Advances in
Management
Journal
Of
Unilorin Business School
Department of Business Administration
University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
A Publication of the
Department of Business Administration
University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
ISSN: 0795-6967
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Unilorin Business School Advances in Management ……………………………………iii
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Advances In Management of
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Unilorin Business School Advances in Management ……………………………………iii
Table of Contents
PAGE
1.
2
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
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10.
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12.
13.
An Investigation into the determinants of commuter satisfaction with the Urban Mass
Transit Services in Nigeria
Dr. Jackson Olujide……………………………………………………………………
An empirical study of small scale financing in Nigeria
Dr. (Mrs.)S. L. Adeyemi & A. I- Radmus ................................................................
Just-in-time; How workable is it in Nigeria
Dr. (Mrs.) S. L Adeyemi. .............................................................................................
Merger and acquisitions: "A survival option for business enterprises in Nigeria"
O. A. Ilesanmi.. ..........................................................................................................
The impact of business performance through human resource valuation and
disclosure in financial statements
Iwarere Henry Tatwo ...............................................................................................
Attitude measurement in Marketing: A Comparative analysis of multidimensional and
multidimensional Scaling devices
Jackson O. Olujide & A. Lateef Badmus ..................................................................
The Labour Movement in Nigeria post Military Era
RatimiAjayi ...............................................................................................................
Financial sector reform and stock market development in Nigeria
Sogo-Tend J. S. .........................................................................................................
Analysis of Skilled labour force growth in Nigeria ( 1 976- 1 9%)
A. Usman ..................................................................................................................
The reserves set coefficient and the monetary approach to the balance of payments:
Evidence from Nigeria
Dr. G. O.Atoyebi. ................................................................................. . ................. ...
A study of management structure, decision process and organizational effectiveness
in hospitals in Nigeria
Dr. Amos O. Petu ...... . .................................................................................................
Analysis of the impact of equity factor in health care utilization using a case study
Raheem, U.A ..................................................................................................................
Health -Care financing in Nigeria: A Trilateral approach
Bella R. A ......................................................................................................................
1
12
19
28
36
44
54
61
70
78
86
107
116
Unilorin Business School Advances in Management
AN
1
INVESTIGATION INTO THE DETERMINANTS OF COMMUTER
SATISFACTION WITH THE URBAN MASS TRANSIT
SERVICES IN NIGERIA
By
Dr. Jackson O. Olujide
Department of Business Administration, University of Ilorin llorin, Nigeria.
INTRODUCTION
The development of a safe, quick and
cheap transportation will contribute -immensely
to the transformation of any --given society
because raw materials and finished goods arc
easily circulated therein making food clothing
and other necessities of life readily available to a
large number of people.
Furthermore, transportation facilitates
contact and interaction amongst peoples of
diverse culture thereby assisting the spread of
ideas and the improvement of international
understanding
and
co-operation.
Thus,
transportation plays a key role in the
determination of the level of economic activities
and consequently a major factor affecting the
standard of living of peoples.
In Nigeria, the down-turn in the economy, inflationary pressures, the depreciating
value of the currency (Naira) coupled with the
deplorable state of the network of road: in the
last few years have limited private ownership of
cars and commercial vehicles and made the
maintenance of existing ones an uphill task. This development has therefore made the
circulation of goods and people very difficult;
thereby having a crippling effect on the
economy.
In response to the problems facing the
transportation sector in the country, the Federal
Government introduced the Federal Urban Mass
Transit Programme (FUMPT) to complement the
effort of the existing public transportation system
All states of the Federation including the Federal
Capital Territory (Abuja) also set up a
Corporation to attend to the transportation needs
of the people
The introduction of the Mass Transit
Programme we hope will usher in a new package
and inject a new quality of service based on
sound management into the transportation
business. This expectation has become necessary
considering the attempts by some state
governments in Nigeria to introduce a Mass
Transit System in the 1970's which were not
quite successful; examples include the defunct
Kwara Line. Plateau Express. Lagos Municipal
Transport Corporation etc. These corporations
were plagued by inefficient management, fraud,
inadequate funding and undue interference by
government.
