Strategic Service Quality Challenges Within Metrorail in the Western Cape by NKOSINATHI THEMBINKOSI SKOSANA Submitted in Partia

Strategic service quality challenges within Metrorail in the Western Cape

NKOSINATHI THEMBINKOSI SKOSANA

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

In the Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

SUPERVISOR:

PROF C. ADENDORFF

DATE: NOVEMBER 2019

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am truly grateful and hereby express my gratitude to the following people that have carried me to this point:

 To Our Heavenly Father who has given me strength, purpose and will to go through this wonderful journey. Glory is thy name.

 No man is complete without the support, strength and love of a strong woman by his side. To the love of my life, Nontsapho, thank you for the support and understanding throughout this journey. Thank you for taking care of the family when I was submerged in books.

 To my research supervisor, Prof C. Adendorff, thank you for the guidance and encouragement and most importantly your patience. It has been a great learning curve and I thank you for your time and taking part on this journey. I was truly blessed to have you as my supervisor.

 To Sinethemba Mnukwa, for your extraordinary patience, continued encouragement, support and the endless administrative duties. It has been a hectic 2 years and I cannot thank you enough.

 To my syndicate group MBACT17.1 members, C Nkomo, W. Damba, R. Whittaker and J.Tefu. Thank you for all the energy, selfless dedication and support. We came into this journey as strangers and we leave as a family, much love.

 To my baby sister Lerato Mtsweni, thank you for all the midnight calls and encouragement when times were tough.

 To Xola Mayeki, Chumani Stemele, Musa Mosweni my heartfelt appreciation for your assistance with the distribution and capturing of questionnaires.

ABSTRACT

Service quality has become a major area of attention for organisations as there is proven research that highlights a strong link between business performance, customer loyalty, profitability and customer satisfaction. Therefore, understanding factors that influences the organisations service quality becomes vital for managements (Fukey & Issac, 2014). According to (Kotler, 1991), the main objective of any transport organisation is to achieve passenger satisfaction and loyalty, as well as a superior quality service which is envisioned to keep the service provider at a competitive position in the field of passenger transportation.

The primary research problem in this study is to understand perceived service quality challenges within Metrorail Western Cape. The study employs a modified SERVPERF models in developing a model suitable for testing the perception of commuter in public rail transport. In order to assess this, the study adopts a Positivistic view with the aim to produce quantifiable data, through the use of large samples and the testing of hypotheses.

The study is quantitative in principle. Quantitative study supports the use of surveys as a means of data collection and because the data is quantitative, this allows the use of rigorous statistical analyses in order come to a conclusion or finding. The results of this are of a descriptive nature and can easily be used to infer to a larger population.

The key findings indicate that according to the perception of commuters, Metrorail service quality is below the expected levels. The major arears of importance for commuters in Western Cape are safety, communications and reliability of the service.

iii

Table of Content

DECLARATION ...... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... i

ABSTRACT ...... iii

LIST OF FIGURES ...... viii

LIST OF TABLES ...... ix

ABBREVIATIONS ...... x

CHAPTER 1: SCOPE OF THE STUDY ...... 1

1.1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT ...... 2

1.3. THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ...... 4

1.4. THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...... 4

1.5. THE HYPOTHESES ...... 4

1.6. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY ...... 5

1.6.1. The research paradigm...... 5 1.6.2. Sampling design ...... 6 1.6.3. Measuring instrument ...... 7 1.7. TERMINOLOGY- ...... 8

1.7.1. Accessibility ...... 8 1.7.2. Service Availability ...... 8 1.7.3. Functional Aesthetics ...... 9 1.7.4. Communication ...... 9 1.7.5. Service Responsiveness ...... 9 1.7.6. Service Reliability ...... 9 1.7.7. Safety ...... 9 1.8. OUTLINE OF THE STUDY ...... 10

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 12

2.1. INTRODUCTON ...... 12

2.2. BACKGROUND OF PUBLIC RAILTRANSPORT ...... 12

2.3. MEANING OF SERVICE QUALITY ...... 15

2.4. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ...... 16

2.5. SERVICE QUALITY MEASUREMENT STRATEGIES ...... 18

2.6. DETERMINANTS OF SERVICE QUALITY ...... 23

2.6.1. Service Accessibility ...... 23

2.6.2. Service Availability ...... 26

2.6.3. Functional Aesthetics ...... 28

2.6.4. Communication ...... 31

2.6.5. Corrective Responsiveness...... 33

2.6.6. Service Reliability ...... 34

2.6.7. Safety Management ...... 36

2.7. SUMMARY ...... 38

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH PARIDIGM AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...... 39

3.1. INTRODUCTION ...... 39

3.2. THE RESEARCH PARADIGM ...... 40

3.2.1. Positivist paradigm ...... 41 3.2.2. Interpretivist Paradigm ...... 41 3.3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...... 43

3.3.1. Research Design ...... 43 3.3.2. Research Methodology ...... 44 3.3.3. Summary of the Methodological Paradigm of the study ...... 46 3.3.4. Sampling ...... 47 3.4. SAMPLE SIZE ...... 49

3.5. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT ...... 50

3.5.1. Validity of the Measuring Instrument ...... 57 3.5.2. Reliability of the Measuring Instrument ...... 59 3.5.3. The Pilot study ...... 59 3.5.4. Data collection process...... 60 3.6. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ...... 62

3.6.1. Ethical Principles and Responsibility ...... 62 3.6.2. Institutional Approval ...... 62 3.7. SUMMARY ...... 63

CHAPTER 4: EMPIRICAL RESULTS AND DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS RESULTS ... 64

4.1. INTRODUCTION ...... 64

4.2. DATA ANALYSIS ...... 65

4.2.1. Demographical Data ...... 65 4.3. QUALITY OF DATA ...... 74

4.3.1. Reliability ...... 74 4.3.2. Validity ...... 76 4.4. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS...... 76

4.5. PEARSON’S CORRELATION COEFFICIENT ...... 85

4.6. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDEPENDENT VARIABLES TO THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE ...... 88

4.7. ACCEPTANCE OR REJECTION OF THE HYPOTHESES...... 89

4.8. SUMMARY OF EMPIRICAL FINDINGS ...... 91

4.9. SUMMARY ...... 92

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 93

5.1. INTRODUCTION ...... 93

5.2. OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY ...... 93

5.3. MAIN CONCLUSIONS AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS ...... 96

5.3.1. Service Accessibility ...... 96 5.3.2. Service Availability ...... 97 5.3.3. Functional Aesthetics ...... 98 5.3.4. Communication ...... 99 5.3.5. Service Reliability ...... 100 5.3.6. Corrective Responsiveness ...... 101 5.3.7. Safety Management ...... 102 5.4. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ...... 104

5.5. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ...... 104

5.6. CONCLUSION ...... 105

6. REFERENCES ...... 106

ANNEXURE 1: PERMISSION TO CONDUCT STUDY AT METRORAIL WESTERN CAPE COVERING LETTER ...... 125

ANNEXURE 2: QUESTIONEER COVERING LETTER ...... 128

ANNEXURE 3: MEASURING INSTRUMENTS ...... 130

ANNEXURE 4: ETHICS CLEARANCE. FORM E ...... 137

ANNEXURE 5: TURNITIN REPORT (SIMILARITY INDEX PAGE) ...... 140

ANNEXURE 6: LETTER FROM DOCUMENT EDITOR ...... 142

ANNEXURE 7: PERMISSION TO SUBMIT FOR EXAMINATION ...... 144

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: The hypothesised relationships to improve service quality...... 5

Figure 4. 1: Which of Metrorail Corridors do you use? ...... 65 Figure 4. 2: Please indicate your Age...... 66 Figure 4. 3: Please Indicate your Gender ...... 67 Figure 4. 4: Please Indicate your Race ...... 67 Figure 4. 5: Please indicate your level of Education ...... 68 Figure 4. 6: Please indicate your employment status ...... 69 Figure 4. 7: Please indicate your income group ...... 70 Figure 4. 8: How long have you used the Train? ...... 71 Figure 4. 9: Please indicate which ticket do you buy ...... 72 Figure 4. 10: Please indicate which is most important to you ...... 73 Figure 4. 12: Descriptive statistics on service accessibility ...... 77 Figure 4. 13: Descriptive statistics on service availability ...... 78 Figure 4. 14: Descriptive statistics on functional aesthetics ...... 79 Figure 4. 15: Descriptive statistics on communication ...... 80 Figure 4. 16: Descriptive statistics on corrective responsiveness ...... 81 Figure 4. 17: Descriptive statistics on service reliability ...... 82 Figure 4. 18: Descriptive statistics on safety management ...... 83 Figure 4. 19: Descriptive statistics on perceived service quality ...... 84 Figure 4. 20: Summary of the relationship between the variables ...... 88 Figure 4. 21: Recommended model for measuring perceived success of service quality in public rail transport ...... 91

viii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3. 1: Example of calculated margins of error vs. sample size ...... 49 Table 3. 2: Items measuring Service Accessibility ...... 52 Table 3. 3: Items measuring Service Availability ...... 53 Table 3. 4: Items measuring Communication ...... 53 Table 3. 5: Items measuring Functional Aesthetics ...... 54 Table 3. 6: Items measuring Corrective Responsiveness ...... 55 Table 3. 7: Items measuring Service Reliability ...... 55 Table 3. 8; Items measuring Safety Management ...... 56 Table 3. 9; Items measuring Service Quality ...... 56

Table 4. 1: Reliability of the measuring instrument by the Cronbach’s alpha ...... 74 Table 4. 2: Pearson’s correlation coefficients ...... 85 Table 4. 3: Descriptive statistics: comparison between corridors ...... 87

ABBREVIATIONS

PRASA Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa

SOE State Owned Enterprise

RSR Railways Safety Regulator

SERVQUAL Service Quality Measurement Framework

CoCT City of Cape Town

CEO Chief Executive Officer

MTTR Mean Time To Repair

CER Central European Railway and Infrastructure Companies

UIC International Union of Railways

CIT International Rail Transport Committee

CCTV Close Circuit Television

CHAPTER 1: SCOPE OF THE STUDY

1.1. INTRODUCTION

Metrorail is South Africa’s biggest passenger and commuter rail services, owned by Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), a State Owned Enterprise (SOE) under the auspices of the Department of Transport. Their primary mandate in accordance with the Legal Succession Act to SATS Act (Act 9 of 1989) is to ensure that, at the request of the National Department of Transport or any sphere of government, rail commuter services are provided in the public interest, and to promote rail as the primary mode of mass commuter transportation (PRASA).

Metrorail, transporting over 1, 7 million passengers on weekdays in major Metropolitans is made out of Four Regions, namely: Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The four Regions combined occupy about 478 stations with a fleet of over 270 train sets making up to 3100 coaches with each coach carrying more than 100 people.

Between January 2017 and April 2017, Metrorail has lost 140 coaches because of the theft of critical components, vandalism and arson, disguised as service related protests. As a result, PRASA is not able to sustain the service quality promised to consumers.

The worst affected of the regions of Metrorail is the Western Cape. This region continues to experience devastating acts of criminality and vandalism with Cape Town station set alight in 2017, trains torched inside the station platforms and assets vandalized. The total damage to train carriages out of service due to arson since March 2016, in this region alone, currently stands at 66 carriages. 487 coaches were also vandalism during this period. All of these incidences have had an impact on the customer, with a reduction of service from 701 to 677 trains per day; leading to cancellations and the introduction of shorter trains (Transport, 2017).

Based on the severity and impact on service in the Western Cape as shown above, this study will focus on its attentions on this region.

1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT

Railway service is a strategic aspect to reduce congestion on highways and other means of transport, especially in densely populated areas, and to provide an eco- friendly and sustainable way of transport. For railway service to attract new customers from other transport modes, rail operators need to defined challenging targets in terms of Quality of Service that should be provided to their customers (D'Ariano, Pacciarelli, & Sama, 2017).

Railway is the backbone of public transport in Cape Town and the disruptions have affected thousands of commuters who have had to resort to other modes of transport at extra cost. In recent times, Metrorail has experienced sustained acts of vandalism in attacks against its infrastructure (trains, buildings and signalling systems) and more recently towards its human capital such as train drivers, ticketing staff and protection services in the region of the Western Cape. These sustained attacks on vital components of Metrorail’s resources have almost crippled the parastatal in its efforts to offer to their commuters a reliable and safe service as stipulated in the company’s mission statement.

PRASA reports that as the result of extensive, ongoing incidences of vandalism and theft of its assets, they have experienced severe service challenges which impact on the delivery of quality service, threatened passenger safety and cost the operator some R331-million, which is money they could hardly afford to lose (Odendaal, 2016).

To date, Metrorail in the Western Cape has suspended the central line, one of its largest and busiest corridor lines, from operation after relentless attacks on its infrastructure and, more importantly, the violent killing of its staff members. The central line is vital to

the Western Cape economy because it transports millions of passengers on a daily basis and these are commuters from poor backgrounds who need the service the most (Vilakazi & Govender, 2014).

The effects of poor customer service ripple far beyond the revenue lost from a single customer. Customers are the basis of success for any business, and if customers are not treated right then the business can lose its reason for existence. Once a business is known for poor customer service, it becomes difficult to repair the image. The results from this can go beyond loss of customer it can result in staff turnover (Burch, 2018). Considering that bad experiences are habitually shared online, this can quickly tarnish the image of the organisation for prospective clients. Customer satisfaction holds significant importance in business because without satisfied and loyal customers, there is no business. A single unsatisfied customer can send away more business from an organization than 10 highly satisfied customers bring into the organisation (Mohsan, Nawaz, & Khan, 2011).

It is therefore clear that customer dissatisfaction can impact a company for the worse. According to (Entrepreneurship, 2016), organisations need to identify continuously what makes customers unhappy and prevent it from happening. Some of the common causes of customer dissatisfaction are: the inability to contact the service provider (availability), poor accessibility, bad quality of products or services and the inability of service provide to value customer opinions.

This paper aims to investigate the passengers’ perceptions about the success of service quality of rail transport system offered by Metrorail Western Cape. A SERVPERF instrument including seven service quality determinants: availability, accessibility, responsiveness, reliability, communication, function aesthetics and safety management were employed to measure the passengers” perceptions about the service quality.

