Analyses of the operational
performance and quality of service
Of
Kaduna State Transport Authority
[K.S.T.A]
BY
DASHE NUNGNAÁN FATE
2011/1/38185MT
School of entrepreneurship management
technology,
Department of transport management technology
CHAPTER ONE
1.0: INTRODUCTION
1.1: BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The space covered by the organization of cities, in developing countries, is highly marked. In
most areas facilities and services are well provided while they are inadequate or not provided in
others. And also, there is distinction in socio-economic characteristics of the populace from place
to place. However, the urban defenseless groups are located mostly either at the economic heart,
city centre or at the fringes, where there are no inhabitants. These differences provide the
challenge of getting equal and efficient urban services for the disadvantaged and vulnerable
groups. Consequently, Public transportation system provides the most efficient means of moving
large number of people especially in high populated urban centers. In addition to the wellbeing
of its users, public transport plays a vital role in the productivity of cities which in turns has a
direct bearing on the national economies (World Bank, 2001; Lyndon and Todd, 2006)
The importance of urban planning is to make available adequate and equitable services to all
groups. Transport services is very important any urban setting. Man, nations, regions and the
world would be severely limited in development without transportation, which is a key factor for
physical and economic growth (Oyesiku, 2002). Transportation systems and land use are
interdependent. Indeed findings of earlier studies indicate compelling and consistent connections
amongst them (Ewing and Cervero, 2001; Polzin, 2004). According to Bailey, Mokhtarian, and
Littlel (2008), transportation route is part of distinct development pattern or road network and
mostly described by regular street patterns as an indispensable factor of human existence,
development and civilization. The road network coupled with increased transport investment
result in changed levels of accessibility reflected through Cost Benefit Analysis, savings in travel
time, and other benefits. These benefits are noticeable in increased catchment areas for services
and facilities like shops, schools, offices, banks, and leisure activities. Road networks are
observed in terms of its components of accessibility, connectivity, level of service, compactness,
density of particular roads and traffic density. Level of service is a measure by which the quality
of service on transportation devices or infrastructure is determined, and it is a holistic approach
considering several factors regarded as measures of traffic density and congestion rather than
overall speed of the journey (Mannering, Walter, and Scott, 2004).
Passenger/road transport has become one of the predominant modes of transport in Nigeria, aside
other modes. (http://www.gipc.org.wg). This mode of transport serves the vast majority of
Nigerians due to its cheap nature and also its easily accessible hence provide door to door
services. With a population growth in Nigeria of an average of 2% per annum in major cities,
reaching a size of 24 million (in 2011) and the organization has grown alongside. By this
development, there has been an emergence of small and medium size companies to satisfy the
growing demand (Oyesikie, 2002).
In most developing countries the transport sector however has many problems in the urban
centers. Inadequate and inferior quality infrastructures, unsuitable demand and supply, and high
rate of accidents are some of the problems. These problems triggered by interrelated trends such
as urban population growth and (rapid, unplanned, and uncoordinated) growth of cities
(tranSafety 1998). The computation of (Dejong et al. 2002) in Dare s salaam shows for longer
distance clinics, patients increasingly use public transport over walking. In most developing
countries, public transports are mostly run under subsidies and low revenue.
The importance of public transport services in a successful transport system is widely recognized
whites (2002) defines public transport as all modes available to the public irrespective of
ownership. Nonetheless, existing transport throughput does not satisfy the demand in developing
countries. Hence, transport planners should provide a suitable framework within which the poor
and the less poor use the public transport with more pride and satisfaction (World Bank 2002b).
Due to the changing nature of businesses today coupled with increased customer demanding
nature and also alternative sources of goods and services, organizations try to migrate from
traditional marketing to modern marketing (Bose, 2002) therefore there is the need for
improvement for the organization in the provision of quality services to meet the satisfaction of
the continuous increasing customer demand.
This paper evaluates the variables that tend to determine the operational performance of Kaduna
state transport authority (K.S.T.A) of Nigeria and it identifies the variables that are influencing
and/or determining the customer satisfaction offered by the organization.
However, in order to keep and attract more passengers, the organization must have high service
quality to satisfy and fulfill more wide range of different customer’s needs. It is important to
have knowledge about the operational performance of the organization to understand what drives
customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction in other for the organization to design and attractive and
marketable and more profitable method of operation in its administration. This study will be
carried out in Kaduna municipal city, the administrative seat, of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The
selection of this state is based on the preponderance of the Transport Company in the area.