The horrifying experience of the past
Mass Transit programmes and the worrying
prognosis of the current arrangement have
recommended the current effort at determining
whether commuters are satisfied or not with the
service offering.
The concept of consumer satisfaction
occupies a key position in marketing thought and
practice Satisfaction represents the major plank
of marketing activity and invariably serves to
connect decision process culminating in actual
purchase and consumption with post-purchase
satisfaction. The centrality of the concept is
reflected by its inclusion in the marketing
concept - that profits are generated through the
satisfaction of consumer needs and wants
(Churchill and Sup-prenant 1982)
The idea of satisfaction is fundamental
to service delivery. The goal of business is to
serve the customer in some way and to fill some
need, which is precisely the prescription of the
marketing concept Liecht) and Churchill (1979)
assert that the marketing concept as a measure of
consumer satisfaction appears particular!)
appropriate in terms of satisfying the existence of
the service business. Unfortunately, majority of
government owned service organizations in
Nigeria sidetrack
Unilorin Business School Advances in Management
the centrality of marketing concept and are
neither customer focused nor market-driven.
Consumer opinion is yet to locate its rightful
place in the formulation of economic and social
policies in Nigeria. Thus, this study seeks to
measure the degree of satisfaction of commuters
with the services rendered by the Kwara State
Urban Mass Transport Corporation.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The general apathy of commercial vehicle owners and operators to the needs of
commuters is a major feature of transportation
business in Nigeria.
The attempts made by
some state governments to introduce a Mass
Transit Programme in the 1970s have not been
quite successful. Examples include the defunct
corporations such as Kwara Line, Lagos
Municipal Transport Corporation. Plateau
Express etc. These corporations suffered from
inefficient management, fraud, inadequate
funding and undue interference by government.
With the financial and logistic support giving the
current arrangement, it is expected that the
current urban Mass Transit Programme, having
learned from the experience of the defunct
corporations, will not only keep the
"entrepreneurial
fire"
alive
but
be
customer/market driven.
Thus the task of
managing these mass transit companies extend
beyond finance, administration and maintenance
of fleet to the new concept of marketing
transportation services. The application of this
concept requires that the primary focus of mass
transit programmes is the customer or the
market. For this reason management strategy
should be designed to find out what the customer
wants, how well the firm is providing this output
and what the company' needs to do to improve
its performance to match if not stay ahead of
customer expectations.
Thus the objectives of the study include:
1.
To investigate and identify the transport
service attributes that contribute to the
satisfaction of commuters:
2.
To
identify
various
structural,
operational and strategic features of the
Urban Mass Transit Corporations that
contribute to the determination of the
3.
4.
2
quality of service offered;
To identify the key strategic
implications of commuters perception
of service quality thereby providing a
basis for the positioning of the service,
and
Finally, to calibrate the impact of the
perceived quality on the corporations'
performance and establish the present
and potential pay-off of service quality
management
METHODOLOGICAL
ISSUES
IN
SOCIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF CONSUMER
SATISFACTION WITH SERVICES
Although one has not come across any
work on satisfaction with transportation services.
a lot of research effort has been devoted to the
concept of satisfaction with services in other
fields of study, particularly with medical care
services. One is therefore inclined to believe that
the problems associated with investigation into
satisfaction with services in these areas may be
extended to include those service areas where
little or no work has been done. But even in
those areas where much work has been done, the
concept of satisfaction is up till now marooned in
ambivalence and mired in controversies.
For
instance. Korsch (1954) treats satisfaction as an
outcome measure and inherent in this view is an
interest in the interactions of provider and client
stressing instrumental and expressive aspect - a
clear distinction from identifying a provider and
by stressing cost convenience and perceived
competence
Alternative
conceptualization
of
satisfaction views it as an important input
variable Scuhman (1964) and Anderson (1966.
1973) perceive satisfaction as trust and
confidence in the service provider as a
predisposing variable.
