MEASURING THE EVOLUTION OF PASSENGER SATISFACTION FOLLOWING THE INTRODUCTION OF SCHEDULED SERVICES: THE CASE OF THE 7TH AVENUE MINIBUS-TAXI ASSOCIATION IN MITCHELLS PLAIN S. SADDIER, N. MCLACHLAN, D. DASS 10 July 2019

BACKGROUND CoCT – SATC 2018 Presentation

The toc program Designed and supported by the City of Cape Town Four taxi association of Mitchells Plain Business model improvements to transform taxi associations into Transport Operating Companies that will: own all operating licenses; employ drivers and staff; own and manage their fleet; be eligible for contracting by the City. First step: mutualising revenue and optimising operations On 10 January, 7th Ave Taxi Association rolled out scheduled services (with fixed routes and set timetables) Research question: how did passengers perceive this evolution?

approach Two surveys were organized: Before the pilot (n = 732) During the pilot (n = 693) Same methodology and questionnaire for comparability Passengers surveyed at the rank while waiting for a vehicle Second survey more difficult to implement (10 days vs. 7 for the first) Surveyors recruited by the Association and trained by the Consultant

Questionnaire AND app Questionnaire designed to be administered in < 3 minutes Available in English and Afrikaans Three group of questions: Demographics of respondent Trip characteristics Satisfaction with service Use of smartphones to record responses QuickTapSurvey app for offline survey administration Multiple-choice questions only to simplify data processing (with one open-ended question at the end) Data uploaded daily at end of shift

Quality control process Daily quality control of metadata: Number of responses Survey start and end times Average duration per questionnaire GPS coordinates of surveyor Comparison of responses across surveyors Example of anomalies in scoring and gender distribution (data discarded) Example of spatial anomalies detected in yellow (confirmed to be instances of GPS inaccuracy) Passenger satisfaction survey

Demographics of Respondents More female than male passengers (as observed in previous surveys) Slight variations between survey likely caused by differences in work hours and surveyors team composition These characteristics are used as control variables to check that changes in satisfaction levels result from the implementation of the new system (and not from a different population segment being surveyed) Passenger satisfaction survey

Trip characteristics Large share of shopping trips consistent with previous research (possibly emphasized by survey hours). Some variation between the two surveys, likely resulting from differences in time of the year/month/day between the two surveys Similar distribution of intermodal trips across the two surveys (low share of rail emphasized by survey hours)

Satisfaction scores

Journey time/itinerary No other changes needed Journey time/itinerary Open-ENDED questionS Before the pilot: “What is the most important thing that should be improved in the taxi services on this route?” During the pilot: “What other changes would you like to see on taxi services on this route?” Comfort of vehicle 36% Attitude of crew 16% Journey time/itinerary 15% Fare 12% Safety/security 11% Other 8% No other changes needed 44% Journey time/itinerary 24% Comfort of vehicle 14% Fare 5% Attitude of crew Safety/security 4% Other Passenger satisfaction survey

«How does the new system compare to the old one?» ConCLUSION Scheduled services = improvement for a majority of users Regression analysis confirms that improved satisfaction is associated with scheduled services Encouraging results for the TOC-formation program Change of business model also benefits the end-users Satisfaction = experience vs. expectation, likely to evolve in time «How does the new system compare to the old one?»

Simon Saddier simon.saddier@transitec.net