conducted will be elaborated further on in the project, yet it is of great importance to make a

short introduction of what social psychology entails before applying the theoretical aspects to

this specific project. 5.1 In-group/Out-group It is essential to make a clear distinction of who

are considered to be part of in-group and out-group so that the terms will not lead to any

misunderstandings. In addition it is important to be aware of the fact that being part of one of

the groups, does not exclude you from being part of the other. In fact it is most common that

people interact with both groups in the sense that many different people influence us as

individuals during our lifetimes. In-group consists of people that have a strong sense of

belonging, it is people that you can identify with and that you somewhat feel similar to. The

people that are part of the in-group are the ones where mutual trust exists. It is people you

would more or less do everything to protect and maintain (Bertelsen, 2008). It is rather

complicated to make clear distinctions and give explicit examples on whom can become part of

your in-group since in theory everybody can become part of it at some point, seeing that it

relies on the connection and relationship you have to the people in your every-day life.

15
Therefore, it can range all the way from family to colleagues and people you meet coincidently.

The people who will be considered to be a part of your out-group(s) range much wider than

those from your in-group. These people also influence your life, one way or another. They are

however, not the ones you will consider to be closest to. Despite the fact that these people are

not close to you, you still might share common interests, such as education, job, mutual friends

etc. (Bertelsen, 2008). It is possibly, and perhaps most likely, that a person is part of more than

one group; in-group as well as out-group, seeing that the people we engage with 19 20 might

be from different parts of our life. An example hereof could be that one in-group could consist

of family members, whereas another in-group could consist of your high-school friends. This

applies for out-groups as well where an example could be one out-group consisting of you and

your colleagues, and another out-group can, for example, consist of people you go to school

with. An important aspect when looking at different groups relies on how people engage with

people either from your in-group or out-group, that need to be a part of your life and that you

in one way or another can relate to and have things in common with. The reason why this

distinction is of high importance is because people can be within a group without it being either

an in- or an out-group. Being in a public sphere as, for instance a bus or a train, leads to the

inclination that you have something in common with all the other passengers since you are

using the same bus or train at the same time. All passengers can be considered to be a group,

however, this does not lead to the fact that the other passengers are considered to be part of

your out-group. In addition it is possible to be a part of all the three different kinds of groups at

the same time; you are a passenger in a bus and are thus in a group with all the other

passengers, but at the same time you are sitting together with a person from your school and

your best friend, meaning you are ultimately in company with people from both your in- and

out-group (Bertelsen, 2008).

16
Public and Social Order – Role Theory

When examining and analysing the behaviour of people in the public

transportation, not only do we want to look at their individual social routines, but also look for

patterns in their behaviour as well as ground rules that occur when interacting with other

people. This way we can gain insight into the patterns of ‘social order’: “These variously

motivated and variously functioning patterns of actual behavior, these routines associated with

ground rules, together constitute what might be called a “social order.”” (Goffman, 2010: ixx).

A combination of unwritten rules and adapted personal behaviour are what make up the social

order - people interact with other people and employ social routines and patterned adaptations

to the rules. What this project will focus on is the social order in the public. Public order is

interesting when it comes to unacquainted interactions of face-to-face contacts. Order and

social norms are then an unspoken matter. Role theory is another aspect worth mentioning

when dealing with social behaviour in the public transportation system. It focuses on

passengers and their behaviours. “Role theory, then is a science concerned with the study of

behaviors that are characteristic of persons within contexts and with various processes that

presumably produce, explain, or are affected by those behaviors.” (Biddle, 1979: 4, original

bold). The project will therefore look into how people act, explore the reasons for their

behaviour and what might lies behind it. In short, it will explore the cause and effect of roles

and behaviours (Goffman, 2010 and Biddle, 1979). People have different roles in society and

one can argue that most roles are ‘active’ such as a role in a certain job that is active from day

to day. For example, in busses the role a person takes on is also different from the person next

to them, but in general this role seems more ‘passive’: An unconscious role that you take on

and leave behind as soon as you get off the bus: “[…] we are probably unaware of our role

behaviors.” (Biddle, 1979: 5). Role behaviour is also a matter of expectations: People behave a

17
certain way because of other people’s expectations or because of their own expectations and

can then enforce these behaviours on others. Behaviour can then be a result of people ending

in a certain position in a particular context created by other people or the surrounding

environment. For example, it could be the bus itself that determines how we behave. When

dealing with social behaviour in the public and examining the context of passengers, we need to

look at the differences in behaviour between people. Our behaviour is part of our identity,

however we are able to adjust it consciously or unconsciously in order to adapt to other people

and different situations. This creates a variety of behaviours and it becomes clear that not a lot

needs to happen before people change their behaviour. This indicates that it is necessary to

observe a person for a longer period of time in order to determine if 25 26 a person is behaving

‘normally’ or abnormally5 when trying to detect a pattern. If a person behaves in an

unacceptable manner (already here we know/determine what kind of behaviour is appropriate)

in, for example, a bus someone might react to certain behaviour or confront the passenger

about the behaviour demonstrated. It seems that the majority of people share the same

perception of what ‘appropriate’ behaviour is or you could say that the majority has created the

‘rules for behaviour’ (Biddle, 1979). In Role Theory Bruce J. Biddle describes how “Roles are

behavioural.” (Biddle, 1979: 58) and they are limited to a certain context. For example, if a

person behaves in a radical manner in a certain situation, it does not imply that we can

generalise or conclude anything about their character from this and it does not characterise

their personality: “Some roles are periodic and are associated with clock hours or with daylight

or darkness.” (Biddle, 1979: 67, bold added) and “Roles may be affected by the weather, the

sequence of prior events, the larger social context, and so forth.” (Biddle, 1979: 69, original

bold). People might be more aggravated or stressed, for instance, early in the morning, on the

commute home from work in the late afternoon or when it is raining and everyone is trying to

18
get to a dry seat as quickly as possible on the bus, however this does not indicate that they are

always like this. These are moments that might be prone to radical behaviour or merely

behaviour that slightly deviates from the behavioural norms. One has to be careful not to judge

people’s character from their behaviour in the public transportation system since behaviour is

not a ‘solid’ entity, but a combination that includes other patterns of behaviour. Observing

people’s behaviour can then be difficult and time consuming since it varies according to context,

however predictable patterns can be found when examining the transportation system where

people are expected to behave in a certain way (Biddle, 1979). Therefore when observing

people in the public transportation system it is important to look for “[…] recurring patterns or

underlying themes in behavior or action. That should include patterns of things not happening

as well as things that are happening.” (Wolcott, 2005: 91).

19