Tesster and Mechanic (1975) compared
consumer satisfaction with prepaid group
practice and fee for service white Hulka et al
(1971) developed a sophisticated method of
measuring attitudes towards electors based on
the Thurstone equal appearing interval technique
Unilorin Bushiest School Advances in Management_____
modified to a Likert Format. There are many
other methodological issues which need to be
considered. One is the way in which satisfaction
with a service or service environment may be
rated. Where comparisons are to be made
between two service units, it is necessary to
device some measure of customer satisfaction so
that relevant comparison can be drawn. There are
therefore three approaches that can be used to get
a scale of satisfaction. Firstly, there is the global
evaluation which can be considered an
inadequate measure of consumer opinion since
the majority of studies indicate that the level of
satisfaction expressed varies with the different
aspects of the service.
However, results of Henley Davies
study (1967) support a multidimensional
conceptualization of client satisfaction. They
also indicate that the level of satisfaction
expressed varies with different aspects of
service. Global evaluations which ask
respondents how satisfied they are in general
tend to mask these differentials and for the fact
that they do not take cognizance of such specific
instances of dissatisfaction, global evaluation
tends to be biased toward the satisfaction end of
the scale.
The two alternatives to global evaluations are variations of the same approach, but
both distinguish separate facets of a service, one
treating them as discrete items while the other
composting individual items to arrive at an
overall score of satisfaction. Each of them has its
merits and demerits but both can provide
sensitive measures of consumer opinion and give
indications of how a service situation would
have to be changed in order to enhance client
satisfaction.
Within the three types of approaches
mentioned, studies can be differentiated
according to whether they only measure the
extent of satisfaction - dissatisfaction or whether
they measure the range as well. The former
makes use of respondents who are satisfied or
dissatisfied while the latter makes use of a
multidimensional scale and gives an indication
of the relative intensity of satisfaction and
dissatisfaction and is perhaps the most sensitive
measure of consumer opinion.
Locker and Dunt (1978) contends that
______________________3
arty measure of consumer satisfaction needs to
take account of differential satisfaction with individual aspects of the service, to employ a
multidimensional scale for fating consumer
response and to base responses on actual
experiences of the service. A related issue is the
extent to which respondents reports reflect their
time feelings about the service they received.
This can be tackled if questions used
differentiate between a service and the individual
or group of individuals providing it.
Another important issue is the nature of
consumer assessment of service. Also, one needs
to know the basis of expressions of satisfaction
and dissatisfaction. Stimson and Weble (1975)
have suggested that satisfaction is related to the
perception of the outcome of the service and the
extend to which it meets the clients expectations.
This is supported by Larsen and Rootman (1976)
who demonstrated that the relationship between
satisfaction and expectation is not necessarily direct, it seems reasonable to suggest therefore that
expressions of satisfaction are the end-product of
a process of evaluation in which expectations
figure to some extend (Locker & Dunt, 1978).
With respect to the services provided by
the government owned Urban Mass Transit Corporations, many people hold what Friedson
(1972) calls practical expectations-anticipated
outcomes, which derive from an individual's own
experience, the reported experience of others, or
a knowledge from other sources of what has
been described as the minimum or the least
acceptable level. This offering might not be the
only alternative but it is better than nothing.
Friedson defines this ideal expectation as
preferred outcomes deriving from a client's
evaluation of his problem and goals in seeking
for the service. Thus, the practical and ideal
expectations may not coincide thereby giving
rise to a situation in which the clients are satisfied because their practical expectations have
been met although the service they receive does
not meet their goals.
METHODOLOGY
The unit of study is "Kwara Express"
which is the trade mane fin- the kind of service
being offered by Kwara State Transport
Corporation. Ilorin
Unilorin Busmen School Advances in Management
The choice of Kwara Express is predicated on
the following factors
1.
Kwara State Transport Corporation.
Ilorin has a fleet of over 100 vehicles, operates
routes within and outside Kwara State and
enjoys the patronage of a large population ' of
commuters being the gateway between the north
and the southern part of the country.
2.
Kwara State Transport Corporatioa
Ilorin has a trade name as well as a unique
vehicle symbol, i.e. their vehicles are
identifiable at sight.