1.3. THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The primary objective of the study was to explore the possible challenges that impact the delivery of service quality within Metrorail in the Western Cape. The evaluation of this objective will be mainly against a set of variables that have influence on perceived success of service quality. More specifically, the primary objective is to investigate the role in which variables, such as accessibility, availability, communication, functional aesthetics, responsiveness, reliability and safety management play in influencing the customers perceived service quality and how these can be leveraged by Metrorail Western Cape to improve the customer satisfaction.

1.4. THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In order to achieve the above-mentioned primary objective, the following secondary research objectives will be pursued:

 Gain understanding of the importance of customer service to passengers travelling of Metrorail Western Cape.  Explore the impact of good and poor customer service on passengers.  Establish in priority order the most valued quality service determinant for the commuter as perceived by commuters of Western Cape.

1.5. THE HYPOTHESES

H1: Perceived Service Accessibility has a positive relationship on service quality.

H2: Perceived Service Availability has a positive relationship on service quality.

H3: Perceived Communication has a positive relationship on service quality

H4: Perceived Functional Aesthetics has a positive relationship on service quality.

H5: Perceived Service Responsiveness has a positive relationship on service quality.

H6: Perceived Service Reliability has a positive relationship on service quality.

H7: Perceived Safety Management has a positive relationship on service quality.

Figure 1.1: The hypothesised relationships to improve service quality

1.6. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

1.6.1. The research paradigm A paradigm defines the researcher’s theoretical inclination and has significant associations to every resolution made in the research process. This includes the choice of methodology and the design (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017). According to (Cooper & Schindler, 2011 ), there are two main paradigms namely, the positivistic approach and interpretivist approach. 5

The Interpretivism paradigm establishes the intellectual beliefs and philosophies that shape how the researcher views the world and how they interpret and behave within the world (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017). The Interpretivism paradigm predominantly uses qualitative methods (Nind & Todd, 2011).

The Positivism paradigm hinges on quantifiable observations that lead to statistical analyses. It has been noted that “as a philosophy, positivism is in accordance with the empiricist view that knowledge stems from human experience” (Dudovskiy, 2018): Therefore, based on the latter, the positivistic paradigm supports the use of quantitative research method (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017).

This study employs a positivism paradigm with the aim to produce quantitative data through the use of large samples and the testing of hypotheses.

1.6.2. Sampling design

The targeted sample participants for the study will comprise of persons older than 18 years of age, each of which is a user of Metrorail’s services whether as a single, weekly or monthly ticket holder from the central corridor. Scholars are excluded from the survey for the reason that their maturity levels are not sufficient to give unbiased responses.

When the target population is a general classification, found everywhere and not accurately defined, then convenient sampling is used (Alviv, 2016). Metrorail train commuters or passengers in the Western Cape are a broad and general category, with no recorded list of all users on the Western Cape Metrorail system or any other platform. The sample for the study will be 384 train commuters from the all three corridors by use of convenient sampling to sample the population.

1.6.3. Measuring instrument

The study made use closed-ended questions limit the answers of the respondents to response options provided on the questionnaire, either a yes or no response or from a set of possible options (BusinessDictionary, 2019). Close-ended questions are ideal for quantitative type of research because they can easily be analysed statistically, they are time efficient, and the responses are easy to code and interpret. The question type also has known disadvantages namely, the respondents are required to choose a response that does not exactly reflect their answer, and secondly the researcher cannot further explore the meaning of the responses (Farrell, 2016).

The Measuring instrument n this study is by means of a questionnaire that is anchored to a five point Likert scale ranging from (1) representing strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) neutral, (4) agree and (5) which represents strongly agree. The Measuring instrument was developed with the assistance of a qualified statistician with extensive research questionnaire design and testing.

Each question of the questionnaire has a number of possible answers. These answers are coded using a numerical system to represent a response given by the respondent. Each set of coded values will be recorded on an Excel spreadsheet using an alphanumerical prefix system, which will include a prefix code followed by a number to indicate the position of the question in that particular independent variable from the hypothesised model.

The following is an example of such coding (TANG01) which will represent the tangibility variable and question 1 of this variable.

There are numerous reasons to adhere to ethical norms in research. More importantly ethical norms promote the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. They prohibitions against fabricating, falsifying, or misrepresenting research data, promotes the truth and minimize errors (Resnik, Miller, & Elliot, 2015).

The study will strive to protect confidential communications and privacy, and will avoid discrimination against respondents on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or other factors not related to scientific competence and integrity. The study will also undertake honesty in all reported data, results, methods and procedures. It will strive to avoid bias data analysis and interpretation.

1.7. TERMINOLOGY-

According to the determinants of Service Quality as prescribed by European Committee for standards, the following concepts are clarified below:

1.7.1. Accessibility Service accessibility refers to the ability of people to reach services, events which are the end definitive objective of any transport service (Litiman, 2017). Accessibility is a critical element in transport topography, since it is a direct manifestation of mobility by the consumers (Rodgrigue, 2017).

1.7.2. Service Availability Service availability is the ratio of time a system or component is functional to the total time it is required or expected to function. This can be expressed as a direct proportion or as a percentage. It can also be expressed in terms of average downtime over a period of time (Spacey, 2017). According to (Katukoori, 2013), Availability has numerous meanings and methods of being calculated depending upon its use.

Availability is defined as “a percentage measure of the degree to which system and equipment is in an operable and committable state at the point in time when it is needed.”

1.7.3. Functional Aesthetics Functional aesthetics relates to overall feeling about service received. This extends to crowding, cleanliness and any other requirements introduced for the purpose of making public transportation trip as comfortable as is practically imaginable (Anderson & Condry, 2013).

1.7.4. Communication Communication is very essential for human existence. It is a medium of sending and receiving information through several means and it is a vital feature for society, without which it would not be possible to make informed decisions about events and occurrences (Etim, 2017). Improved communication with customers extends to the language the organisation uses in announcements to the customer, the type of content and the accuracy of the transmitted information.

1.7.5. Service Responsiveness Service responsiveness involves the willingness of the staff to assist customers and provide quick service (Lee & Moghavvemi, 2015). According to (Wroblewski, 2018), being responsive means providing fast, friendly, knowledgeable service to you customers. (Saghier, 2015), defines responsiveness as “the degree to which service providers are willing to help customers and provide prompt service”.

1.7.6. Service Reliability Service reliability can be defined as providing a service that is consistent, accurate and dependable and delivering on the promises. According to (Omar, 2015), reliability is the ability to make the customers trust that the organisation will perform what is promised. This includes accurate delivery of service and being truthful about service offering.

1.7.7. Safety Safety can refer to taking actions to reduce or eliminate risks of accidents (ITF, 2018). Safety and security are of central concern for transport, both as the basis of a citizen’s

right to travel without fear and as a condition for the reliable and efficient transport of goods (International Transport Forum, 2018).

1.8. OUTLINE OF THE STUDY

The study will have five (5) chapters that will form part of the full document. The arrangement and classification of chapters will be as follows:

Chapter 1

This will be mainly the Introduction of the study topic, outline of the research problem, the problem statement including the research questions, the hypothesised model and including the methodology description of the study.

Chapter 2

This chapter will discuss service quality as an independent variable in the form of literature review, and will discuss the concept of service quality as perceived by the customer, the determinants of service quality and the strategies to improving service quality.

This chapter will also look to expand on the hypothesis and the conceptual framework model for service quality to be used to create the measuring tool.

Chapter 3

This chapter will describe in detail the methodology of the study, which will include the criteria of sample selection, demographics and sample size calculation. Included will also be the measurement instrument to be utilized in the collection of data, the method of capturing and analysis of the data and the tool that will be used in the process.

Chapter 4

This chapter will focus on the data analysis and interpretation of the descriptive results for the study. The chapter will also look at hypothesis testing and then highlight the relationship of the service determinants to the perceived service quality in Metrorail Western Cape.

Chapter 5

This is the conclusion and recommendations discussion chapter. This is based on the findings from the data gathered. The chapter will also describe the study findings, the limitations and possible areas of exploration in future studies.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. INTRODUCTON

In Chapter 1, the introduction of the research problem was introduced, highlighting the current status and challenges faced by Metrorail Western Cape Region. The extent of the problem was stated and the implications for the management of the rail agency to the current trends in the region were stated. We stated how it could possibly cripple the running of service if no actions are taken to redress the situation.

Chapter Two will the look at available literature studies on the topic of Public Transportation and the quality of service offered to passengers with the intention to develop strategies to improve customer satisfaction. The chapter evaluates literature study. This includes the conceptualisations of dependent and independent variables, their importance and measurement, theoretical evidence (from previous studies) to substantiate hypothesised relationships among variables. The outcome of this will deepen the argumentation of improving service quality and will result in the development of a hypothesised model.

According to (Stejerean, 2016), the first step of improving service quality is to start measuring service quality; it is difficult to improve that which cannot measured. The next step is to identify gaps between the customers’ perception of service quality and the service provider’s desired level of performance. The final step is to use this new found information to look for ways to improve service quality

2.2. BACKGROUND OF PUBLIC RAILTRANSPORT

Public transport is a commonly used term to describe a transport system made available to the general public (Glover, 2011). According (Stjernborg & Mattisson, 2016), public transport is primarily the responsibility of local government. This

responsibility is divided between countries/regions and municipalities. Public transportation provides service for every person, whereas private vehicles and cars can only be used by those who own them.

Understanding what constitutes public transport is essential in understanding the respective roles of public transport system from government to private (Glover, 2011). In South Africa, the landscape of transportation is such that both the rich and the poor are bound by the conventional transport system with no viable alternatives against the rising fuel prices, no alternative to the low standard and inefficient public transport system (Pillay, 2001).

According to (Onderwater & Kishoon, 2017), transport in itself is not the purpose rather the means to get involved in economic and social activities. This then means travelling has a different purpose which includes shuttling between work and home. This can be characterised under economic activities and travels for social & leisure purposes.

Public transport systems are important services to the sustainability, equity and livability of any city or province. In fact, during the past decade, transportation planning has shifted its focus from car mobility goals to embrace broader environmental and social goals, in particular, by providing and improving transport choices that offer access to destinations despite of private car ownership (Diab, Badami, & El-Geneidy, 2015). Public transport offers long-term sustainability for metropolitans in term of lessening of highway traffic overcrowdings and environmental emission reduction; this also enhances systemic mobility whilst decreasing the economic burden which is caused by increasing the private use of motor vehicles. Public transport further affords mobility to those who have no access to private motor vehicles (Saghapour, 2016). However, According to (Sharma & Reddy, 2017), people are more orientated against the use public transport, therefore providing a decent standard of service quality will assist in creating a shift in the perception and increase the willingness of people to use public transport.

The ideal public transport service would carry the passenger directly from their point of origin to the final destination. In South Africa, there are two different service providers of passenger train systems, each catering for different target markets and offering different quality levels of service. The Gautrain is a modern rapid rail system in Gauteng that caters for more middleclass, business traveler and tourists to the OR Tambo Airport, whilst Metrorail caters for medium to low income groups, the working class and the poor population of the country.

Public transport faces severe challenges in every country and even every metropolitan city of the developing world. In South Africa, inadequate consideration has been paid to addressing passenger needs; quality is perceived as a “nice to have” instead of receiving the attention it deserves (Vilakazi & Govender, 2014).

According to (Vilakazi & Govender, 2014), Metrorail as an organisation has not adequately evolved and it is still reeling from the legacy of past railway culture and legacy systems. These factors, coupled with reduced subsidy from the government stifle innovation, competitiveness and reduce service quality (Bosch C. , 2009). According to (Mokonyama, 2012), South African public transport service quality requires urgent improvements as it affects mostly the poorer members of the community who rely on public transport as means to access economic activities.

The delivery of a safe, accessible and affordable public transport system is an essential requirement for the socio-economic improvement of the South African population (Thomas D. P., 2016). However, it must be considered that rail transportation requires greater investment to implement and maintain. Despite this, on the positive side, the return it offers is greater quality of transportation and a long-lasting service as compared to the bus systems (Vilakazi & Govender, 2014).

Rail transport can be one of the most reliable means of transportation for passengers and in developing countries. This is mainly due to the fact that rail transport is comparatively cheaper, convenient and can accommodate the needs of the poor society (Francis & Richards, 2017). According to (Olievschi, 2013), the ever increasing volumes

of traffic on the roads is not sufficient reason for a railway system to be the preferred mode of travel, neither is it also central enough to make the service competitive. This then means that only when the railway systems provide quality transport services (availability, punctuality, price, etc.) will they become superior to the competition (of buses and private vehicles). Only then can the railway systems become an attractive alternative for transferring part of the existing road traffic to rail.

2.3. MEANING OF SERVICE QUALITY

The quality of service can be defined as the degree of conformity of the service presented for the intended purpose (Ceran & Esen, 2018). It is generally accepted that quality means different things to different people (Handrinos, Folinas, & Rotsios, 2015). The quality of a service can be understood as an abstract and comparative value which is defined in many ways because it is composed of an objective part and a subjective portion (Cusatelli & Troisi, 2016). According to the transcendent view, quality means excellence. It is a mark of uncompromising standards and highest achievement. In a consumer related view quality is compared with satisfaction. The highest quality means the best satisfaction of consumers’ preferences (Yarimoglu, 2014).

Service quality has become a major area of attention for organisations as there is proven research that highlights a strong link between business performance, customer loyalty, profitability and customer satisfaction. Therefore, understanding factors that influence the organisations service quality becomes vital for managements (Fukey & Issac, 2014). Quality is one of the key parameters in order to measure the performance of the products or services and an important indicator of organisational performance (Irfan, Shahbaz, & Kee, 2012).

Quality of services in railway transport can be determined by the existing level of service quality, by detecting the causes of dissatisfaction of customers in order to uncover strengths and weaknesses (Nedeliakova, Camaj, & Masek, 2015). According to (Irfan, Shahbaz, & Kee, 2012), customer perception of a service plays a significant role in

order to measure service quality and is vital to gain customer satisfaction, loyalty and increased market share.

