Contents
Undertaking i
Acknowledgments v
Abstract vii
Table of contents ix
List of figures xiii
List of tables ix
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background of the Study 1
1.2 Problem Statement 2
1.3 What is Service Quality? 3
1.4 Research Need 3
1.5 Aim of the Study 4
1.6 Objectives of the Study 4
1.7 Research Approach 4
1.8 Research Methodology 6
1.9 Scope 7
1.10 Limitations 7
2 Literature Review 9
2.1 Service Quality Concept 9
2.2 SERVQUAL Model / GAP Model 9
2.2.1 Determinants of the Service Quality by SERVQUAL (1985) 12
2.3 Derived Importance Methods 13
2.3.1 Factor Analysis 13
2.3.2 Exploratory Factor Analysis 14
2.3.3 Reliability Test 15
2.4 Previous studies 15
3 Study Area Profile - Surat 19
3.1 About Surat 19
3.2 Geographical Location 20
3.3 Socio-Demographic Profile 21
3.4 Economic Profile 21
3.5 TransportationinSurat. 21
3.6 Public Transit in Surat (Mass Transit) 22
3.6.1 Surat BRTS 23
3.6.2 City Bus Services 23
3.6.3 High Mobility Corridor 23
3.6.4 Operators running the city bus services under the Sitilink 24
3.6.5 Ridership of the bus services 24
4 Data Collection & Primary Survey 25
4.1 Questionnaire Formulation 26
4.2 Secondary Data 28
4.3 Primary Data 28
4.3.1 Survey Routes Selection 28
4.4 Survey Responses Characteristics 32
5 Data Analysis 33
5.1 Travel Characteristics Analysis 33
5.2 Evaluation Approach 36
5.3 Data Preparation 38
5.4 Overall Service Quality 38
5.5 Service Quality Perception 39
5.6 Service Quality Expectation 41
5.7 SERVQUAL Gap Analysis 44
6 Applicability of SERVQUAL method 47
6.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis – Bus services of Surat 47
6.1.1 Communalities 49
6.1.2 Component Extraction 50
6.1.3 Rotated Component Matrix 52
6.2 Results and Inferences of factor analysis 55
6.2.1 Reliability Analysis for revised dimensions 56
6.3 Influence of socio-economic characteristics on perception 56
6.4 Inferences & Way forward 57
7 Conclusions & Recommendations 61
8 References 63
Appendix 1: Literature Review ................................................................................lix
Appendix 2: Questionnaire Development..............................................................lxiv
Appendix 3: Factor Analysis..................................................................................lxxv
Appendix 4: Gap Analysis.................................................................................. lxxviii