Commuters cannot
therefore have any confusion in their criteria and
choice.
3.
Kwara Express is one of the
government mass transit agencies and this study
is intended to provide a basis for evaluation and
consequently a basis for setting a mission for the
government mass transit and private transport
companies to follow such that the involvement
of state and federal governments in mass transit
may not end up as a second attempt in futility.
4.
The nature and style of management as
well as the nature of equipment and services
obtainable from other mass transit corporations
are identical and therefore the results of this
study will be representative enough to apply to
all mass transit agencies in Nigeria.
SAMPLE AND PROCEDURE FOR DATA
COLLECTION
The survey population consisted of a
wisdom sample of two hundred and fifty (250)
commuters who liave used the services of Kwara
Express. The sample was restricted to those who
have made at least one trip with the mass transit
agency in the last one year to ensure that they
qualify as consumers of transportation service
and that the information given relates to current
experience. A second sample comprised 50
employees especially drivers, conductors and
craftsmen as well as management staff
The data used for the study was
gathered from a survey conducted in 1998 in
Ilorin town The data was collected by means of a
4
34-item questionnaire in which respondents were
asked specific questions relating to various
aspects of transportation service offered by
Kwara Express Respondents were also requested
to list and comment on those aspects that mostly
caused satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the
services received. The questionnaire was
administered to assess commuters attitude
towards the mass transit agencies, the drivers, the
bus conductors, the vehicles, other facilities,
empathy, courtesy and professional competence
of the contact staff, adequacy of information
given and received, access mechanisms,
affordability and utilization and the facilities
provided for the comfort and convenience of the
public.
Scale of Measurement
The survey scale of measurement was a
comprehensive commuter satisfaction questionnaire including items that assess attitudes
towards all aspects of commuting relevant to the
study. A multi-item measure of each dimension
as well as an overall index that aggregate across
dimensions was developed because levels of
satisfaction may differ depending on the
dimension of commuting under consideration.
This was done by considering some of the ideas
on patient satisfaction questionnaire suggested
by Mangelsdorff (1979).
These ideas together with those
gathered through informal discussions with
people who use the Urban mass transit as their
source of commuting led to the identification of
four aspects of commuting on which satisfaction
items were formulated. The aspects of commuter
satisfaction considered include:
a.
Safety and timeliness of transportation
service-made up of five items.
b.
Comfort and convenience of equipment
and facilities and the reliability of these in
producing efficient service.
c.
Economy (transport fare and other
charges) made up of four items.
Unilorin Business School/Advances in Management
d.
Auxiliary services and courteousness of
contact personnel made up of eight items and
e.
There was also a global evaluation item
that asked for the overall assessment of the
service received from Kwara Express.
The response format employed a 5-point Likert
scale of satisfaction as follows:
Point 1
- Completely satisfied
Point 2
- Just satisfied
Point 3
- No opinion
Point 4
- Just dissatisfied
Point 5
- Completely dissatisfied
The Likert scale format allowed for
greater discrimination of the intensity of a
respondent's belief regarding an issue.
TECHNIQUE OF DA TA ANAL YSIS
To analyse the data collected 2 kinds of
statistical analyses were employed namely:
1.
Frequency distribution analysis (FDA):
was used to determine the proportion of satisfied
to dissatisfied respondents with the various
aspects of service delivery. This in turn helped
to identify those aspects of transportation service
that commuters complain about, are satisfied or
dissatisfied with and which otherwise affected
their utilization of the services of the mass transit
agencies.
2.
Cross Tabulation Analysis (chi-square
test of significance) was also used to determine
whether
the observed variations in the respondents degree of satisfaction were due to
differences in demographic characteristics of
respondents such as age, sex. educational
background etc or to chance.
ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
General Characteristics
The results of the frequency distribution
analysis on the demographic characteristics 01
our respondents show that 65.7% of them are
male while 34.3% were female; 4.9% are below
20 years of age and 1.9% are 50 years and above.
The frequency analysis further reveals that
5
32.7% are married. 51.0% single, 1.9% divorced
or separated while the remaining 14.4% are
already engaged i.e. already entering into marital
contractual obligation.