According to (Onderwater & Kishoon, 2017), the quality of a transport system is usually measured in respect of time (time to travel from point A to point B) and can also translate to monetary value. While (Sharma & Reddy, 2017), urge that public transportation is a critical service which is needed by most citizens in any country or metropole. The rise in private vehicle ownership thus creates even a bigger challenge for public transport providers to improve their service offering in order to meet commuters’ requirements and to attract new commuters. Assessment of service quality in public transportation systems is critical in improving efficiency, growth in profits and overall increase in customer satisfaction (Dehghani & Kheirkhah, 2017). The cost of poor service can amount to huge monetary losses, as customers choose to use alternative service from competitors, and the organisation suffers. Included in the loss in revenue there is also the cost associated with customer replacements. This means gaining new customers to fill the gap left by the previous ones that were lost (Sourmunen, 2017)

2.4. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Customer satisfaction is one of the common terms used in the field of marketing. It is fundamentally a measure of whether or not customers of a business are satisfied with some service or product. It is defined as the number of customers whose reported experience with an organisation, its service or product exceeds specified satisfaction objectives (Osman & Sentosa, 2013). Customer satisfaction takes on the strategic role in ascertaining any variances between level of customers’ perception and customer expectation, with the variance expressing the level of non-quality of the system (Cusatelli & Troisi, 2016).

One of the main elements influential in customer satisfaction is the customer’s perception of service quality. Customer satisfaction is defined as the result of an assessment of the customers’ expectations and the subsequent perceived performance of service quality (Herington & Weaver, 2009). According to (Belas & Gabcova, 2016), customer satisfaction can lead to customer loyalty since people are inclined to be rational and risk-adverse. Hence they might have a tendency to reduce risk and stay with the service providers based on previous superior service experience. In fact, customer satisfaction has been advocated to be an antecedent of loyalty in service based on previous studies, this view is also expressed by (Coelho & Henseler, 2012).

Customer satisfaction is also defined as a measure of the extent to which products/services supplied by a company meet or exceed customer expectation (Poku & Zakari, 2013). This definition forms the basis of the application of the disconfirmation Model, which is a theoretical construct for measuring customer satisfaction. The disconfirmation Model explains the association of customer expectations with the perceived performance ratings of a service or product (Ganiyu, 2012). More exactly, customer’s expectations are confirmed when a service/product performs as expected and it is negatively confirmed when a service/product performs poorly than expected. More specifically, (Burns & Bowling, 2010), argue that perceptual procedures are among the instruments through which disposition can influence consumer satisfaction. This means that individual’s sentimental outlook may prejudice how they perceive a service or product quality. While, According to (Wilson & Zeithaml, 2012), consumers can also have influence on each other in relation to customer satisfaction. This means satisfying encounters with associated customers can add favorably to the service experience and seems to enrich perceptions of service quality as well.

Customer satisfaction indexes are an excellent indicator to measure the levels of satisfaction from the perceptive of the customers, because, on the one hand, it can measure the degree of satisfaction of the commuters’ needs, but it also provides the degree of proficiency level associated to a particular corrective action (Cusatelli & Troisi, 2016).

2.5. SERVICE QUALITY MEASUREMENT STRATEGIES

In an attempt to improve service, many studies have been conducted in many service industries and strategies developed to measure service determinant and development of improvement strategies. According to (Yucel, 2013), A number of models have been developed due to the difficulty in definition and performance measurement of service quality as an abstract concept. The best known among these models are the Grönroos Model developed by Grönroos in 1984, SERVQUAL Model, which was developed by Parasuraman et al. in (1985), and the SERVPERF model developed by Cronin and Taylor in 1992.

According (Fukey & Issac, 2014), total quality management (TQM), six sigma and service quality are amongst the most common and widely accepted strategies to measure service quality. According to (Govender, 2014), the commonly used model to measure the customer’s perception of service quality are the regional estuarine and costal systems of Americas (RECSA) developed by McKnight et al. 1986. The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) in 2002 developed the EN 13816 Standard, which covers service quality standards in public transportation and is used as a guide to determine public transport service quality level (Kaynarca & Ekmekçi, 2017). In addition, methods such as Service Barometer, Critical Events Method, Benchmarking, Total Quality Index and Group Interview Method can also be considered as other methods used in the measurement of service quality (Yucel, 2013).

There is evidence in literature that there are various methods and standards across industries to measure the level of service quality, however, the most commonly used methods are SERVQUAL, SERVPERF, RECSA and EN13816 standard.

The EN13816 standard

The first strategy to be analysed is EN13816 standard. The main objective of EN 13816 Standard is to improve quality approaches towards public transport and to focus on

customer need and expectations. “This standard is guidance for definition of service quality in public transportation, setting aims, ensuring measurement and selecting suitable measurement method” (CEN, 2002).The EN 13816 standard is used in public transportation to measure customer’s perception of service quality by assessing eight main criteria: availability, accessibility, information, time, customer care, comfort, security and environmental impact (Kaynarca & Ekmekçi, 2017). According to (Pongjirawut, Techapeeraparnich, & Dilokkhunanan, 2017), The EN 13816 standard is the most comprehensive performance measurement aspect of service quality in transportation sector, accepted worldwide. (Ing, 2014), Supports that the EN 13816 standard is one of the widely accepted standards for measuring the quality of public passenger transportation amongst countries in Europe. Utilising 8 measurement criteria namely; availability, accessibility, information, time, customer care, comfort, security and environmental impact

The EN13816 standard, using its eight criteria was used to assess customer perceived service quality in Thailand Railways (Pongjirawut, Techapeeraparnich, & Dilokkhunanan, 2017), used in six other sectors area of services (maintenance, recreational diving, funeral services, transportation, removals and translation) (Stroyen & Brown, 2012).

The SERVQUAL Model

In an attempt to address the challenge to measure service quality, a scale based upon the utilisation of ten (10) elements was developed by (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1985), based upon a succession of focus group interviews, which could be used to measure service quality perceptions. The SERVQUAL proposes that quality service is a function of the differences between the expected and the perceived service which is measured along generic quality dimensions.

The SERVQUAL model was originally intended for use by service firms and retailers. However, while most organisations will provide some form of customer service, it is really only service industries that are interested in understanding and measuring service

quality. Therefore, SERVQUAL takes a wider perspective of service; far beyond simple customer service (Adil, Mohammad, & Ghaswyneh, 2013). The SERVQUAL model has been branded by its creators as a simple and comprehensive multi-dimensional measuring scale that has good reliability and validity in its results (Handrinos, Folinas, & Rotsios, 2015).

The service quality model SERVQUAL has been the most widely acknowledged and most utilised model in many industries to test the difference between the perceived service quality and the expected service quality using ten (10) quality determinants as proposed. These are reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, tangibles, understanding of the consumer and security (Horsu, 2015). These dimensions were later revised, with some elements merged to form the new model with five (5) variables, namely; tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy (Tazreen, 2012).

Each element in the SERVQUAL model has two categories. One category to measure expectations (E) about service provided by the organisation and the other category is used to measure perceptions (P) regarding the particular organisations whose service is being evaluated. The quality gap (Q) is then calculated by subtracting the expectation (E) from the perception (P) value i.e. Q. = P-E. The total of all the Q values delivers a total quality score that is used as an indicator of service quality dimensions that influence customers’ perception of quality (Adil, Mohammad, & Ghaswyneh, 2013).

According to (Khuong & Dai, 2016), the SERVQUAL has been used successfully to measure service quality in public and private companies in several different contexts, cultures and countries. A review of the published literature concerning to service quality highlights that using SERVQUAL model, the generic service quality dimensions; tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy are applicable to be used by researchers and practitioners to assess the success of service quality in numerous types of service sector such as banking (Adil, Mohammad, & Ghaswyneh, 2013), health (Irfan, Shahbaz, & Kee, 2012), and public transportation in (Irfan, Shahbaz, & Kee, 2012), (Ceran & Esen, 2018) and (Morton, Caulfield, & Anable, 2016).

The SERVPERF Model

The SERQUAL model received criticism from many authors, empirical work done by (Cronin & Taylor, 1992), challenged the framework of Parasuraman et al. in 1985, with respect to conceptualisations and measurement of service quality and proposed a performance-based measure of service quality called ‘SERVPERF’. This new model illustrated that service quality is a form of consumer attitude. The argument for the proposed change was that SERVPERF was an improved means of measuring the service quality construct (Adil, Mohammad, & Ghaswyneh, 2013).

The SERVPERF model uses only the 22 sentences or statements regarding the perceptions on the performance of the service presented in the SERVQUAL, thus reducing the number of statements by half as it eliminates those that correspond to the assessment of expectations. This creates the following advantages for the SERVPERF model (Fragoso & Espinoza, 2017).

The SERVPERF model characterises performance only measures or service quality dimensions focused only on organisational performance as perceived by consumers as opposed to focusing on the difference between the consumers’ perceptions of performance against their expectations of service quality (Ali, Ali, & Radam, 2010). This understanding is supported by (Akdere, Top, & Tekingündüz, 2018), they describes the SERVPERF model as an instrument to measure service quality only through the dimensions of customer perceptions rather than their expectations. The SERVPERF model comprises of five service dimensions to measure perceived service quality namely; tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy (Rasyinda, Ulkhaq, Priska, Setiowati, & Setyorini, 2016).

A review of the published literature concerning to service quality highlights that using SERVPERF model, the generic service quality dimensions; tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy are applicable to be used by researchers and practitioners to assess the success of service quality in numerous types of service sector such as banking (Fragoso & Espinoza, 2017), aviation (Rasyinda et al. 2016), health (Akdere, Top, & Tekingündüz, 2018) and public transportation (Ingaldi, 2016).

According to (Adil, Mohammad, & Ghaswyneh, 2013), The SERVPERF scale is superior because the scale is effective in measuring accurate customer’s perceived service quality and also more effective in reducing the amount of items to be measured by half compared to SERVQUAL items. According to (Fragoso & Espinoza, 2017), this model requires less time for the implementation of the survey, because each item or characteristic of the service is addressed once. The assessment measures predict the satisfaction better than the measures of the difference and the interpretation work. Finally, the corresponding analysis is easier to conduct given that they are based only on perceptions, eliminating the expectations component.

Literature on the subject of service quality supports the debate that SERVQUAL and SERVPERF are the two most prominent scales forming the origins for service quality assessment in different service sectors. Based on all the advantages listed above, this study adopted the SERVPERF model to measure the perception of service quality within Metrorail Western Cape.

The RECSA Model

The challenges of the SERQUAL model in measuring service quality in transportation have led to the development of many other models adapted from the original SERQUAL. The RECSA model was developed by (McKnight, Pagano, & Paaswell, 1986), to specifically address the challenges of measuring accurately the quality of service quality of transport service. According to McKnight et al. (1986) service quality dimensions should be viewed as the sum of general attributes which in turn are the sum of specific attributes grouped into different clusters of service quality. The quality of transport services encompasses five key components, namely, reliability, comfort, service, safety and affordability, generally referred to by the abbreviation RECSA which is an amendment of Parasuraman et al.’s (1985) RATER model.

According to (Govender, 2014), The RECSA model is the most appropriate model to use in public transport to measure the quality of service. However, Whiles the RECSA model may be an effective instrument for measuring service quality in transport

services; it disregards the influence of the driver and crew, ticket services and supporting services rendered by service providers (Horsu, 2015).

A review of the published literature concerning to service quality highlights that using RECSA model are in public transportation the generic service quality dimensions; tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy are applicable to be used by researchers and practitioners to assess the success of service quality in public transportation (Vilakazi & Govender, 2014) & (Horsu, 2015).

2.6. DETERMINANTS OF SERVICE QUALITY The following service quality dimensions concepts are the set of service quality dimensions that will be assessed by this study and which are discussed in the following section as we take an in-depth look at related literature and case studies from other rail operations who experienced similar challenges in order to come to an understanding of possible solutions that can be prescribed for Metrorail Western Cape.

2.6.1. Service Accessibility Accessibility refers to the ability of people to reach services. These events are the end definitive objective of any transport service (Litiman, 2017). Accessibility is a critical element in transport topography, since it is a direct manifestation of mobility by the consumers (Rodgrigue, 2017).

According to (Bajada & Mifsud, 2016), accessibility is essential for society to reach their destinations, whether they are daily or occasional commuters. Because transport modes differ in their physical manner and their target market, its availability in a particular situation, the capabilities and limitations differs. (Papaioannou & Martinez, 2015), defines transport modes as motorised vs non-motorised, private vs public, and links the choice of mode on the mobility needs of the individual to the effect of destination linked to other modes of transport. This means that choice of the modes or transport type is linked to the accessibility of the transport mode at the destination and the ease of access in both the origin and the destination.

According to (Saghapour, 2016), the use of public transport is considered as an active form as it involves some element of walking or cycling to reach the connection points (train stations). Access to train stations is by different methods, be it by walking, or from feeder public transport (busses, drop off/pick-ups even uber). Thus, when a station area begins to experience traffic congestion, the accessibility of the station is affected which could lead to reduced patronage from commuters (Onderwater & Kishoon, 2017).

According to (Dalkmann, 2015), 80 percent of the world’s population is living in developing countries with 10 percent of them living with disability; further to that, these populations are living below the poverty line and are the people who rely heavily on public transport systems and who need accessibility the most. Therefore, in order for a public transport system to be truly accessible, it needs to be accessible from all links in the transport network. According to (Kwon & Kim, 2016), accessibility is a cross-cutting subject that affects not only people with disabilities, but a much larger population that includes passengers who travel with luggage, the elderly and children. Therefore, by making train commuting more accessible, it increases its attractiveness for all the above customers.

There is positive evidence that suggests transportation has the ability to overcome the physical barrier between the residential dwellings and employment sites. The positive relationship between transportation accessibility and the labour force supplement may not be an accidental role of public transport, but it is due to spatial urban factors (Korsu & Wenglenski, 2010). According to (Saghapour, 2016), providing accessible public transport should be the main objective of service providers and policy makers alike in metropolitan cities throughout the world.

A study about the relationship between access to public transport and the daily lifestyle of the general public concludes that lack of access to transport systems created barriers to access and thus becomes a driver of social exclusion (Mackett & Thoreau, 2015). In many communities, providing transport service is difficult due to a lack of links between sub-systems inhibits connectivity of different transport modes. Many stations are not located or reachable easily, forcing passengers to walk long distances (APTA, 2013).

Therefore, by ensuring that every person has access to transport is a vital part of creating a city that is impartial and sustainable (Saif & Sefreh, 2018).