1.2: STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Today, most world transport system is faced with the challenges of effective mode of operations
or customer relationship management. (Alguyen, et al, 2007) stated that one of the goals that
management has its employees achieve is based on the maxim such as “the customer is always
right” and “do whatever it takes to deliver your promise” or “something similar”.
The practice of neglecting or not recognizing the importance of time, quality of service, speed of
operation and congestion couple with increased work load on one route network has deteriorate
the transport infrastructure. Most public transport services in Nigeria are delivering poor service
quality, poor maintenance of fleet and unsafe service. Big share of the vehicle fleet operated in
the organization consists of secondhand vehicles purchased from industrialized countries ages of
the vehicles are quite old and there is a low maintenance budget. Reliability, convenience and
travel time are considered to have a great impact on the operational performance of any transport
system in relation with the type of the trip, but most transport companies do not take it seriously
(Alguyen, et al, 2007).
The aim of most transport plan in any economy is the provision of affordable transportation
service, enhanced access and mobility. Public transport in the study area constitute of
conventional bus services provided by private individuals, mini buses and conventional taxis
operated by the private sectors and also buses exclusively for employees of large organizations
and schools. Due to limited extent of KSTA bus service, insufficiency of public bus route
network and deficiency of transport services in the city, people spend more time and money on
travel. Therefore, network and service deficiency under current physical, financial and
institutional constraints, have to be critically examined to improve the service to compliment
with the city transportation vision “affordable transport, enhanced access and mobility”.
1.3: OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The overall aim of this research is to carry out a detail analysis of the current operational
performance of Kaduna State Transport Authority (K.S.T.A.) transport service efficiency and
bus route network deficiencies
Other sub-objectives are as stated below:
1. To identify the factors influencing efficiency of public bus transport system.
2. To evaluate the quality level of service of the existing public bus service
3. To find out and identify the current bus route network deficiencies
4. To improve the overall operational performance of K.S.T.A
1.4: RESEARCH QUESTION
To enable the research proffer solutions to the research problems, certain questions were
raised. It is also believed that if the right answers to the questions are obtained it would lead to
the achievement of the purpose of this study.
They are;
1. What are the factors influencing efficiency of public bus transport system?
2. What is the current status of the existing public bus service in terms of quality?
3. What are the current bus route network deficiencies?
4. How can the overall operational performance of K.S.T.A be improved?
1.5: HYPOTHESIS
H0: There is low level of performance of KSTA.
H1: There is High level of performance of KSTA.
H0: There is no statistical relationship between the quality of service of KSTA and customer
satisfaction.
H1: There is statistical relationship between the quality of service of KSTA and customer
satisfaction
H0: There is negative significance in the quality level of service rendered by KSTA to
commuters.
H1: There is positive significance in the quality level of service rendered by KSTA to
commuters.
1.6: JUSTIFICATION
This study is carried out for Kaduna state transport authority. The Kaduna state transport
authority KSTA, came into being in May 1978 under Edict No. 9 of 1978. The main purpose of
establishment was to plan, manage and operate bus passenger’s transportation at city, inter-city,
interstate and even at international levels. It is also to cater for the safety and comfort of
passengers at originating stations, enroutes and terminal stations. Since its inception, Kaduna
state transport authority has strived all these years to operate strictly under the provisions of the
Edict establishing it (KSTA Handbook, 1978).
Statistics has shown since the establishment of the organization, it solely operate on inter-state
level until recently with government involvement through SURE-P that the organization began to
subsidize and interfere in the state intercity transportation (2014 Journal published on the impact
of SURE-P). A greater percentageof transportation service of the state was originally provided by
private sectors through taxi and buses and the level of services of these buses and taxi are usually
expensive and very poor. Uncontrolled and rapid horizontal expansion, increasing population
and poor road infrastructure of the city (narrow road, limited network extent, no pedestrian
facility and lack of adequate traffic signs, etc.) dictate the level of service. Due to congested
traffic on one hand and poor performance of the operators on the other hand the transportation
headway is long therefore waiting time at terminals are usually very long. In view of the above,
there is need to assess performance of K.S.T.A. It is in the light of this study to examine the
operational performance of K.S.T.A. on commuters’ satisfaction in Kaduna state.