With regards to the frequency of travels
by Kwara Express, 40.4% of respondents have
travelled less than 5 times, 47.1% have travelled
5-20 times, while 12.5% have travelled over
twenty times by Kwara Express.
The fact that we have more male
respondents might be a reflection of the ratio of
male to female commuters within the area of this
research. This may result from the religious and
socially held beliefs that tend to restrict the
mobility and the pace of economic activities of
female commuters.
It is also note-worthy that 93.2% of our
respondents are between 20 and 50 years of age.
This age bracket represents the active age of human beings when socio-economic activities are
most pronounced Thus, there seems to be a correlation between the degree of mobility and level
of socio-economic activities.
Understandably, 67.3% of our respondents are
not living with either a husband or wife. This
category of respondents commute more than the
married ones. Besides, they participate more
willingly in surveys of this nature. Finally, the
fact that about 60% of our respondents have travelled more than 5 times by Kwara Express adds
credence to the reliability of the information supplied by them.
The results in Table I reveal that
majority of the respondents are satisfied with the
level of commitment of Kwara State Transport
Corporation, the owners of Kwara Express, to
the safety of commuters. About 72.9% of our
respondents express this view. There are
however some commuters (a little less than 20%
of our respondents) who feel that there is still
need for improvement in safety precautions. This
aspect of service delivery has been underscored
by many commuters and it
Uniform Business School Advances in Management
appears distinctly the most important service attribute Therefore. Kwara Express should place
emphasis on prompt tyre replacement, proper
maintenance culture, good driving habits and
adequate monitoring to minimize the rate of
accident
However, an overwhelming proportion
of our respondents: 70.2% are dissatisfied with
the late arrival of the buses to their destinations
such that commuters find it difficult to plan their
activities for the period immediately following
the journey.
The above results in table 1 show some
variation in the degree of satisfaction with the
various aspects of safety and timeliness or time
consciousness on the part of drivers. When these
responses were subjected to further analysis
(cross tabulation and significant test), the results
indicate that the observed variations in all the
responses with respect to sex educational
background, marital status and the socioeconomic status of respondents were however
not statistically significant at 5% confidence
level. In other words, the observed variations in
the respondent’s degree of satisfaction with the
time consciousness of drivers regarding
departure, and arrival on the one hand safety
condition of vehicles, rate of accident and the
driving habits of drivers on the other were not
due to differences in the demographic
characteristics of respondents.
It is important to emphasize however,
that the attitude of drivers to timely arrival at
destinations is giving many commuters cause for
concern and that something must be done
urgently to ensure that drivers need to keep to
time schedules by eliminating all hindrances
delays resulting from lateness, unprofitable
routines, breakdowns and ticket collection.
The data in table II below strongly indicate that majority of the respondents are dissatisfied with the arrangements for comfort and convenience of commuters and the unreliable nature
of vehicles in the fleet. Three variables measure
the
comfort
of
commuters
namely:
overcrowding, proper inclination and good
condition of buses and adequate leg space when
commuters are seated in Kwara Express buses.
61.6% and 75.1% of our respondents are
dissatisfied with the last two variables
6
respectively while 58.7% of them feel that the
buses are not overcrowded.
However, from the discussion we had
with some commuters, they brought to our attention the fact that drivers and conductors do connive to defraud the corporation by carrying
excess passengers. This fact is confirmed by as
many as 32.7% of our respondents.
55.7% of our sample were satisfied with
the rate of breakdown of Kwara Express buses,
but 20.2% prefer improvement. There are two
very serious problems that have come to light regarding the issue of breakdown of vehicles. The
first has to do with the immediate repair or replacement of broken down vehicles, only 37.9%
of commuters are satisfied with arrangements for
repair and or replacement. Majority (62.1%) of
commuters are dissatisfied with the arrangements
made in order to reduce the hardship and
inconvenience suffered by commuters. The
second issue relates to the reimbursement or
refund of transport fare paid if repair/
replacement of break-down vehicle is not
immediately
feasible:
an
overwhelming
percentage 99% are dissatisfied with the
arrangement of Kwara Express. Commuters
confirmed that Kwara Express does not refund
transport fare in case of breakdown. This policy
not to refund transport fare paid by commuters
does not put Kwara Express in good light. It is
the wish of clients that the policy be reviewed to
reflect the expectations of clients thereby
reducing the untold hardship suffered by them at
points of breakdowns.