The idea of “accessibility” can be defined and measured in a numerous ways. By far the most common of all the definitions is the access to employment. This is used as the most important indicator of both economic development and effective transport systems. Linking people with employment opportunities and services can be considered one of the fundamental objectives of a metropolitan transport system (Saif & Sefreh, 2018). Therefore, there is a need for transport and land use policies that will focus on proving better accessibility to transport systems which will aim at supporting people to reach destinations at reasonable costs and times (Hawas & Hassan, 2016).

The aim of urban transport systems, amongst other purposes, is to enable commuting with the intention to improve the individual’s performance on the labour market. Improved job accessibility may raise individual employment rates and earnings by different mechanisms. Potential workers may decide not to consider relevant job opportunities as a result of excessive commuting time (Saif & Sefreh, 2018).

The elderly and disabled persons’ perceived accessibility to railway traveling depends on their functional limitations or disability, their functional abilities and their travel behaviours in interaction with the barriers encountered during the full journey (Sundling et al., 2014). Barriers encountered by individuals with physical disabilities when using public transportation ranged from inability to navigate the public system, stations that have no wheelchair access or ramps, carriages that are always full, stations that do not have lifts or that are always broken and which have gaps between steps and the vehicle (Bezyak, 2017). According to (Sze & Christensen, 2017), when rail operators provide solutions to solve the challenges for individual with impaired mobility, reduce the gap size between platforms and rail transit vehicles, these improvements are seen to improve accessibility.

As part of the stations renaissance movement, train stations around the world have been better prepared to match their social context through provision of parking lots for

cars and bicycles, better accessibility, establishment of services in line with local needs through better quality of operations, services and design that includes enables public involvement, competitions, and aesthetic (Kido, 2013).

2.6.2. Service Availability

Availability is the ratio of time a system or component is functional to the total time it is required or expected to function. This can be expressed as a direct proportion or as a percentage. It can also be expressed in terms of average downtime over a period of time (Spacey, 2017). According to (Katukoori, 2013), Availability is defined as “a percentage measure of the degree to which system and equipment is in an operable and committable state at the point in time when it is needed.” According to (Radle & Bradicich, 2019), availability is the likelihood that a system will be available to achieve its function when called upon. In its simplest form, availability is the measure of uptime divided by the uptime plus downtime.

Railway infrastructure is made up of several sub-systems, such as the track system, signalling, telecommunication and the power system. Each of these sub-systems contributes to the infrastructure availability (Patra, Kumar, & Kraik, 2015). Availability is important to running successful railway operations. If the equipment like the rolling stock and the signalling system are not available, the railway operations are not feasible. A good railway management will keep track of its performance and its failures and ensures that difficulties are reduced before they become widespread (Railway Technical, 2018).

For commuters who are looking at making a switch to public transport, one of the critical decisions factors is dependent on the services frequency offered. This is important because a proper frequency provision by metro train service could reduce the traffic congestion especially during peak hours (Kalid, Bachok, Osman, & Ibrahim, 2014). Frequency of services is a measure of the number of trains passing a train station in an

hour. Increases in train frequency on a particular route will increase ridership on that route (TSG, 2016).

The railway industry is striving to increase its capacity to satisfy the growing demand for a service with high level of punctuality in its services. This requires that the service operator invests in effective maintenance initiatives on the infrastructure to improve availability of service (Patra, Kumar, & Kraik, 2015). Maintenance is generally regarded as a support function in most production environments since it does not generate cash directly. However for any industry to deliver goods and service of the correct quality and quantity for the customers, its plant or equipment needs to operate efficiently and accurately. This is only achieved by using an effective maintenance system that helps maximize availability by minimizing system downtime due to unwarranted stoppages (Fore & Zuze, 2010).

According to (Corman, D'Ariano, & Hansen, 2010), Train services are planned in detail, defining several months in advance the train order and timing at depart and arrivals stations, including dwell times at a particular crossings, junctions and platforms. However, despite all the planning, it is not unusual for commuters to experience disrupted services. However, when these disruptions occur during peak hours, this immediately results into overcrowding which translates to further delays for commuters. Missing a train even by few minutes could mean more delays for passengers due to waiting time, more so in cases where the passengers have to take connecting trains or shuttle bus (Kalid et al, 2014). Different failure modes in the railway infrastructure prompt different extents of delay in the network. The extent of the delays depends on the occurrence rates and repair times of the failure modes (Patra, Kumar, & Kraik, 2015).

Determining availability objective for rail infrastructure is not an easy task as it involves several influencing decision factors, such as good understanding of network configuration, capacity of rolling stock, traffic density and the number of train sets an operator has available (Patra, Kumar, & Kraik, 2015). In the Netherlands, rail operators

have put in place what they call “emergency timetables”, these plans are used as a response to disrupted operations. The train control officer can apply prearranged measures in order to control an alternative train path until the next station. The aim of these plans is to limit adjustments of the rolling stock and train crew plan as much as possible. These emergency timetables cover every possible infrastructure failure (Corman, D'Ariano, & Hansen, 2010).

Rail performance comprises numerous service metrics, such as lead time and on-time delivery of service, which are interrelated. The resolution for rail operators thus is to be able to monitor, control and direct daily operations, since the mere measuring of operations performance has no value. The fundamental objective of measurement is to facilitate improvement of customer service based on customer’s requirements. The customers’ needs are concerned with increased expectations on availability, reduction of delays and the availability of accurate information (Forsuld, 2007).

There are numerous definitions for availability, but all contain the likelihood of a system operating as required when it is required. The quest of high availability of a system represents the highest standards of quality and consistency to which a system can be measured against. Considering everything that falls within the purview of accomplishing high availability, this includes identifying how a system might fail, identifying what can be monitored to increase detection speed, recovering from interruptions as quickly as possible and possible avoiding interruptions completely (Schwartz, 2015).

2.6.3. Functional Aesthetics Train stations are a strategic public space and a portion of infrastructure in a community. Stations are vital to many people to enable them to participate in work and social obligations (Regulations, 2015). Station aesthetics is critical in terms of community that serves as the pillar of support for rail transport. This development for new commuters enhances existing services and promotes the expansion of public transport that is urgently needed in many places (Kwon & Kim, 2016). According to (Kido, 2013), Stations have to provide functionality but at the same time they needs to

provide a rich environment. However, at present numerous train stations are not being operated for the benefit of the communities who interact in and around them, and this then instead adversely affects community comfort.

Functional aesthetics relates to overall feeling about service received. This extends to crowding, cleanliness and any other requirements introduced for the purpose of making public transportation trips as comfortable as is practically imaginable (Anderson & Condry, 2013). Functional aesthetics attributes such as artwork, newsstands, lighting, cafes and even station buildings can be enablers for the physical, economic and social improvement of a community (APTA, 2013). According to (Akabal et al, 2017), clean and well maintained train stations provide an attractive, comfortable environment that cares for commuters from uncomfortable climatic conditions and protects them from unpleasantly experiences such as polluted air and dirt. Facilities should be included, where applicable, to satisfy basic needs and add value to passenger experience.

Rail transportation station quality has long been acknowledged as an essential element in influencing commuter’s behavior. Literatures also shows that rail transit station quality can be further disintegrated into several attributes including cleanliness, lighting and the function aesthetic quality (Akabal et al, 2017).

Among the perceived quality determinants, the aesthetics of transportation terminals (e.g.: rail, bus and airport terminals) is regard as the most influential to customer’s perception (Carteni & Henke, 2017).

According to (Kwon & Kim, 2016), the main tasks for public rail operators who aim to ensure their systems are more customer friendly focused on the need to make the journey to and from trains easier and more pleasant. This includes ensuring that good station design and station maneuvering can significantly improve customers’ perception of a transport system. Other amenities that play a role in archiving this objective are Wi- Fi facilities, clear network reception, platform public screen displays and public art.

Since the 1980’s there has been a great focus on station renaissance, a movement focused on uplifting and renewal of station terminals designs. “Station renaissance” was established on the theory that each station is a “visiting card” of the city and responsible for carrying their identity of the city or areas (Kido, 2013).

The “Station renaissance” is a movement that has been adopted by many railway operators around the world in an attempt to improve perceived service quality and improve customer satisfaction. Countries like Germany, France, the UK and Japan are prime example of successful “Station renaissance” initiatives. According (APTA, 2013), station design features can support to instill commuter confidence in a transport agency, as well as raise passenger confidence regarding the quality of service and future journey experiences. According to (Cascetta & Carteni, 2014), there is monetary gain for rail operators that can be attributed to beautiful and comfortable stations. This indicates a high willingness by passengers to pay for the service they perceived to be quality.

An attractive, comfortable station facility may be especially important for occasional riders, a major target audience for increasing ridership. Station design features will not only help present train travel as safe and more comfortable experience, but also influence first-time user’s perceptions of overall train journey as a worthwhile mobility option (APTA, 2013). According to (Kwon & Kim, 2016), All of these improvements take rail transport beyond its utilitarian limitations thus; making it more attractive to its large middle and upper middle class consumers. As rail transport becomes more appealing, this makes customers’ experience easy and comfortable

There is conclusive proof from literature, based on numerous studies that aesthetics have an influence on the perceived service quality of passengers. The design of train stations as well as system performance plays a vital role in building transport ridership and ensuring customer satisfaction (APTA, 2013).

2.6.4. Communication Communication is very essential for human existence. It is a medium of sending and receiving information through several means and it is vital feature for society, without which it would not be possible to make informed decisions about events and occurrences (Etim, 2017). Communication is at the core of all human exchanges, and for organisations, it could mean the difference between success and failure. Improved communication with customers extends to the language the organisation uses in announcement to their customers, the packaging of content and the accuracy of the transmitted information (Taylor, 2017).

Handling unexpected service interruptions in passenger rail environment is an important aspect of operations (Pender & Wang, 2012). This necessitates the communication of accurate information in real time to passengers. This can be archived through various platforms including printed material, website, portals, short message service (sms) and display screens on platforms (Bigby & Johnson, 2017).

When interruptions arise, the communication to passengers should be transparent and sympathetic to impact on the delays (Pender & Currie, 2013). According to (Cowley & Griffin, 2012), despite the improvement rate of communication tool like Facebook and twitter, there is virtually no research precisely examining the use of social media in providing relevant information to passenger during rail service disruptions. However, despite the unavailability of concrete studies related to benefit of social media use for service providers, numerous train transport operators have taken advantage of the interactive features of social media to connect with their customers with the aim of providing general information about services performance, prices and any long-term planning projects (TCRP, 2012).

A well-maintained and accurate online platform is another method to inform the public about local transportation methods. Application software and social media are increasingly well-used forms of sharing and distributing transit information. These services allows the public to have real time information and enable better journey

planning, which includes the selection of appropriate routes, approximate arrival and departure times, service interruption and cancellations (APTA, 2013).

According to (Gal-Tzur & Grant-Muller, 2014), because of its unrestricted nature, in term of communication, service providers are able to harvest new understandings of customer perceptions from social media platforms. This information can be used by transport operators to develop practical or functional requirements of peak services so that they can be in a position to estimate the possible levels of use and effects of services that are being developed. Despite the evident benefits that social media provides (Pender & Currie, 2013), warns that social media should only be used as an enhancement rather than a replacement of existing communication medium. This is mainly due to the fact that using twitter as a platform prevents the communication of extensive or detailed information as a result of character restrictions.

A study of North American rail service agencies found that web based information and portals enable some passengers to take control of their interaction with the system (Bregman, 2011). However (Bigby & Johnson, 2017) highlight challenges for passenger ability to access web based information because of bad mobile network service at stations. Another important element that restricts how effective digital platforms, is that the majority of poor and disabled people are economically disadvantaged, therefore many will not have access to the online applications themselves or the devices that run the applications because the investment cost for these devices are outside their spending power (Regulations, 2015).

Despite efforts to provide different platforms for information to passengers (Douglas, West, & Bould, 2017), found that the information accessibility is a challenge for some passengers. For passengers with cognitive disability, or with impaired vision, the display screens on platforms are a possible challenge to information access. Announcements broadcasted on the Public Audio (PA) system without the displays on the screen made information inaccessible for passenger with impaired hearing.

Creating consciousness on services requires sufficient investment in appropriate marketing communication, which is basically a facet of marketing aimed at communicating to customers and potential customers the value of services and products (Manisha, 2012). According to a study by (Passangerfocus, 2014), passenger display information are vital source of information for the public. They provide confirmation of departure time, platform number, destination and platform number or changes. The effects of customer communication are essential for archiving service quality and customer satisfaction and consequently the growing of a business. (Frimpong, 2017).

2.6.5. Corrective Responsiveness Responsiveness involves the willingness of the staff to assist customers and provide quick service (Lee & Moghavvemi, 2015). According to (Wroblewski, 2018), being responsive means providing fast, friendly, knowledgeable service to you customers. (Saghier, 2015), defines responsiveness as “the degree to which service providers are willing to help customers and provide prompt service”. According to (Liang, Chang, & Wang, 2011), Response service personnel should understand and be knowledgeable about everything necessarily about the service provided by the organisations and possess the professional ability to solve the problems. Moreover, service personnel must have adequate responsibility, flexibility and willingness to support customers. According to (Sharrieff, 2016), the level of responsiveness in serving customers can be assessed from three perspectives: the speed of service, sensitivity to customer concerns and the awareness of changes in the general needs of the customer.

Responsiveness eases tension and influences how customers perceive the product or services they are receiving from a service provide (Yoskovits, 2011). For every service provider keeping customers happy is vital for continued business relations. According to (McGurgan, 2015), failing to meet deadlines or ignoring customer inquiries can increase client dissatisfaction with a service from an organisation. This can spur customers to investigate competitors’ services. However, when customer responsiveness is a priority

for an organisation it can be expected that new opportunities to serve clients increase, while problems and service issues decrease.

In rail transport environment, the train station staffs are critical for conveying information about delays, arrival and departure platforms and any other related station services. For a first time user of train service, their experience centers on the assistance and attitude of station staff. This becomes even more critical when elderly and disabled passengers arrive at the station and need assistance from station staff (Regulations, 2015). It is for this reason that rail service operators need to understand that service responsiveness can be improved by providing sufficient training to service staff members and clearly communicating goals regarding customer satisfaction (McGurgan, 2015). Organisation who priorities responsiveness recruit staff that understand the significance of customer service, staff that have the ability and desire to provide customers with effective resolutions (Sharrieff, 2016).