1.7: SCOPE OF THE STUDY AREA
The scope of this study includes, assessing the efficiency of the current operational
performance of the organization bus transport service using some efficiency parameters in
conjunction to descriptive statistical analysis which encompasses the company organizational
goals and focuses on the company daily operational activities, cost, revenue generated and the
complication encountered which correlate with the rate at which they satisfy their customer since
the commencement of Kaduna state transport authority (K.S.T.A) bus transport service.
1.8: LIMITATION OF THE STUDY AREA
The major limitation of this study is that it assumes KSTA is the only public transport
system in the study area; analyses and recommendations are based on this assumption. It does
not cover the competition, contribution and effect of service provided by taxi or private sector
and also, it does not cover a detailed analysis of investors into the organization, infrastructural
development of facilities since its establishment, and the study was limited to the activities in all
the selected route network terminals in the study area.
1.9: SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDY AREA
Kaduna State is a state in central northern Nigeria. Its capital is Kaduna. The state is the
successor to the old Northern Region of Nigeria, which had its capital at Kaduna. In 1967 this
was split up into six states, one of which was the North-Central State, whose name was changed
to Kaduna State in 1976. This was further divided in 1987, losing the area now part of Katsina
State.
It is generally believed that Zaria is one of the seven Hausa States of the early 15th century and
among the largest. The other name for Zaria is Zazzau and the inhabitants are called Zage-zage
or Zazzagawa. Tradition has it that the name Zazzau is derived from a famous sword which was
honored in those days by the Zazzagawa and helped to give a kind of ethnic identity years before
the recognition of any king by Zaria people. There were sixty "Habe" (the name given to Hausa
people before the Fulani conquest of Hausa land in 1804) rulers (Kings and Queens) who rules
Zaria town. The most widely spoken language in the state is the Hausa and Gbari.
The cultural and religious festivals in the state include Durbar, Afan,Tuk-Ham, Eid-EL-Fitr, EidEL-Kabir, Maulud, Christmas, Easter
There are a host of other ethnic groups within the state that have similar colorful festivals where
some boisterous theatrical performances are displayed which can also carry one to a sheer
exhilaration of fun. Amongst them are: The Ikulu Festival, known as Unum Akulu carried out
last Saturday of every year, The Akat Festival, The Sholio, The Baranzan, The Fantswam, The
Angham, At yap, Tsam, and also the Gbagyi Festival (Lock, 1967).
1.10: LAND USE AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDY AREA
Kaduna state is blessed with minerals which include clay, serpentine, asbestos, amethyst,
kyannite, gold, graphite and siltimanite graphite, which is found in Sabon Birnin Gwari, in the
BirninGwari local government. This is an important raw material used in the manufacture of
pencils, crucibles, electrodes, generator brushes and other sundry parts.
Kaduna State lies between Latitude 090 02‟ N, 110 33‟N and longitude 060 10 E and 08o 50‟E,
occupying a landmass of about 48,473.km2 and total population of 6,066,562 with 3,112,028
males and 2,954,534 females as reflected by the 2006 census result. The state share common
boundaries with Niger, Katsina,Kano,Bauchi,Plateau,Nassarawa, and Zamfara states as well as
the federal capital, Abuja.
River Kaduna is the only major river in the state and takes its source from the highlands around
the Jos plateau. It is, however fed by many tributaries and in turn, runs into the river Niger.
Kaduna state is mostly an undulating plateau with parts of the state like Zaria town, kagoro and
kwoi areas having protruding hard resistant granite rocks which are as a result of weathering
through the ages of previously existing pre-Cambrian rocks. The erosive activities resulted in the
outgrowth of rocks forming Inselbergs and large rocky upland region which are attractive for
sight- seeing, examples are the Kufena rocks in Zaria, the Kagoro Hills and other interesting rock
formations which abound in the state.
The state has two distinct seasons-the dry season and the rainy season. The temperature is hot
during the dry season and cool during the rainy season, from November to February and cold dry
harmattan wind blows across the state, the northern part of the state being affected most. The
southern part of the state enjoys heavier rainfall than the northern part.
The state extends from tropical grassland (savannah) in the south to Sudan savannah in the north.
The savannah region of the state covers the southern part stretching to Gwantu, south of
Kafanchan with prevailing vegetation of tall trees and few shrubs. The Sudan savannah or Sahel
covers the northern part of the state, stretching from Zaria down to Ikara and its environs (Lock,
1967).
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0: INTRODUCTION
Transport is the backbone of economic, cultural, social and industrial development of any
country besides its two dimensional role of creating time and space utilities. This sector has not
received due consideration either of universities or academic institutions. A little attention is paid
by the researchers in the past to evaluate the performance of transport sector.