As can be seen from table IV on issues
relating to the tariff of Kwara Express an overwhelming proportion of our respondents 73.8%
are satisfied with the fare charged on most of its
routes. Perhaps the 14.6% of the respondents
who expressed dissatisfaction are probably
expecting substantial subsidy to be injected into
the transport business or that it should be run as a
social service.
But unfortunately while the corporation
does not charge commuters additional fare on
luggage as a matter of policy, they all expressed
their disgust at the practice whereby bus
operators flout laid-down rules by charging
clients separately for luggage.
Unilorin Business School Advances in Management
Further analysis of the responses
showed that the observed variations in the degree
of satisfaction observed above were not due to
differences in demographic characteristics of our
respondents. It was not statistical!) significant at
95% confident level.
The frequency distribution analysis of
responses to the overall appraisal of
transportation service showed that 73.1% of our
respondents are satisfied with the quality of
service rendered by Kwara Transport
Corporation. 18.2% have no opinion while only
8.7% are dissatisfied.
Analysis of the result of the items that
prove the respondents personal experiences at
the public urban mass transport agency' revealed
that since the servuction' of transportation
service is equipment oriented commuters are
happy with the quantity and quality of
automobiles, garages and other infrastructure put
in place in order to facilitate the circulation of
persons. They are also very happy with the
courteousness of the contact personnel,
particularly the drivers and the ticket officers but
feel very disgusted with the bus conductors who
try as much as possible to create inconveniences
for commuters in their attempt to make extra
income.
A good number 77% of our satisfied respondents feel that they would still patronize the
urban mass transport agencies even if they had
money to pay the tariff charged by private transport operators. It is interesting to note that:
1.
Inspite of the limited number of the
urban mass transport agencies and their facilities
in the face of ever increasing demand for transportation services, as many as 58% still prefer
their services. Reasons given by the respondents
for this preference include the wider range of
facilities,
expertise
and
equipment
possessed by the urban mass transit agencies
that make for better quality of service specially
in this era of petroleum product shortage:
2.
Of the 73.1% of the clientele that are
satisfied with the overall services about 77% of
them would like to continue with the patronage
even if they had more money. It does imply that
economic factor does not play an important role
7
rather it is the subjective considerations like
safety, reliability, comfort etc that play dominant
role in the choice situation.
An important area underscored that requires attention has to do with the kind of buses
imported for use by the transit agencies. The
bulk of the vehicles are neither air-conditioned
nor are they properly ventilated. These vehicles
are perhaps made for use in temperate climatic
conditions of Europe and America and are
therefore not suitable for the very hot tropical
climate of Nigeria. Commuters would prefer airconditioned buses with close-circuit video,
television facilities as is the case with private
sector managed mass transit services. They
would also prefer buses with solid, comfortable
seats, properly inclined with toilette facilities and
in good condition?
Discussion
Though no studies of satisfaction with
transportation services either in the public or private sectors of the Nigerian economy have been
conducted the present attempt represents a landmark in the sense that it has given us the
opportunity of measuring the opinion of
members of the public to some of the projects
embarked upon by various governments on
behalf of its citizenry. Thus, we have no
reference point with which to compare the
findings of this research effort in Nigeria in
particular, the developing and industrialized
world in general.
However, our findings suggest very
strongly that majority of commuters are satisfied
with the quality of the service rendered by the urban mass transit agency in Kwara State in
particular and in Nigeria in general. This position
is not however surprising considering the chaotic
and deplorable state of private sector managed
transportation system.