According to (Hill & Jones, 2013), customer responsiveness can be defined as providing customers with their correct requests at the correct time. Therefore, by understanding the varying needs of the customer and performing a speedy satisfaction of these needs in an effective manner, this will provide a firm with sustainable competitive advantage over competitors.

2.6.6. Service Reliability Service reliability is a key quality indicator for public transport (Van-Oort, 2014). A reliable public transport service is one that observes the published schedule and whose operations run on-time. It is a commonly accepted occurrence that the deviation from planned and advertised schedule in public transport is a crucial operational difficulty that affects both the operators and passengers (Firew, 2016). According to (Omar, 2015), reliability is the ability to make the customers trust that the organisation will perform what is promised, this include accurate delivery of service and being truthful about service offering. Superior service reliability is beneficial to both the passengers and the

operator, because it provides predictable travel times and it lowers costs (Van-Oort, Unrelibility Effects in Public Transport Modelling, 2015).

Because railway systems are composed of different subsystems such infrastructure, rolling stock and train personnel crew, there is a heavy integrated reliance on each other, the reliability of a subsystem is critical to the total reliability of the overall railway transport system (Jidayi, 2015). According to (Fourie & Zhuwaki, 2017), a large number of delays in railway systems are attributed to secondary delays that arise due to delay propagation. Delay propagation is a consequence of operational and functional integrated reliance in the systems. This means that when a train experiences a delay early on in its journey, this delay cannot be recovered throughout the system until the train reaches its destination. This situation highlights the interdependence of events in railway systems in which one primary delay can easily propagate to other systems within the network. The average punctuality of major European metro network operators is about 95 per cent where the trains arrive at the end destination within the international standard limit of five minutes. While some operators use a three-minute in South Africa the punctuality of the Metrorail was recorded at 84.5 per cent in 2011 this is built on five minutes (Conradie, Fourie, Vlok, & Treurnicht, 2015).

Service reliability is in the interest of both public transport operators and passengers. Unreliability of a service affects the operator through increased operation costs, declined ridership and consequently declining revenue (Firew, 2016). The unreliability of transportation systems, in the sense that the system is unable to guarantee perfectly predictable travel times has countless consequences on travelers (Benezech & Coulombel, 2013). From a passenger perspective, the punctuality of the service is every so often used as a reliability measure, defined as the likelihood that the train will arrive at the end destination within a definite margin of the scheduled arrival time as published in the timetable (Conradie et al, 2015). Unreliable service may induce anxiety, cause passengers to miss a connection/feeder service or create a hindrance to the planning of activities (Benezech & Coulombel, 2013), unreliability could also mean prolonged waiting and travel times, overcrowding and dissatisfaction with the service (Firew, 2016).

According to (Diab, Badami, & El-Geneidy, 2015), It is clear that providing a reliable transport services is essential in order to maintain an efficient and attractive system, which increases users’ satisfaction and loyalty. Reliability of service is also essential for service operators because it can easily improve internal efficiency, decrease operating costs and increase revenues by retaining and attracting users. Therefore, improving reliability is a win-win situation for both users and transport operators and enables metropolis and cities to achieve their broader social and economic goals

2.6.7. Safety Management Safety is the ability of society to provide an atmosphere in which risk is acceptable to individuals in fulfilment of their preferred activities, while ensuring that the risk to any individual does not increase spontaneous risk to others. Security is a particular sub- branch of safety: security is the state engendered by society so that people can move freely without risk caused intentionally by the actions of others (Tyler, 2017).

Safety can refer to taking actions to reduce or eliminate risks of accidents (ITF, 2018). Safety and security are of central concern for transport, both as the basis of a citizen’s right to travel without fear and as a condition for the reliable and efficient transport of goods (International Transport Forum, 2018). One of the many obstacles for the general public to taking a train as a preferred mode of transport is the perception that train commuting is unsafe (Litman, 2018). However, (MacKechnie, 2018), suggests that train commuting is much safer than just about any other mode of transportation. In a study of the safety of train commuting in the United States and Canada, the study reveals the probability of passengers being involved in a fatality whilst commuting on a train is ten times lower than commuting with private vehicle on public roads (MacKechnie, 2018).

Research on personal safety of passengers during a train journey in Melbourne suggests that passenger perception of personal safety in a train is not influenced by actual experience of crime on the train, but rather there are psychological influences that inform the individual’s perception of safety. The study established a link between the feeling of anxiety and the discomfort associated with travelling with strangers as

being the most influencing factor to a passenger’s perception of safety in public transport (Currie & Delbosc, 2013).

Public transport does draw its fair share of crimes against people and property. According to (Litman, 2018), these occurrences are however mostly accentuated by the media which overstates the true nature of the incidences and this creates a poor perception of the train service and encourages a sense of fear. Perceptions of crime on railways will consequently affect levels of support. This means the public’s perception of safety is a vital factor of people’s usage of public transport.

According to (Kruger, 2007), Commuters are not only exposed to crime during journeys, but also while changing from one mode of transport to another at stations or while walking from drop-off points to their places of work or homes. According to (Bhatt & Menon, 2015), women are more vulnerable to incidences in public transport than men, more so in trains. Worldwide, for women, the specific barriers to safe public transport include fear and experiences of sexual harassment and violence while accessing and using public transport. Issues of overcrowding, lack of space and information, delays or unreliable public transport services have an excessively higher influence on women than they do for men.

Train stations and trains in general are vulnerable places for women due to crowded space and equally so due to isolated areas where there is no one present to assist in case of emergency (ITF, 2018). According to (Bhatt & Menon, 2015), the availability of safe and reliable transport services is not just necessary but compulsory. When the rail operator addresses the needs of women, it ultimately also safeguards the needs and issues of other women-dependent groups like children and the elderly.

According to (APTA, 2013), Station design features can also have significant influence perception of safety indirectly. Train stations with poor facility, generally poor appearance and lacking the presence of “official” people (ticket agents, security personnel and retail vendors) is reasonably perceived as “dangerous”. A study by (Litman, 2018), highlights safety improvement strategies for transport operators that can

be adopted in order to improve the perceived safety of train travels. Amongst the strategies propose are; improved information sharing options, improved payment options, increased frequency of service, enhanced security visibility levels and better station designs. In addition, the utilisation of smart fare collection systems “e-cards” on train stations reduces the risk for station ticketing personnel. Security cameras on station and inside trains may also make passengers feel more secure (APTA, 2013).

Studies of New York City subway station environmental improvements have revealed that when stations are rehabilitated, the public feel safer, regardless of actual crime trends. When design structures are successfully maintained, there is also an implied security presence and a sense that someone is in control of the station (APTA, 2013). Rail operators can assist in creating a new safety narrative by improved evaluation and communicating train travel’s overall safety and security impacts and also providing valuable guidance on how the commuters can improve train journey safety and security (Litiman, 2017).

2.7. SUMMARY The Literature review has highlighted the importance of servicing the customer’s needs in a way that competitors will be unable to match in order to stay ahead of the completions. The chapter introduces service quality concepts, methodologies and the determinants service quality. It also provided justification for the adoption of a hypothesised framework to be applied in this study. This framework is SERVPERF model and its operation and benefits and justification for use in the study over other models was demonstrated in the literature review above.

The chapter also gave insight on challenges faced by other rail operators and how they respond to the challenges. There is overwhelming evidence that through the adoption of certain frameworks, positive results are visible and the service can be improved to achieve customer satisfaction.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH PARIDIGM AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1. INTRODUCTION

The theoretical overview coming out of literature on service quality, its determinants, challenges coupled with the benefits and the measurement of service quality were discussed in Chapter Two. This chapter will provide a detailed insight on the research paradigm and the preferred paradigm selected for this study. The chapter will also explain the different methodological approaches to research, briefly explaining their relevance and general use.

This will lead the adoption of a preferred methodology that will be utilised to conduct the study in the Metrorail Western Cape region. Further to this, the chapter will look at the research design that the researcher has nominated and give rationalisation to the selected model and its applicability for the study. A measuring instrument will be developed and explained, and will also discuss its usefulness and trustworthiness for use in the study

Research is the undertaking to explore concepts in a systematic way in an effort to increase understanding (Collis & Hussey, 2014). According to (Kothari & Gaurav, 2015), the purpose of research is to ascertain solutions to questions through use of scientific techniques. A very important relationship exists between paradigm and methodology because the methodological implications of paradigm choice permeate the research question/s, participants’ selection, data collection instruments and collection procedures, as well as data analysis. Therefore, the choice of a paradigm implies a near certainty about particular methodologies that flow from that paradigm (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017).

3.2. THE RESEARCH PARADIGM

The review of literature from pioneers of research leads to an understanding of the true meaning of the word paradigm. Thomas Kuhn (Kuhn, 1962), is known to have coined this phrase paradigm which meant a philosophical way of thinking. According to (Guba & Lincoln, 1996), a paradigm is a basic set of beliefs that guide research actions, a fundamental researcher’s orientation towards the study. These beliefs or principles influence the direction of the study in terms of the research topic, how it is implemented and how the study results are interpreted. A paradigm, according to (Kuhn, 1962), is essentially a global view from which a framework of beliefs, values and methods within which research takes place. It is this world view, within which researchers work

A paradigm establishes the intellectual beliefs and philosophies that shape how the researcher views the world and how they interpret and behave within the world (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017). A paradigm defines the researcher’s theoretical inclination and has significant associations to every resolution made in the research process. This includes the choice of methodology and the design (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017).

According to (Farghaly, 2018), a paradigm consists of four types, namely, the epistemology, the ontology, methodology and axiology. However; (Creswell, 2014), has revealed an existence of opposing paradigms, namely: critical theory, constructivism, positivism and post-positivism as key paradigms for research studies.

A large variety of paradigms have been proposed and discussed by various authors, however these paradigms can in reality be grouped into three main classifications, namely Positivist, Interpretivist and Critical paradigms (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017). However, according to (Cooper & Schindler, 2011 ), there are two main paradigms namely, the positivistic approach and interpretivist approach.

These two types of research, their underpinning principles and application in research are discussed separately in the section to follow below. The intention of this section is to demonstrate the understanding of each paradigm and its effect or influence on the type of direction that the study will follow.

3.2.1. Positivist paradigm

The positivist epistemology is one of objectivism. Positivists go forward into the world independently, discovering outright knowledge about an objective reality. The researcher and the research sample are independent bodies. Meaning exist solely in objects, not in the conscience of the researcher and it is the aim of the researcher to obtain this meaning (Scotland, 2012). . According to (Cooper & Schindler, 2011 ), the Positivistic paradigm is set on three fundamental principles, namely: the research is value-free, the researcher is independent and the social world exists externally and is seen objectively. However, it can be argued that the positivists’ idea about atomizing and quantifying social phenomenon in the society is flawed. Positivists fail to acknowledge that the world is fragmented with disorganised units that are distinct from each other and can only critically be understood through interactions (Kura, 2012).

The positivist paradigm leads to a scientific, systematic approach to research and as such lends itself to the use of quantitative methodology. Researchers using quantitative methodological approach typically focus on the confirmatory stages of the research cycle. This means that the formulation of hypothesis and the collection of statistical data to test this hypothesis (Mukherji & Albon, 2014).

Research located within this paradigm relies on empirical logic, devising of hypothesis, testing of the said hypothesis using statistical analysis methods in order to reach a conclusion. Under the Positivist paradigm, the researcher should be able to observe any phenomena under study and to be able to generalise what can be anticipated elsewhere in the world. Therefore, based on the latter, the positivistic paradigm supports the use of quantitative research method (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017).

3.2.2. Interpretivist Paradigm

The Interpretivism paradigm, also referred to as Constructivist Paradigm, is focused on understanding the occurrences (Fazliogullari, 2012). Interpretivism is based on the

conviction that people are primarily different from objects. Similarly, the aim of this paradigm is to comprehend social life and the importance people attribute to ordinary events. This view emanates from inductive reasoning, which is defined as the bottom- up approach to knowledge (Farghaly, 2018). According to (Furlong, 2013), the Interpretivism paradigm helps enhance the relationship between paradigm and methodology choice. This paradigm tells us that individuals make their own reality by the meaning in understandings they give to their experiences and that there are multiple truths.

According to (Lietch et al, 2010), Interpretivism is based on life-world ontology that argues that all observations are both philosophical and value-laden and that studies of the social world are not and cannot be the search of an isolated objective truth. However, it can be characterized by the need to understand the world as it is from a subjective point of view and seeks interpretations from respondents as opposed to the objective observation of the action. The Interpretivism paradigm is more concerned with relevant rather than rigor (Ponelis, 2015).

Advances in Interpretivist philosophy are based on the criticism of positivism in social sciences. Consequently, this philosophy stresses qualitative study over quantitative study. Interpretivist methodology is based on a naturalistic method of data collection such as the use of interviews and observations (Dudovskiy, 2018).

The Interpretivism paradigm predominantly uses qualitative methods (Nind & Todd, 2011). This belief is shared by (Dudovskiy, 2018), who asserts that the leading disadvantages related with Interpretivism relates to the subjective nature of this approach and that there is great room for bias on behalf of researcher. However, on the positive side, qualitative research fields such as cross-cultural differences in organisations, leadership and issues of ethics can be studied to great advantage.

Because of the nature and principles of this paradigm, the primary data produced in Interpretivist studies cannot be generalized because the data is heavily obstructed by personal viewpoint and values. This means that the reliability and representativeness of data is weakened to a certain extent as well (Dudovskiy, 2018).

3.2.1. Research study chosen Paradigm

Positivism depends on quantifiable observations that lead to statistical analyses. It has been noted that “as a philosophy, positivism is in accordance with the empiricist view that knowledge stems from human experience. Researchers warn that “if you assume a positivist approach to your study, then it is your belief that you are independent of your research and your research can be purely objective”. Where, “Independent” means that you maintain minimal interaction with your research participants when carrying out your research. In other words, studies with positivist paradigm are based purely on facts and consider the world to be external and objective (Dudovskiy, 2018).