The frequently used term efficiency commonly relates to a ratio between resources and products,
costs and benefits or inputs and outputs of a defined process. A ratio of output to energy input
contributes to a process involving two forms of energy; the output is often work and the input
can be labor, material, heat, electricity or other forms of energy (Tanaka, 2008). Energy
efficiency is defined by the EU Directive (2006) as ‘‘a ratio between an output of performance,
service, goods or energy, and an input of energy,’’ (Liimatainen and Pöllänen, 2010). Efficiency
also can be seen as the inverse of intensity, which is the ratio of energy input to output, kWh/tkm
or MJ/tkm. A similar term is “effectiveness,” which disregards input and is more qualitative in
character. While efficiency can be defined as doing things in the most economical way or a good
input to output ratio, effectiveness is doing the right things, setting the right targets or measures
to achieve an overall effect or goal. However, efficiency and effectiveness also leaves open
questions. What is “good” and the “right thing”, according to whom?
This chapter contains a brief summary of ways to caption transportation and different notions of
operationalization. This is followed by a range of perspectives on efficiency. An attempt will be
made in this chapter to review the literature selectively in the area of transport and road transport
in general and turnaround management in particular.
2.1 THEORETICAL/ CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Three basic theoretical models proved anchor for this work. These are explained below in 2.1 to
2.1.1 Trip Generation Model: Trip Generation is the first step in the conventional four-step
transportation forecasting process widely used for forecasting travel demands followed by
Destination Choice, Mode Choice, and Route Choice. It predicts the number of trips originating
in or destined for a particular traffic analysis zone. Every trip has two ends - trips origin zone and
trips destine zone. Generally, land use is divided into two broad categories - residential and nonresidential land uses. For residential land use, trip generation is a function of social and
economic attributes of households which are often measured as housing unit variables. At the
level of the traffic analysis zone, land uses often produce or attract trips, where by assumption
trips are produced by households and attracted to non-household sectors. Production and
attractions differ from origins and destinations. Trips are produced by households even when
they are returning home; that is, when the household is in destination Atoyebi, et al (2015)
expressed this model (referring Ume, 1991; TPH, 1992). In these two categories of trip
generation models and trip production models estimate the number of home-based trips to and
from zones where trip makers reside; while trip attraction models estimate the number of homebased trips to and from each zone at the non-home end of the trip. According to Barnes and
Davis (2000), different production and attraction models are used to measure each trip purpose.
2.1.2 Trip Distribution Model: Trip distribution (or destination choice or zonal interchange
analysis) is the second component after trip generation, (but before mode choice and route
assignment) in the traditional four-step transportation forecasting model. The trip distribution
stage takes actual trips from the trip generation model and matches them with trips attracted to
destination zones Atoyebi, et al (2015) expressed this model ( referring Oryani and Harris,
1996). In this sense, the distribution phase stimulates the distribution of predicted trips for origin
zones to destinations. Often the distribution mechanism employed is the gravity model. Here, the
number of trips made between an origin and destination is governed to be proportional to some
measure of the destination zone’s ‘mass’ (e.g. the volume of activity opportunities there) and
inversely proportional to some measure of travel impedance.
2.1.3 Modal split: The modal split sub-model is concerned with estimating what proportion of
trips is made by each defined mode of travel from an origin to a destination zone. In
mathematical terms, this is most commonly expressed as a multinomial logit model. The logit
model represents the mode choice as a function of the disutility or cost of using one mode of
travel (e.g. private automobile) over another like public transit Atoyebi, et al (2015) expressed
this model ( referring Oryani and Harris, 1996). See the graphic illustration below:
TRANSPORT
LOCATION
SUPPLY
Potential demand
& Trip generation
Trip distribution
LAND USE
EQUILLIBRIUM
DEMAND
Modal split
DEVELOPMENT
Figure 4: The general structure of a land-use–transportation model
Source: Atoyebi, et al (2015) (Oryani and Harris, 1996)
Trip assignment
2.2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Transport is the life wire of urbanization. It is one among many factor which determines the form
and socio-economic development of a city. Mobility and accessibility provided by the transport
system have been playing major role in shaping countries, influencing the location of social and
economic activity, the form and size of cities, and the style and pace of life by facilitating trade,
permitting access to people and resources, and enabling greater economic of scale, worldwide
and throughout history (Zuidgeest 2005).
