The purpose of this qualitative study is to ascertain the expectations and perceptions of passengers using public transport undertakings. A sample of 200 respondents was selected for the study. The various dimensions that are considered include assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness, tangibles and comfort. The study reveals that there is highest gap in comfort dimension and lowest gap in responsiveness and empathy dimensions. Chi-square test has been used to compare the satisfaction of the respondents on the basis of gender and occupation. The test results reveal that the satisfaction is different for male and female passengers as well as across occupations of the passengers.

Transport facility is one of the important inputs for the economic development of any country. The socioeconomic activity of a country largely depends on the transportation systems and is recognized as an engine of growth for the long-term development of the country. For the movement of human beings, materials and various other resources from one place to another, it is necessary to have a speedy transportation system. Hence, transportation acts as a catalyst and forms the backbone of the economic growth. In India, the transport sector has received scant attention over the past few decades of the planning era. Though various transport modes are available, the road-based transport is the most popular mode of transport because of its peculiar advantages, such as flexibility, capital requirements, capacity, infrastructure, accessibility and adaptability, in addition to route, direction, time and speed. At the time of independence, the road transport activity was entirely in the hands of private operators, and the transport sector was completely fragmented and totally unorganized. There were several private operators competing among themselves and the quality of services rendered to the traveling public was also substandard. They tried to snatch each other’s traffic share. The main objective of the private operators was to make profits without any social concern. As a result, people at large were deprived of adequate transport services and there was large-scale exploitation of labor in this sector. Realizing the evils of uncoordinated and uncontrolled passenger road transport, the Government of India nationalized the bus transportation system in the country; accordingly a well-organized bus transport system was developed to serve the traveling public. In spite of various measures taken for the development of public transport, it has been incurring losses mainly due to dissatisfaction of travelling public regarding insufficient service quantity and terrible service quality. Hence, the present study is an attempt to know the quality of services offered to the traveling public in terms of their expectations and perceptions. The analysis used in the present study will help the authorities of transport undertakings to concentrate and develop more appropriate strategies in the areas where quality of service is poor, and on the basis of which a well-designed set of action can be taken for better performance of the transport undertakings.

Operations Management Journal, Expectations, Perceptions, Passengers, Service Quality, Reference, Public Transport, Undertakings, Instrument Development, Assurance, Empathy, Reliability, Responsiveness, Tangibles, and Comfort.