Therefore, based on the literature understanding of different types of paradigm, this study will adopt the positivistic approach, which according to (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017) supports the use of quantitative research method.

3.3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.3.1. Research Design

Research design is described as a plan, structure or the strategy selected to incorporate the various components of a study in a coherent and consistent way, thus ensuring that the study successfully addresses the research problem (Kumar, 2010), While some authors define research design as a guideline that needs to be followed in an attempt to address the research problem (Creswell, 2014).

According to (Kothari & Gaurav, 2015), research design stand for advance organisation of the methods to be adopted for collecting the pertinent data and the methods to be used for analyses while protecting the objective of the research. Research design has a pronounced bearing on the reliability of the results archived and as such, it constitutes a strong corroboration of the entire structure of the research work. A worthy design generally reduces bias and maximises the reliability of the data collected and analysed, whilst also maintaining the smallest experimental error.

3.3.2. Research Methodology

There are three methodologies in research field, namely: quantitative method, qualitative method and mixed methods (Creswell, 2014). Quantitative methods are used to observe the relationship between variables with the primary aim being to analyse and characterise that relationship mathematically through statistical analysis. On the other hand, Qualitative methods are selected when the aim of the research problem is to examine, understand and describe an occurrence (Kothari & Gaurav, 2015). Mixed methods exist in the middle of the two methodologies because it integrates elements of both qualitative and quantitative (Creswell, 2014).

According to (Kothari & Gaurav, 2015), qualitative and quantitative methods are a common choice in social science research problems and are often used to study ideas, beliefs, human behaviours and other research questions that do not involve studying the relationship between variables. According to (Padgett, 2017), both quantitative and qualitative approaches rely on data collection to guide the findings and conclusion of any study. Over and above, they both are systematic even though the latter entails hypothesis and measures that bear little to no resemblance to quantitative approaches and statistical analyses.

Often the difference between qualitative research and quantitative research is outlined in terms of using words (qualitative) rather than numbers (quantitative), or by using open-ended questions (qualitative interview questions) rather than closed-ended questions (quantitative hypotheses) (Creswell, 2014).

3.3.2.1. Qualitative Research Method

Qualitative Research is mainly exploratory research. It provides an understanding into the problem or hypotheses for potential quantitative research and can be used to gain an understanding of ultimate motives, feelings, and impetuses (DeFranzo, 2011). According to (Creswell, 2014), a qualitative study is defined as an analysis process of understanding social or human difficulties, based on a construction of a multifaceted,

universal picture, formed with words, which reports detailed views of respondents and is conducted in a natural locale. Other researchers like (Kielmann et al, 2012), define qualitative research as humanistic and holistic approach. The research is humanistic in nature because it centres on the personal independent and observed basis of knowledge and practice. It is holistic because it pursues to position the meaning of a particular behaviours and habits in a given context.

Qualitative Research approaches are designed in a manner that they help reveal the behaviour and perception of a target audience with respect to a specific region of focus. Many authors simply defined Qualitative Research as the systematic collection, organization, and interpretation of textual material derived from talk or conversation where researchers have little knowledge about the phenomena, qualitative research becomes essential for the deep understaffing of these phenomena (Farghaly, 2018).

Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or semi-structured techniques. Some generally used methods which include focus groups, face to face interviews and participation or observations. The sample size is typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfil a given proportion (DeFranzo, 2011).

3.2.2.2. Quantitative Research Method

Quantitative research is an approach that can help provide large, representative samples of traditional communities, and provide reliable assert-and-cause effect relationships amongst construct, as well as confirm and dispute theoretical hypotheses. At the same time this kind of research analyses statistical data in ways that are clear and credible to policy makers and management (Fassinger, 2013). According to (Creswell, 2014), quantitative study is consistent with the quantitative paradigm, and is an investigation into a social or human problem, founded on analysis of theory composed of variables, measured with numbers, and analysed with in terms of statistical techniques. This is done in order to conclude whether the hypothesised generalisations of the concept hold true.

According to (Farghaly, 2018), quantitative research uses descriptive and inferential statistics to analyse data. This method assumes a natural scientific model of positivism in particular and it involves a view of social reality as an external and objective reality. While (DeFranzo, 2011), believes that quantitative research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics. Moreover, it is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviours and other well-defined variables. Quantitative methods require the researcher to use a pre- determined standardised instrument that includes pre-determined response categories into which the respondents’ fluctuating perspectives and understandings are anticipated to fit (Yilmaz, 2013).

Quantitative data collection methods are much more structured and typically include various forms of surveys, namely, online surveys, paper surveys, mobile surveys and kiosk surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews and online polls (DeFranzo, 2011). This view is supported by (Yilmaz, 2013), who urges that quantitative researchers make use of calculated models and statistics to analyse data, while the data collection methods may include survey, questionnaires and systematic measurements involving numerical facts.

3.3.3. Summary of the Methodological Paradigm of the study

In order to assess the perception of Metrorail Passengers in the Western Cape on service and overall customer satisfaction, this study will adopt a Positivistic view with the aim to produce quantifiable data, through the use of large samples and the testing of hypotheses.

This chosen method for the study is quantitative in principle, due to the fact that the method allows the study to analyse the perception of the population through a chosen sample in a form that is composed of variables. The method supports the use of surveys as a means of data collection and because the data is quantitative, this allows the use of rigorous statistical analyses in order come to a conclusion or finding. The

results of this will be of a descriptive nature that can easily be used to infer to a larger population.

3.3.4. Sampling

According to (Martinez-Mesa et al, 2016), a sample is a finite portion or subset of participants, drawn from a targeted population. The target population should correspond to the complete set of respondents whose characteristics are of importance to the researcher. A sample can be defined as a collection of moderately lesser number of elements carefully chosen from a population for investigation purposes (Alviv, 2016)

Sampling is a process of extracting a sample from a population for the purpose of investigation (Alviv, 2016). (Swanwick, 2014), believes that sampling makes research more precise and efficient. It is the sampling method which actually determines the ability to generalise the research findings. According to (Cooper & Schindler, 2011 ), the primary idea of sampling is that by selecting some of the elements in a population, it becomes possible to draw a conclusion about the complete population.

There are two types of sampling methods, namely probability sampling and non- probability sampling. Each method is discussed in the section below.

3.3.4.1. Probability sampling

Probability sampling includes any selection technique where the sample participants are selected from the targeted population on a purely random basis. Under this method, all members of the population have a chance of being selected for the sample (Wegner, 2016). According to (Etikan & Musa, 2016), probability sampling is a technique that has a unique characteristic that guarantees that every participant of the population has an equal opportunity of being selected. This method of sampling offers the probability that our sample is representative of a population (Showkat, 2017).

Some probability sampling methods are as follows: simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratified sampling, cluster sampling and multistage sampling.

3.3.4.2. Non-probability sampling

Any sampling technique where the sample participants are not selected randomly is referred to as non-probability sampling (Wegner, 2016). The non-probability sampling technique will not attempt a base for any estimation of probability that elements in the universe will have a chance to be included in the study sample (Etikan & Musa, 2016).

According to (Showkat, 2017), the non-probability sampling method, unlike probability sampling technique, uses non-randomised methods to draw the sample and is mostly used where there is a need to draw a judgment. Instead of using randomisation, respondents are selected on the basis of ease of access. Non probability sampling is a valuable and convenient method of selecting a sample. The method is fitting and in most cases the only method available. The method is considered to be less expensive, less complicated and easy to apply as compared to its counterpart.

Some non-probability sampling methods are as follows, convenient sampling, quota sampling, judgement (purposive) sampling and snowball sampling.

3.3.4.3. Convenient Sampling

The results derived from convenient sampling have recognised generalisability only to the sample studied. Therefore, any research question addressed by this approach is only limited to the sample being studied (Bornstien, et al, 2013).

no recorded list of all users on the Western Cape Metrorail system or any other platform. The study will thus make use of convenient sampling to sample the population.

3.4. SAMPLE SIZE

A research sample size is important for methodological and ethical reasons. The sample size directly influences research findings (Faber & Fonseca, 2014). According to (Griffith, 2013), the sample size, N, is the crucial feature affecting the generalisation in all research projects, and the selection of a required minimum number of observations will help ensure adequate sampling strategy. (Nayak, 2010) Urges that sample size calculation of a quantitative study may vary upon the type of study design, however the size needs to take into account the margin of error (α), the beta (β) and the confidence level size.

In order to have confidence in the results of any quantitative survey results, it is critically important to have a larger number of randomly selected sample participants. Because the size of the sample will influence the confidence level of the findings, Robert Niles developed a formula to calculate the desired confidence level for any study and give the minimum number of participants required. A good estimate of sample size is calculated as 1/√N, where N is the total number of participants in the study (Niles, 2006).

Table 3. 1: Example of calculated margins of error vs. sample size

Sample Size (N) Margin of Error Confidence Required (%) Level sample size 100 5% 95% 80 10 000 5% 95% 370 1 000 000 5% 95% 384 1 000 000 1% 99% 664

According to (Faber & Fonseca, 2014), statistical tests were established to handle samples and not populations. Therefore, when various cases are included in the statistics, the analysis power is significantly increased and this result in findings that lead to a conclusion based on insignificant variables. This also presents an inflated tendency to reject null hypotheses with clinically negligible differences.

From the table 3.1 above, in order for the study to archive a sample error of less than 5% which will translate to a confidence level of 95 %, given the size of the population ( > 1 million), this study will require a minimum of 384 respondents.

Even though an even higher confidence level (99% level) would be desirable and indicates higher probability that the results are accurate, this would mean a substantial increase in sample size, from 384 to a figure of 664. This not only affects the time duration of the survey but the logistics around it and can result in prolonged and expensive surveys. It is for this reason that the study will settle for the most commonly used survey confidence level of 95%.

A 95% confidence level means if the same survey was to be repeated 100 times under the same conditions 95 times out of a 100 the results have a higher probability to fall within the same margin of error. However, according to (Showkat, 2017), a sample has to be representative of the complete population. A sample of 10,000 could be considered a bad sample if it is not representative of the whole population. Whereas on the other hand, a sample of 100 can be considered a good sample should it be representative of the whole population.

3.5. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The measuring instrument used to gather data is largely determined by the research question and objective and in order to evaluate the perceived quality of a public transport system, an appropriate data collection method is of outmost importance (Hussain et al, 2018). According to (Canals et al, 2017), a large spectrum of measuring methods used in research includes more traditional type methods such as surveys,

questionnaires and interviews. Most people dislike intrusive surveys, requests for personal interviews and extended feedback forms (Mack, 2018). Therefore, according to (Brace, 2018), the “self-completion survey” is the most convenient, feasible and suitable for public transport surveys.

Self-completion questionnaires avoid these difficulties by permitting respondents control over the scope of their responses. Using surveys that respondents can fill out themselves also avoids skewed responses caused by bias towards to situation or the interview (Mack, 2018). Self –completing questionnaires can be completed in complete absence of the interviewer from the process and this form of data collection eliminates the major cause of possible bias in the responses, while also allowing respondents to be truthful about sensitive subjects (Canals et al, 2017).

The measuring instrument used in this study is a self-completion questionnaire, with the use of different styles such as closed-ended questions and multiple choice type questions. Closed-ended questions limit the answers of the respondents to response options provided on the questionnaire, either a yes or no response or from a set of possible options (BusinessDictionary, 2019). Close-ended questions are ideal for quantitative type of research because they can easily be analysed statistically, they are time efficient, and the responses are easy to code and interpret. The question type also has known disadvantages namely, the respondents are required to choose a response that does not exactly reflect their answer, and secondly the researcher cannot further explore the meaning of the responses (Farrell, 2016).

The Measuring instrument was developed with the assistance of a qualified statistician with extensive research questionnaire design and testing. The Measuring instrument in this study is by means of a questionnaire that is anchored to a five point Likert scale ranging from (1) representing strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) neutral, (4) agree and (5) which represents strongly agree.

alphanumerical prefix system, which will be a prefix code which includes the first three letters of the variable and followed by a number to indicate position of the question in that particular independent variable from the hypothesised model.

The following is an example of such coding (ACC01) will represent the Accessibility variable and question 1. Because Comfort and Communication have the same first three letters, the notation will thus be changed slightly to accommodate this and hence it is denoted as (COM01) for Communication and (COT01) for Comfort.

The measuring instrument was developed using the hypothesised model to measure service quality. Each of the seven (7) independent variables have a number of questions that best described or measure the independent variable as informed by the literature review. The questionnaire also has a total of 11 additional questions which collect demographic data. The purpose of demographic questions is to allow the analysis to focus on specific corridors, groups or even societal classes that may have an impact on the improvement of the perceived service quality.

The critical part of the questionnaire includes the dependent and the independent variable, the exact questions that are used to measure and the coding that is used to represent the variables are show below.

Service Accessibility

Accessibility refers to the ability of people to reach services, events which are the end definitive objective of any transport service (Litiman, 2017).

Table 3. 2: Items measuring Service Accessibility

CODE ITEMS ACC01 Station location of Metrorail WC is easily accessible ACC02 Train stations have connections with other modes of public transport ACC03 I am happy with the process of buying a train tickets ACC04 I believe the train stations cater for the Elderly and disabled ACC05 I can walk to my local train station

Service Availability

In this study, availability will be defined as the ratio of time a system or component is functional to the total time it is required or expected to function. This can be expressed as a direct proportion or as a percentage. It can also be expressed in terms of average downtime over a period of time (Spacey, 2017).

Table 3. 3: Items measuring Service Availability

CODE ITEMS

AVA01 I am satisfied with the frequency of the train service.

AVA02 I can easily find a train on weekends and public holidays.

AVA03 I know exactly when the train will come AVA04 The station ticket office is always operational

AVA05 When delays occur, Metrorail is quick to repair and restore the service

Communication

Improved communication with customers extends to the language that the organisation uses in announcement to the customer, the type of content and the accuracy of the transmitted information.

Table 3. 4: Items measuring Communication

CODE ITEMS

Metrorail WC provides accurate information about train schedules and COM01 platforms

COM02 I know where to find the latest update time table Metrorail WC provides information during the journey in particular in case of COM03 delays.