However, urban transport systems are wilting under the pressure of ever growing demands on an
inadequate street network. Increased urbanization of population growth, urban expansion,
dispersal of amenity and activity has increased the demand for and dependence on motorized
transportation. Consequently, urban transportation problems like congestion, accidents,
environmental degradation and urban sprawl have increased. Sustainable transport development
plans are thus replacing the routine approach of building more roads to alleviate congestion with
an integrated transport system (Davison et al. 2006) which is affordable, space- and resourceefficient, and minimizes environmental impact and transport nuisances. As a consequence,
encouraging and improving public transport system in developing and the developed world has
got wider attention and has become the central issue in transport planning.
Although the primary objectives maybe different, there is an increasing demand to improve the
performance of public transport both in developing and developed countries to make transport
systems sustainable. In the developed world, the primary objective of improving the performance
of this system is to shift modal share away from private car to reduce the negative side effects of
transportation on quality of life as propose by actors such as European Commission (Geerlings et
al. 2006). In the UK for example, encouraging modal transfer from the car to another more
sustainable form of transport is the key aim of the ten year plan for transport (DTLR 2002a,b)
cited by (Davison et al. 2006).
In developing countries however, the primary objective of public transport is to move large
numbers of people with considerable flexibility in other to meet mobility demand, particularly
access for employment throughout the city. However, existing public transport capacities in
developing countries do not satisfy the demand for a number of reasons: the quality of travel on
public transport is poor, roads are badly maintained and managed; and costs of travel are high for
the poor to make regular use of the public transport system, driver’s bad treatment, long and
undisciplined queues at bus stops, badly maintained and unreliable old vehicles and
crowdedness. Besides, public transport services have deteriorated despite the rapidly increasing
demand due to rapid growth in population and urbanization; low standards of efficiency,
reliability and safety, poor enforcement of regulations and shortage of money (Iles 2005).
2.2.1 Public transport efficiency indicators
Efficiency and performance measures in public transport are necessary to monitor progress
towards a result. Efficiency measures compare realize and optimal levels of outputs and inputs. It
is also important in terms of identifying and measuring sources of performance. Efficiency
measures can be used as means of evaluating recently realized or proposed extensive changes
towards increased deregulation, reorganization and privatization of public transport. Performance
measure provides information for decision on how to allocate resources and help to prioritize
improvement to the neediest area (NCHRP 2005).
Efficiency category
Description
Indicators
System efficiency
System efficiency is the ration of output to the
input consumed in the transportation process. It
depends on labor, financial, network and
utilization efficiency.
Accessibility
Mobility
Equity
productivity
Network
efficiency
operating
Network efficiency measures the ability of the
network support direct services between areas,
short distance flexibility and coverage.
Labor efficiency
Labor efficiency refers to the amount of labor
required to produces unit system output
Utilization efficiency
This compares the rate of resource (vehicle,
labor, line) utilization to the available capacity.
Finance efficiency
Finance efficiency refers to the amount of
investment required and/or gained to/from
produced unit system output,
Passenger volume
Vehicle-km
Infrastructure availability
Safety
Quality, comfort, conveniences
Continuity and balancing of lines
Operating flexibility
Integration with other modes
Cost of the system
Operating employee per vehicle-km
Passenger carried per day per total
number of employee
Number of workers employed in
maintenance shop per vehicle serviced
in it
Administrative staff employed per
operating bus.
Vehicle utilization
Vehicle breakdown in service
Fuel consumption per km
Vehicle capacity utilization
Line capacity utilization
Labor utilization
Operating cost per vehicle km
Operating cost per passenger trip
Revenue per vehicle-km
Revenue per vehicle-hr
Total revenue per total operating cost
Table 2.2.1 efficiency indicators
2.2.2 Quality of services
This refers to the level of comfort the service offer during travel. Some of these indicators are:
average network speed, waiting time, walking distance to the bus stop, journey time and
reliability.
→
a. Average network speed 𝑉𝑎𝑣
(km/h) must be computed as a weighted average by the
volume of service provided on different lines.