Most of the areas causing dissatisfaction
are related in one way or the other to the corrupt
tendency of the typical Nigerian and the
inadequacies of economic management in the
LDCs The ill-maintained and inadequate
economic and social infrastructure, particularly
the conditions of Nigerian
Unilorin Business School Advances in Management
roads help to explain perhaps the long delay in
arriving destinations. This is an important area of
dissatisfaction. Commuters have complained
bitterly that this development has made it almost
impossible for them to plan their journeys.
Other inadequacies include
—
luggage are not properly arranged inside
the buses.
—
Buses are often times overloaded with
excess passengers.
—
Conductors are not always polite, and
courteous.
These issues have led one to raise a lot
of queries about the conduct and behaviour of
conductors. They are supposed to make the
journeys memorable and interesting rather than
create unnecessary problems for commuters.
Such that commuters would want to come back.
The animosity against the behaviour of
conductors is so strong and we quote some of the
respondents reactions:
"The attitude of bus conductors towards
commuters is terrible, they are very greedy,
selfish and rude. All that matter to them is how
they will make extra money and therefore are
very eager to overload the buses with passengers
and luggage once the official monitors leave departure points."
This uncaring attitude of conductors can
be explained by their poor pay which has
necessitated the crave for extra income but given
8
their level of skill one does not expect a better
'deal' from management. But unfortunately, their
attitude input significantly on the satisfaction of
commuters with services rendered by the transit
agency.
Conclusion
This research work has given us an insight into the operations of our mass transit agencies particularly those issues affecting the utilization of transport services and the interaction between the contact personnel of these agencies,
the environment of service and the commuters.
Our findings indicate that inspite of
poor funding, inadequate and ill-maintained
infrastructure, the performance of service
providers, particularly drivers was satisfactory
and the confidence commuters has in them is
also satisfactory.
The attitude of bus conductors to work
and the way they relate to commuters, the condition of the buses have continued to agitate the
minds commuters.
Other areas include lack of comfort and
conveniences in the buses and at departure
points, time consciousness on the part of service
providers, and the cleanless of the buses and
contact personnel the commuters.
The above indicate that a lot of work
has to be done by the agencies in order to
improve the quality of their services and the
image of their corporations.
Unilorin Business School Advances in Management
9
Table I Summary of Frequency Distribution Relating To Safety and Timeliness
Item
Item Content
% Satisfied
% No Opinion % Dissatisfied
I
Kwara Express vehicles
59.6
10.6
29.8
298
25.0
45.2
64.4
12.5
23.1
72.9
12.6
14.6
75.9
15.4
87
always arrive on time for
departure.
2.
Kwara Express vehicles
always get to their destinations
at appointed time thereby enabling
my journeys to be planned.
3.
Driver of Kwara Express
vehicles are always time
conscious when they stop
on the way for passengers
to eat or relax
4.
Kwara Express has recorded
only very few accident
accident cases since inception
5.
Drivers of Kwara Express
vehicles have good driving habits.
Unilorin Business School Advances in Management
Table II:
Summary of Frequency Distribution Relating To Comfort and Reliability
Item
10.
Item Content
There is always adequate leg space
henever I sit inside Kwara Express buses
11.
Kwara Express buses are usually not
verloaded with excess passengers.
12.
The seats of Kwara Express buses are
always comfortable, properly inclined
nd in good condition.
13.
Kwara Express buses do not breakdown
oo frequently.
14.
When Express buses do not breakdown
too frequently.
15.
If repair or replacement is not immediately
possible, passengers are usually refunded
heir transport fare.
_
10
%Satisfied
%No Opinion
%Dissatisfied
Table III: Summary of Frequency Distribution Relating To Transport fares (Economy)
Item
16.
17.
18.
19.
Item Content
The transport fare charged by Kwara
Express in most routes are moderate.
%Satisfied
%No Opinion
%Dissatisfied
73.8
11.7
14.6
In spite of scarcity of petroleum products
express tariff is not reviewed too frequently.
68.9
14.6
16.5
Kwara Express does not charge additional
fare on luggage
55.8
11.8
32.40
Generally the performance of Kwara
Express is very satisfactory
73.1
18.2
8.7
Unilorin Business School Advances in Management
11
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