COM04 Metrorail communicate with me in the language I understand

The public display notice boards (screens) always provide up to date COM05 information

COM06 The public audio speaker systems are an important tool to communicate

COM07 Having train updates before I get to the stations is important to me

COM08 Metrorail WC online platforms provide updated communications

Functional Aesthetics

Comfort, in this study, relates to overall feeling about service received. This extends to crowding, cleanliness and any other requirements introduced for the purpose of making public transportation trip as comfortable as is practically imaginable (Anderson & Condry, 2013).

Table 3. 5: Items measuring Functional Aesthetics

CODE ITEMS COT01 The internal space and seating arrangement in the train is comfortable COT02 Metrorail trains are always overcrowded COT03 I am satisfied with cleanliness and good maintenance of station facilities COT04 Station facilities have enough parking facilities COT05 I believe there is sufficient capacity for passengers COT06 I am satisfied with my train journey time

Corrective Responsiveness

Responsiveness involves the willingness of the staff to assist customers and provide quick service (Lee & Moghavvemi, 2015). According to (Wroblewski, 2018), being responsive means providing fast, friendly, knowledgeable service to you customers. (Saghier, 2015), defines responsiveness as “the degree to which service providers are willing to help customers and provide prompt service”.

Table 3. 6: Items measuring Corrective Responsiveness

CODE ITEMS RES01 Metrorail WC are attentive to customer complaints RES02 Metrorail WC are prompt in dealing with customer complaints RES03 Metrorail WC staff are interested in your comments and suggestions RES04 Metrorail WC staff is in tune with the need of the commuters RES05 Metrorail WC Customer center agents are competent RES06 I receive the support I need from Metrorail WC customer center RES07 Service representatives were professional and acted in my best interests

Service Reliability

In this study, Reliability refers to the ability to make the customers trust that the organisation will perform what is promised. This includes accurate delivery of service and being truthful about service offering. Reliability is measured by providing consistent, accurate and dependable service as promised or advertised.

Table 3. 7: Items measuring Service Reliability

CODE ITEMS

REL01 Metrorail WC service is always punctual and reliable Metrorail WC provides alternate transport when their service is cancelled or REL02 delayed

REL03 I can rely on the train to get me to my destination on time REL04 I can plan my train trip well in advance

Safety Management

In this study, Safety of the system is define by the likelihood that one can be involved in an incident or become a victim of a crime whilst using the service. Safety also relates to personal security.

Table 3. 8; Items measuring Safety Management

CODE ITEMS SAF01 Have you ever been involved in an incident on the train SAF02 Because of fear for my personal safety, I will stop using the train SAF03 Have you ever been involved in an incident at the stations/platforms SAF04 Metrorail has sufficient personal security at the station SAF05 Metrorail has sufficient personal security in the train SAF06 I fear for train burning incidents during my trip SAF07 Overall I believe that a train trip is safer compared to other modes of transport

Perceived Success of Service Quality

Service quality is an extrinsically perceived feature based on the customers’ experience about the service that the customer observed through service interactions. The assessment of service quality is formed based on outcome quality, interaction quality and physical quality (Zeithaml & Berry, 1985)

Table 3. 9; Items measuring Service Quality

CODE ITEMS

SER01 Would you say the Metrorail WC service is value for your money Based on your most recent experience with Metrorail WC, would you agree SER02 that the quality of our service was exceptional

Based on your most recent experience with Metrorail WC, would you say that SER03 your expectations of the service were met

SER04 My overall experience with Metrorail WC service was satisfactory SER05 Over the past 3 years Metrorail WC has improved their service offering SER06 You would recommend our service to family and friends

SER07 You would definitely recommend our service to others

Key indicators of the quality of a measuring instrument are the reliability and validity of the measuring instrument (Farghaly, 2018). These two key concepts of a measuring instrument, in the case of this study the questionnaire, will be discussed below.

3.5.1. Validity of the Measuring Instrument

The validity of a measuring instrument refers to the extent to which the instrument actually measures what it is designed to measure (Muijis, 2011). Validity is defined as the degree to which any measuring instrument or method is successful in accurately measuring the concept under study (Heala & Twycross, 2015). According to (Zohrabi, 2013), validity of research is a matter of trustworthiness, utility and dependability.

While many authors agree that there are many ways to measure validity, (Struwig & Stead, 2013) urges that the validity of a measuring instrument may be evaluated in a number of different ways, which includes, content validity, construct validly, face validity and criterion-related validity. Below is a discussion of the various approaches.

Figure 3. 1: Different Types of Validity tests

To measure content validity (Struwig & Stead, 2013) suggest two methods. One measures validity through the comparison of the items at hand with a detailed description of the concern or problem. Another method is to use a panel of expert judges to judge the questions on how well they cover the material being assessed.

According to (Struwig & Stead, 2013), construct validity is the degree to which a measuring instrument is able to quantify the theoretical construct or abstract variable that it is meant for measure. Most researchers, especially in education and language studies, test the construct validity before the main research by conducting pilot studies. By using a pilot study, a researcher can identify or improve a research question, clarify methods that are best for the study and assess the requirements (time, resources and survey methods) of the large-scale survey (Crossman, 2019).

Face validity refers to the researcher’s subjective evaluation of the performance and relevance of the measuring instrument as to whether the items in the instrument appear to be relevant, reasonable and free from ambiguity (Oluwatayo, 2012). In order to address this possibility, this study conducted a pilot study of the questionnaire using a similar sample to the final survey.

Criterion validity is measured by statistically testing a new measurement technique against an independent criterion or standard or against a future standard. Criterion validity is an estimate of the extent to which a measure agrees with a accepted standard (Bellamy, 2015). According to (Struwig & Stead, 2013), Criterion–related validity examines the association between two or more measuring instruments that appear to be related

Criterion related validity is further categorised into concurrent validity and predictive validity (Struwig & Stead, 2013). According to (Depoy & Giltin, 2016), this type of validity provides evidence about how well scores on the new measure compare with other measures of the same construct or very similar fundamental constructs that theoretically should be related.

3.5.2. Reliability of the Measuring Instrument

Reliability is a statistical term that specifies the extent to which a measuring instrument consistently distinguishes between individual variables of interest (Swanwick, 2014). According to (Heala & Twycross, 2015), the reliability of a measuring instrument refers to the ability to provide consistent results with equal values always, whilst some researchers refer to reliability as dependability and define it as the ability of the assessment tool to produce stable (error free) and consistent results (Muijis, 2011).

Perhaps the most commonly used measurement of reliability in terms of internal consistency is the Cronbach Alpha. The Cronbach Alpha is a method developed in 1951 by Lee Cronbach for provision of a measure of internal consistency of a test or scale. Cronbach alpha is expressed as an integer number between 0 to 1 (Tavakol & Dennick, Making sense of Cronbach's alpha, 2011). According to (Nunnally, 1978), The recommended alpha score reading of 0.70 or higher is regarded as good reliability, while for basic research or exploratory research, an alpha score reading of 0.50 is acceptable.

3.5.3. The Pilot study

Pilot studies represent a fundamental phase of the research process. The primary purpose of this is to examine the feasibility of an approach that is intended to be used in a larger scale study. Pilot study findings can be used as a guide in the design and implementation of larger scale efficacy studies (Leon & Davids, 2011). According to (Hazzi & Maldoan, 2015), the pilot study is the cornerstone of good research design and it forms part of the initial steps in research and is applicable to all types of research studies.

In social science research, a pilot study is defined as an initial small-scale study that researchers conduct in order to assist with deciding the best ways to conduct a large- scale research project. By using a pilot study, a researcher can identify or improve a research question, clarify methods that are best for the study and assess the

requirements (time, resources and survey methods) of the large-scale survey (Crossman, 2019).

In this study, the measuring instrument was developed with the assistance of a qualified statistician with experience in developing survey questionnaires. The questionnaire was tested on a sample representative of the main population. A total of 25 participants were randomly chosen to partake in the pilot study from the three corridors where Metrorail operates in the Western Cape.

According to (Leon & Davids, 2011), pilot data is perilous, therefore, the results of the feedback from the pilot study should not be used to base a decision to proceed or terminate assessment because there is a very good chance that the decision will be derived from false positive or false negative results.

The resultant feedback for this study was used to modify the instrument in various ways including: language editing to suit user preference, content review and addition of items which the respondents indicated were important factors to the commuters. These were factors which were not initially included in the instrument.

3.5.4. Data collection process

The primary data collection process of this study is carried out through a survey using a questionnaire. The questionnaire is administered through an online survey tool called Questionpro and face to face interviews at selected train stations. Questionpro tool is web-based software for managing online surveys. It provides an instinctive wizard interface for creating survey questions, and tools for distributing surveys via email or website.

Online platforms allows the researcher to obtain large volumes of survey data at reduced cost and time compared to more traditional survey methods while allowing participants to participate anonymously (Rice, Winter, Doherty, & Milner, 2017).

The study also made use of face to face interviews in the form of self-administrative questionnaire at selected train stations. This was achieved by use of 4 trained field agents who are specialists in data collection surveys. The field agents received specific training on the study questionnaire from a qualified statistician that assisted in the development of the questionnaire.

The selected stations needed to be representative of at least one or more corridors, and where the targeted sample of the study would be available. The closest station was Cape Town Station because it covers all of the Western Cape corridors. Bellville station is the second biggest station in the region which has traffic flows from at least two (2) corridors. These two stations are more convenient to the researcher and provide the target audience.

While there are plenty of positive benefits in using online research platforms for data collection, there are has some drawbacks such as non-representative samples, low response rates, participant fraud and practical survey administration issues that can all impact the outcome of the collection process (Rice, Winter, Doherty, & Milner, 2017).

The main reason for this type of method, as opposed to only having an online survey, is due to the fact that face to face data collection has the ability to improve the completion rate and reduce the dropout rate that is common in self-administered or online questionnaires as was evident during the pilot study.

The data collection will take place for one month or until the required minimum sample size of 384 respondents is archived. Most of the secondary data will be sourced from various sources such as journal articles and other recorded studies or reports.

The study only looked to interview and analyse the population of the commuters of Metrorail Western Cape. The targeted sample audience for the study will comprise of persons older than 18 years of age. A user of Metrorail’s services whether as a single, weekly or monthly ticket holder will be included. Scholars are excluded from the survey for the reason that their maturity levels are not sufficient to give unbiased responses.

3.6. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

3.6.1. Ethical Principles and Responsibility

There are numerous reasons to adhere to ethical norms in research. More importantly ethical norms promote the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. Ethical norms prohibit against fabricating, falsifying or misrepresenting research data promotes the truth and minimize errors (Resnik, Miller, & Elliot, 2015)

According to (Fouka & Mantzorou, 2011), ethical considerations can be detailed as one of the most essential parts of the research, with informed consent as the major ethical issue to take into consideration. Other concerns relate to the anonymity and privacy of individuals and organisations participating in the research, the protection of dignity of the research participants.

Ethics in research also requires that the researcher does not misrepresent or fabricate data in their publication. It is the researcher’s responsibility to acknowledge work of others through proper citation.

3.6.2. Institutional Approval

The study will comprise of human participants and thus will strive to protect confidential communications, privacy and avoid discrimination against respondents on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, or other factors not related to scientific competence and integrity. The study will also undertake honesty in all report data, results, methods and procedures. The study will strive to avoid biased data analysis and interpretation. Because the selected population of the study does not fall under the classification of the “vulnerable” participant’s category, the study will follow the FORM E route from the Nelson Mandela University for Ethics clearance.

3.7. SUMMARY

This chapter looked at various philosophies that a research study can undertake. Different paradigms that are available to a researcher were presented and discussed. Finally a paradigm for this study was established. The chapter also looked at the different research design methods. These methods were explained and the study concluded to adopt the quantitative research method and thus the research design for quantitative methods was adopted.

The measuring instrument in the form of a questionnaire was developed. The data collection and data analysis methods were discussed with the inclusion of the ethical consideration for participants in order to maintain the ethical standards of research and to protect the respondents from any harm, abuse or victimisation.

CHAPTER 4: EMPIRICAL RESULTS AND DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS RESULTS

4.1. INTRODUCTION

The theoretical overview coming out of the literature review as discussed in chapter three provides a detailed insight on the research paradigm and the preferred paradigm selected for this study. The chapter also dealt with the development of the questionnaire that was used to collect the data for this study. In this chapter four, the research will focus on the reporting on the data outputs from the survey, focus on the analyses that related to answering the original research question of chapter 1 and the main purpose of this study. The chapter starts off with an analysis of the samples of demographic representations and composition, and then will look at the specific relationships amongst the hypothesised variables and how their relations are perceived by the commuters.

A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed electronically using the Questionpro links and manually distributed at stations. From the distributed total, a total of 257 responses were received. This translated to a 64.25% response rate. From the 257 received responses, 204 responses were captured successfully whilst 40 were discarded due to incomplete data and poor quality. This omission is reflected as 15.56% of the received responses and was observed to be mainly the online platform responses, while the face to face responses again received a 100% response rate. This leaves 84.44% of the received responses available for data analysis and interpretation. These questionnaires were captured into Questionpro and an Excel spreadsheet output of raw data was forwarded to a statistician for data analysis.

4.2. DATA ANALYSIS

The data was analysed using the software program called STATISTICA and this was done with the help of a qualified statistician. Using the software, descriptive statistics were performed in order to determine the mean and standard deviations of data to assess the importance of probable reciprocation of survey items. Respondents were invited to point out on a five (5) point Likert scale their level of agreement or disagreement with the statements asked in the questionnaire. These statements were intended to find the extent to which the respondents are satisfied with the different service determinants or features they receive from Metrorail Western Cape and how these determinates contribute to their perception of the service quality.

4.2.1. Demographical Data

This section of the results consists of the survey items that are related to the demographic composition of the study respondents. The section deals with items such as corridor (area of travel), age, gender, race, level of qualifications, employment state and the usage type or frequency of train used as a mode of transportations.

Figure 4. 1: Which of Metrorail Corridors do you use?

The first demographic component is to assess the usage of different corridors in the Western Cape. The corridors are divided into three, namely: Central Corridor, Southern 65

Corridor and the Northern Corridor. Figure 4.1 illustrate the different corridors used by the respondents. Figure 4.1 shows that a total of 81 respondents use the Central corridor, a total of 40 uses the Southern corridor and that 83 used the Northern corridor. The analysis of the data as illustrated by figure 4.1 indicates that the Central corridor is represented by 39.71%, while the Southern corridor and Northern corridor are represented by 19.61% and 40.69% respectively.