→
𝑉𝑎𝑣
=
∑𝑖 𝑊𝑖.𝑉𝑖
∑𝑖 𝑊𝑖
𝑉
𝑤
| 𝑘𝑚/ℎ || 𝑣𝑒ℎ−𝑘𝑚 | (Vuchic 2005)
b. Waiting time is the time passengers have to wait at the bus stops for buses. Longer
waiting times indicate poor adequacy.
c. Walking distance to the bus is the distance passengers have to walk to and from the bus
stops. It is an indicator of the coverage. For well-served urban areas it should be in the
range of 300 to 500m from home or work place.
d. Journey time is the total time spent to reach a destination from a given origin. It includes
the walking time, waiting time, on vehicle time and walking to the destination. It should
not be more than two to three hours per day.
e. Headways on lines represent another important element of service quality.
f. The reliability depends on the actual conditions of buses while they are circulating
indicators: average speed, volume capacity ratio, number of signals per kilometer and
number of bus stops per kilometer. Bus stop spacing needs trade-off between travel time
and walking distance. Too closely spaced stops will increase the delay and thereby the
total travel time. Schedule reliability can be computed as the percent of TU arrivals with
0-4 minute delays:
𝑅=
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑠 0−4𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑠
(Vuchic 2005)
The punctuality is affected by level of congestion. A reasonable goal in most operation is
for 90% of journey to operate on time, where this may be defined up to 5mins late for
service with frequencies up to 15mins, up to 10mins late for services with frequencies
between 15mins and 2hrs, up to 30mins late for services with frequencies of more than
2hrs (Iles 2005).
2.2.3 Productivity
Productivity of an economic unit is defined as the ratio of its output to its input and is a function
of many factors such as technology, efficiency, environment, etc. The output of public transport
is usually indicated as passenger-kilometers or daily passengers and standard inputs used in
analyzing public transit production function include number of workers and vehicles and
network length. Some of productivity indicators are stated below.
a. Passengers carried Per Vehicle Per Day (PPVPD); this is computed as total number of
passengers carried divided by total number of vehicles, and then divided by the number
of days in the period (Iles, 2005). It is an indicator of the level of patronage of a bus
service; it is influenced by vehicle capacity, length of operating day, length of route,
average distance travelled per passenger, total demand and the extent to which the
demand varies between peak and off peak periods, and the kilometers operated per bus
per day (Iles 2005).
b. Passenger-km; productivity of transport system is expressed by passenger-km
transported. It is computed when the passenger volume is multiplied by average trip
length. The passenger volume can either be taken from the maximum load section or
average volume along the line. The passengers travelling at a specific period of time,
usually an hour, past a fixed point in one direction assuming boarding and alighting only
at transit stops or stations can be computed as:
𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 = 𝑩 − 𝑨 = ∑𝒌𝒊=𝟏 𝒃𝒊 − ∑𝒌𝒊=𝟏 𝒂𝒊 (Vuchic 2005)
Where; a1=alighting at any station i, i=1…k
b1=boarding at any station i, i=1…k
A1=cumulative alighting along a line
B1=cumulative alighting along a line
c. Vehicle productivity; the work done by vehicles is given by vehicle-km. Vehiclekilometers are the total distance travelled by buses in services. A vehicle should be used
as intensively as possible, provided that sufficient traffic is available to cover the direct
costs of operation. A high KPVPD figure indicates intensive use though it does not
indicate the viability of the kilometer operated. Urban buses on all day service will
normally operate between 150 and 300 kilometers per day (Iles 2005).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1: RESEARCH DESIGN
A research design is the conceptual structure, within which research is been conducted. A
research design is a plan, structure and strategy of investigation, that guide the collection of data
and analysis in any research study Oni (2010). The main objective of the study is to provide a
detail analysis of the operational performance of K.S.T.A, therefore a statistical survey method is
adopted in conducting this study. The study should provide a suitable response on the technical
performance in term of terminal capacity, loading capacity and the available vehicles in
operation currently in the organization in the movement of passengers in the country, the
operational cost and revenue generated as well.
3.2: POPULATION AND SAMPLING
Population is defined as any group of people or objects with the smallest element of
characteristics that separates them from another group Oni (2010). The population of the study
covers the staff of the organization and also the masses that has been patronizing the services of
the organization directly or indirectly.
The study considered the two available terminals in the state currently operating on sixteen (16)
route lines i.e. from Kaduna – Port Harcourt, Kaduna – Yola, Kaduna – Katsina, Kaduna- Daura,
Kaduna- Sokoto, Kaduna- Maiduguri, Kaduna- Owerri, Kaduna – Enugu, and also there return
trip.
The period covered by this study ranges over a lifespan of ten years (2005-2015) and this is the
period covered by the cumulative data collected from both terminals.
