Bus services in rural areas: A Consumers' Evaluation

This study examines the possibility of relating perceived values of bus service attributes to operative measures in order to take consumers' preferences into account in the process of improving public transport services in a selected rural area. The study is based on an attitude survey, conducted in the Northern Negev district of Israel, from which preference and satisfaction profiles were built by a “paired comparison technique.” Profile assessment suggested an inverse correlation between preference and satisfaction. Least-squares fit based on distinct groups with relatively homogeneous perceptual points of view was used to relate satisfaction scaled values to service physical measures. Only the perceived values of service frequency and walking distance could be statistically related to operative measures. The study suggests that the psychological magnitude of frequency and walking distance is higher than the psychological magnitude of travel cost, service reliability, and service network connectivity.