3.3: SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
Sampling technique is referred to as a set of selecting a suitable sample of a part of the
population for the purpose of determining, the characteristics of the general public. It involves
the selection of a number of study units from a defined study area. A sample can be said to be a
small representation of a large area of interest. Sampling is done usually because it is impossible
to test every variable prior to the study area. The ideal scenario is to test all variable
characteristics of both terminals to obtain reliable, valid and accurate results since both terminals
function independently in operation, selection of routes and other factors affecting it. For the
dependent variables we considered the average number of passengers and the operational cost
and for our independent variables we will be considering number of employees, trips generated
per year terminal capacity per year, loading capacity per year, available vehicles and checking
counters and finally the revenue generated per year.
3.4: MATERIALS/INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION
A research instrument is refers to as any device or means constructed or designed for the
purpose of either recording as well as measuring of data. It is also a means of generating quotient
information that will be used in solving the research problems. The study adopted both primary
and secondary data. The primary source was achieved through physical observation and
interviews for the collection of data. The secondary data was sourced majorly from the
operations department and subsequently also from the traffic department of Kaduna state
transport authority (K.S.T.A.) which was obtained both manually and electronically from their
archives and documented data.
3.5: PROCEDURE FOR COLLECTION OF DATA
The primary data was collected using a systematic random sampling method at the major
K.S.T.A. terminals and a total of 100 copies of questionnaire were administered to commuters.
The questionnaire was divided into two sections; the first section elicited information on the
socio-economic characteristics of the respondents while the second section elicited information
on some explanatory variables that are relevant to the quality of service and operational
performance of K.S.T.A. An analysis of passengers' perception of K.S.T.A. and the challenges
encountered by its commuters was done; using two sets of variables. The first set of variables
include: safety/security, speed, fare structure, comfortability, and capacity, the second set of
variables includes: overloading, delay in the arrival of buses/inadequate number of buses,
inadequate maintenance, crew/tickers misbehavior, accident/breakdown and ease of ticket
purchase on a five point Likert Scale. Descriptive statistical method was employed for data
analysis.
The secondary data required in carrying out this study was collected from the following sources,
the operations department , the data include available vehicles in operation, the operational cost
and revenue generated per year for the period of 10years (2005-2015). The trip generation data is
gotten from the booking officer in the operations department in the person of. While the
terminal capacity, loading capacity available checking counters and also the average number of
passengers per year data is gotten from the station managers’ television terminal and U/sarki
terminal.
3.6: METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
The statistical analysis of the collected data was carried out using Statistical Package for Social
Science (SPSS). These were used to describe the demographic section and the commuter’s
perception on the operational performance of K.S.T.A. The variables as contained in the
questionnaire are: capacity (maximum number of people or transit vehicles that can be moved),
comfortability (the level of comfort before, and during the trip with respect to the facilities
provided such as the stations, fare collection system etc.); fare structure (the rate charged for a
particular trip), reliability (the extent to which passengers can rely on K.S.T.A to make trips),
safety/security (view on safe arrival and the rate of incidents and/or accidents of K.S.T.A
relatively to other commercial service), speed (fastness of the system in relation to other public
transport buses, travel Time (time to transit / time spent in the vehicle traveling), waiting Time (
time spent by passengers initially waiting to board).
A major portion of the results displayed in SPSS are explained in this chapter because these
results are associated with multiple linear regressions. It is the concept of using indicator
variables in regression models. Indicator variables are used to represent qualitative factors in
regression models. The concept of using indicator variables is important to gain an understanding
of ANOVA models, which are the models used to analyze the secondary data obtained from this
study. These models can be thought of as first order multiple linear regression models where all
the factors are treated as qualitative factors.
A linear regression model that contains more than one predictor variable is called a multiple
linear regression model. The following model is a multiple linear regression model with seven
predictor variables. 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 𝑥3 𝑥4 𝑥5 𝑥6 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑥7 .
Our number of outputs for this study (n) =2; y1=Average number of passengers, y2= operational
cost
And number of inputs (n) = x1=number of employees, x2=terminal capacity, x3= loading
capacity, x4= trip generation, x5= available checking counters, x6=available vehicles, x7= revenue
generated.
Mathematically can be represented in a linear model as follows:
𝑌 = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1 𝑥1 + 𝛽2 𝑥2 + 𝛽3 𝑥3 + 𝛽4 𝑥4 + 𝛽5 𝑥5 + 𝛽6 𝑥6 + 𝛽7 𝑥7 +∈
The model is linear because it is linear in its parameters 𝛽0 , 𝛽1 , 𝛽2 , 𝛽3 , 𝛽4 , 𝛽5 , 𝛽6 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝛽7 with the
intercept at 𝛽0 while the other parameters 𝛽1 , 𝛽2 , 𝛽3 , 𝛽4 , 𝛽5 , 𝛽6 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝛽7 are refers to as regression
coefficients. Parameter 𝛽1 represents the change in the mean response corresponding to a unit
change in 𝑥1 when 𝑥2 is held constant. Parameter 𝛽2 represents the change in the mean response
corresponding to a unit change in 𝑥2 when 𝑥1 is held constant.
Estimating Regression models using least squares
Consider a multiple linear regression model with K predictor variables
𝑌 = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1 𝑥1 + 𝛽2 𝑥2 + ⋯ + 𝛽𝑘 𝑥𝑘 +∈
Let each of the k predictor variables, 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 … 𝑥𝑘 .have 𝑛 levels. The 𝑥𝑖𝑗 represents the
𝑖 𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑗 𝑡ℎ predictor variable 𝑥𝑗 . For example 𝑥51 represents the fifth level of the first
predictor variable 𝑥1 , 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑥19 represents the first level of the ninth predictor variable ,𝑥9 .
Observations, 𝑦1 𝑦2 … 𝑦𝑛 recorded for each of these 𝑛 levels can be expressed in the following
way:
𝑦1 = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1 𝑥11 + 𝛽2 𝑥12 + ⋯ + 𝛽𝑘 𝑥1𝑘 +∈1
𝑦2 = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1 𝑥21 + 𝛽2 𝑥22 + ⋯ + 𝛽𝑘 𝑥2𝑘 +∈2
𝑦𝑖 = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1 𝑥𝑖1 + 𝛽2 𝑥𝑖2 + ⋯ + 𝛽𝑘 𝑥𝑖𝑘 +∈𝑖
𝑦𝑛 = 𝛽0 + 𝛽1 𝑥𝑛1 + 𝛽2 𝑥𝑛2 + ⋯ + 𝛽𝑘 𝑥𝑛𝑘 +∈𝑛
The system of n equations shown previously can be represented in matrix notations as follows:
𝑦 = 𝑋𝛽+∈
Where;
𝑦1
1
𝑦2
1
.
𝑦= . 𝑋=
.
[𝑦𝑛 ]
[1
𝑥11
𝑥21
. .
. .
. .
𝑥𝑛1
𝑥12 . . . 𝑥1𝑛
𝑥22 . . . 𝑥2𝑛
.
.
.
.
.
.
𝑥𝑛2 . . . 𝑥𝑛𝑛 ]
∈1
𝛽1
∈2
𝛽2
.
.
𝛽=
𝑎𝑛𝑑 ∈= .
.
.
.
[∈𝑛 ]
[𝛽𝑛 ]
The matrix 𝑋 is referred to as the design matrix. It contains information about the levels of the
predictor variable at which the observations are obtained. The vector 𝛽 contains all the
regression coefficients. To obtain the regression model, 𝛽 should be known. 𝛽 is estimated using
least square estimates. The following equation is used:
𝛽̂ = (𝑋 ′ 𝑋)−1 𝑋 ′ 𝑦
Where ′ represents the transpose of the matrix while -1 represents the matrix inverse. Knowing
the estimates, B the multiple linear regression model, can now be estimated as:
𝑦̂ = 𝑋𝛽̂
The estimated regression model is also referred to as the fitted model. The observations 𝑦𝑖 , may
be different from the fitted value 𝑦̂𝑖 obtained from this model. The difference between these two
values is the residuals, 𝑒𝑖 . The vector of residuals, , is obtained as :
𝑒 = 𝑦 − 𝑦̂
The fitted model can also be written as follows using:
𝛽̂ = (𝑋 ′ 𝑋)−1 𝑋 ′ 𝑦
𝑦̂
= 𝑋𝛽̂
= 𝑋(𝑋 ′ 𝑋)−1 𝑋 ′ 𝑦
= 𝐻𝑦
Where𝐻 = 𝑋(𝑋 ′ 𝑋)−1 𝑋 ′ . The matrix, 𝐻, is referred to as the hat matrix. It transforms the vector
of the observed response values,𝑦, to the vector of fitted values, 𝑦̂.
3.7: DATA PRESENTATION