Figure 4. 2: Please indicate your Age

The age composition of the sample is presented in figure 4.2. The age distribution of participants ranges from 18 years to 60 year old. From figure 4.2, it is illustrated that 58 respondents are between the ages 18 to 25 years, 74 respondents were in the age group of 26 to 35 years, 46 respondents were between the ages of 36 to 45, while 22 respondents were between the ages of 50 to 59 and only 4 respondents fall under the category of 60 years and above

Figure 4.2 shows that 28.43% of the respondents were between the ages of 18 to 25 years. The highest percentage of the age distribution was 36.27% and these were respondents between the ages of 26 to 35 years. This is followed by 22.55% composed of the age group 36 to 45 years, whilst 10.78% of the respondents were between 46 to 60 years, with only 1.96% of the respondents aged 60 and above.

Figure 4. 3: Please Indicate your Gender

The Gender composition of the sample is presented in Figure 4.3. Of the 204 respondents, only 2 chose not to answer the gender question. Figure 4.3 reflects that the gender composition is broken down into 102 females and 100 males. This demonstrates that the gender composition of the study is evenly split, with 50.50% being females and 49.50% as males.

Figure 4. 4: Please Indicate your Race

The Ethic grouping (Race) composition of the sample is presented in Figure 4.4. The race distribution of participants has 4 groups namely; Africa, Coloured, Indian and White. From figure 4.4 it is illustrated that 108 respondents were of African descent, the Coloured group comprised of 81, while 11 where White and only 3 of the respondents were Indian.

Figure 4.4 shows that the highest percentage distribution with 53.20% of the respondents was African. 39.90% of the respondents were Coloured, while Whites made up 5.42% of the respondents and only 1.48% of the respondents were Indian.

Figure 4. 5: Please indicate your level of Education

The educational qualifications of the respondents ranged from Matric to Post Graduate Level. Figure 4.5 illustrate the educational qualifications of the respondents. The results shows that there are 89 respondents with matric level, 57 respondents have National Diploma or Certificate, 17 respondents have degrees, while a total of 19 indicated that they have a Post Graduate qualification. Finally, a total of 22 respondents have no formal education.

The analysis of the data on indicates that the majority of respondents 43.63% have a matric certificate or less. There are 27.94% respondents with a national Diploma or a Certificate, while 9.31% have a Post Graduate Degree. A total of 10.78% of.33% the respondents have no formal education while just 8.33% have a degree.

Figure 4. 6: Please indicate your employment status

The employment status distribution of participants ranged from Unemployed to Self- employed. The illustration of employment composition is presented in Figure 4.6. The results illustrate that only 6 respondents are not employed nor are in school. The highest concentration of the sample is people who are fully employed, with a total of 122 of the respondents. There are 42 respondents that are either students or in part time jobs,

Figure 4.6 shows 11.76% of the respondents were Unemployed, with 2.94% that fall outside the description of Unemployment. A total of 20.59% of the respondents were students or in part time jobs, while 4.90% is made up by self-employed individuals. The majority at 59.80% of the respondents are in full employment.

Figure 4. 7: Please indicate your income group

The Income distribution of participants ranged from R0 to over R15 000 per month in earnings. The illustration of income composition is presented in figure 4.7. The results shows that the income distribution is evenly spread with the 59 respondents in the R2 500 to R8 000 groups, while the lowest distribution is the R0 to R500 group with 30 respondents. The groups R500 to 2 500 and R8 000 to R15 000 are equally matched with 39 respondents respectively followed by 37 respondents for the R15 000 and above income group.

The analysis of the data on figure 4.7 indicates that the majority of respondents 28.92% earn an income between R2 500 to R8 000. The income groups R500 to 2 500 and R8 000 to R15 000 illustrate an equal split with 19.12% of the respondents. The remaining two groups R0 to R500 and R15, 000 and above are also closely matched with 14.71% and 18.14% for the latter.

Figure 4. 8: How long have you used the Train?

The total number of years that the sample has used Metrorail Western Cape service ranges from 1 year to longer than 5 years. Figure 4.8 shows that from the total of 204 respondents, 121 respondents have been using the train service for more than five (5) years. 48 respondents indicated that they have used the train between 2 years and 5 years, while 21 respondents indicated that they have between 1 year and 2 years. Only 14 of the respondents have used the train for less than a year.

The analysis of the data on figure 4.8 indicates that the majority of respondents, 59.31%, have used the train for 5 years or more. There are 23.53% respondents with between 2 to 5 years of using the train service, while only 6.86% have been using the train for less than 1 year.

Figure 4. 9: Please indicate which ticket do you buy

The type of tickets that commuters use is related to the income generated by Metrorail. The type of ticket options range from single trip up to monthly tickets. Figure 4.9 illustrates the preferred tickets purchased by respondents from the sample of 204 is a total of 117 respondents who purchase a monthly ticket, while only 13 respondents were purchasing a single trip ticket. The total number of respondents that use either the return ticket or the weekly ticket option is split at 37 in total.

The analysis of the data on figure 4.9 indicates that the majority of respondents, 57.35%, purchase a monthly ticket, while only 6.37% respondents indicated that they purchase the single trip ticket option. There is an equal split between the respondents who purchase the weekly ticket and the return ticket, both represented by 18.14%.

Figure 4. 10: Please indicate which is most important to you

The final question of the survey gave the respondents a chance to indicate which of the service quality determinants is important to them. From a total of 198 respondents who answered this question, it can be observed from figure 4.10 that safety was the most important of the determinants with 98 of the respondents choosing safety.

Communication is the second most important variable, as indicated by 57 respondents, followed in third by Service Reliability with 36 respondents. The lowest or least important factor as indicted by the respondents was Responsiveness and Access, both receiving 2 selections each. Comfort or Service Aesthetics received 3 out of 198.

The analysis of the data on figure 4.10 indicates that the majority of respondents, 49.49%, indicated that Safety was important to them, followed by Communication and Reliability both with 28.79% and 18.18% respectively. Only 3% of respondents indicated there is an equal split between the respondents who indicated that Access and Responsiveness were important features to them, both are represented by 1.01%.

4.3. QUALITY OF DATA

4.3.1. Reliability

To test the reliability of the measuring instrument for this study, a statistical software tool called STATISTICA was used to perform the Cronbach’s alpha test between the variables of the hypothesised model. The relationship between each question within the variables was tested for reliability and each independent variable was also tested for correlation against the dependent variable.

The most commonly used measurement of reliability in terms of internal consistency is the Cronbach Alpha. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient typically ranges between 0 and 1. However, there is actually no lower limit to the coefficient. The closer Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is to 1.0 the greater the internal consistency of the items in the scale.

The recommended alpha score reading of 0.70 or higher is regarded as good reliability, while for basic research or exploratory research an alpha score reading of 0.50 is acceptable (Nunnally, 1978). According to (Zikmund, 2013), Cronbach’s alpha score 0.60 is considered fair for an internal reliability of a measuring instrument and this is the measurement score that will be used for this study.

The results obtained in the Cronbach’s alpha analysis are shown in Table 4.10 below:

Table 4. 1: Reliability of the measuring instrument by the Cronbach’s alpha

Variable Cronbach’s alpha

Service Availability 0.76

Service Accessibility 0.53

Comfort 0.84

Communication 0.75

Corrective Responsiveness 0.85

Service Reliability 0.71

Safety Management 0.22

Service Quality 0.91

In the table 4.1 above, the internal consistency of the responses was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha. Reliability scores were between the values 0.22 to 0.91 for the measured variables as presented. All the variables measured a score above 0.60 which indicated a good reliability, except for the safety management variable that scored 0.22 and service accessibility that scored 0.53.

A high level for Cronbach’s alpha may mean that the items in the test are highly correlated. A low value for Cronbach’s alpha may mean that there are not enough questions on the test. Poor interrelatedness between test questions can also cause low values, so can measuring more than one latent variable.

If all of the items are measuring the same perception, it is anticipated that they would all correlate well together. Any items that have consistently low correlations may need to be removed from the questionnaire to make it more reliable.

Safety management variable had 7 items in the questionnaire measuring the perception of commuters. Of the seven questions, the results indicated that the reliability of this variable was very low and a satisfactory value could not be reached. Therefore the variable safety management has been removed from the final hypothesised model.

Service accessibility variable had 5 items in the questionnaire measuring the perception of commuters. Of the five questions, the results indicated that the reliability of this variable was very low and a satisfactory value r > 0.60 could not be reached. Therefore the variable service accessibility has been removed from the final hypothesised model.

4.3.2. Validity

4.4. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

This section analyses and interprets the descriptive statistics with regard to the individual questions for the independent variables that were asked of the respondents according to the questionnaire. The questionnaire constituted of seven (7) independent variables and one (1) dependent variable. Answers from the respondents were captured and are presented in this section using tables and histogram charts. The responses specify the extent in which the respondents agree or disagree with Metrorail’s practice or application of the determinants of service quality namely: Availability (AVE), Access (ACC), communication (COM), Functional Aesthetics (COT), Reliability (REL0, Corrective Responsiveness (RES) and Safety Management (SAF).

Figure 4. 11: Descriptive statistics on service accessibility

SERVICE ACCESSIBILITY 80.00

70.00

60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00

20.00 RESPONSES (%) RESPONSES 10.00 0.00 Train stations I believe the Station location I am happy with have train stations I can walk to my of Metrorail WC the process of connections with cater for the local train is easily buying a train other modes of Elderly and station accessible? ticket public transport disabled. Disagree 15.27 54.94 19.40 75.38 23.77 Neutral 13.79 16.34 10.45 17.59 8.91 Agree 70.94 28.72 70.15 7.03 67.32

Figure 4.11 above show responses to the service accessibility variable. From the five (5) statements that measure service accessibility, three (3) statements measure positive response. They are well above 67%. The statement “is the station easily accessible” has the highest score with 70.94%. When asked if respondents are happy with the process of purchasing a train ticket, 70.15% agreed with the statement. Only two (2) of the statements scored low with the question “I believe the train stations cater for the elderly and disabled” scoring the lowest at 7.03%. A total of 54.94% indicated that the train stations did not have connections with other mode of public transport systems.

The mean scores for service accessibility ranged from 1.80 to 3.55 with an average mean score of 2.99. This indicates low levels of accessibility to the service according the respondents.

Figure 4. 12: Descriptive statistics on service availability

SERVICE AVAILABILITY 80.00

70.00

60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00

20.00 RESPONSES (%) RESPONSES 10.00 0.00 When delays I am satisfied I can easily find a The station I know exaclty occur, Metrorail with the train on ticket office is when the train is quick to repair frequency if the weekends and always will come and restore the train service. public holidays. operational service Disagree 55.44 46.77 41.59 29.07 75.37 Neutral 14.36 38.31 28.71 13.79 20.20 Agree 30.20 14.93 29.70 57.14 4.43

Figure 4.12 above show responses to the service availability variable. From the five (5) statements that measures service availability, four (4) statements indicate a negative response towards the availability questions. A total of 55.44% of the respondents indicated unhappiness with the frequency level of train service, while 75.37% indicated that, in cases of delays, Metrorail is not quick to restore the service to normal. When asked if they can find trains easily on weekends and public holidays, 46.77% of the respondents disagreed. On the other hand, a total of 41.59% of the responses indicated that they are not aware when the train will be available in their stations. One positive outcome from this variable is that a total of 57.14% indicated that the ticket offices at the stations are always operational.

The mean scores for service availability ranged from 1.80 to 3.21 with an average mean score of 2.52. This indicates relatively low levels of availability of the service, according the respondents.

Figure 4. 13: Descriptive statistics on functional aesthetics

FUNCTIONAL AESTHETICS 80.00

70.00 (&) 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00

RESPONSES 10.00 0.00 I am satisfied The internal with Station I believe space and Metrorail cleanliness facilities have there is I am satisfied seating trains are and good enough sufficient with my train arrangement always maintenance parking capacity for journey time in the train is overcrowded of station facilities passenger comfortable? facilities Disagree 45.77 21.50 51.48 24.63 70.15 49.01 Neutral 17.41 10.50 17.33 23.65 17.41 23.76 Agree 36.82 68.00 31.19 51.72 12.44 27.23

Figure 4.13 above show responses to the functional aesthetics variable. From the six (6) statements that measure functional aesthetics, a total of 68% of the respondents indicated that the trains are always overcrowded, while 70.15% indicated that there is insufficient capacity for passengers in the train. When asked about the internal spacing and seating arrangement in the trains, 45.77% indicate that these arrangements are not comfortable. On the issue of station facilities and general maintenance, 51.72% of the respondents agree that the stations have enough parking facilities. However, on the subject of overall cleanliness and good maintenance of station facilities, only 31.19% of the respondents agreed, and a total of 51.48% disagreed.

The mean scores for functional aesthetics ranged from 2.07 to 3.69 with an average mean score of 2.76. This indicates relatively low levels of functional aesthetics of the service according the respondents.

Figure 4. 14: Descriptive statistics on communication

COMMUNICATIONS

90.00 80.00 70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00 0.00 Metrorail Metrorail The Public Metrorail RESPONSES (%) RESPONSES The Public WC WC display Having WC online Metrorail audio provides I know provides notice train platforms communic speaker accurate where to informatio boards updates (Twitter, ates with systems informatio find the n during (screens) before I Facebook me in the are an n about latest the always get to the & APP) language I important train updated journey in provide up stations is provides understan tool to schedules time table particular to date important updated d communic and in case of informatio to me communic ate platforms delays. n ations Disagree 39.90 36.14 79.80 23.39 44.55 19.31 11.39 48.25 Neutral 22.66 11.88 13.30 11.44 12.87 5.45 3.96 38.31 Agree 37.44 51.98 6.90 65.17 42.58 75.24 84.65 13.44

Figure 4.14 above show positive responses to the communications variable. From the eight (8) statements that measure communications, a total of 84.65% of the responses indicated that having train updates information before arriving at the station is important to them. In conjunction with this, 75.24% of the respondents indicated that the public audio speaker system is an important feature or medium of communications to them. On a positive note, 65.17% of the respondents agree that Metrorail Western Cape communicates in a language that they can understand, however 23.39% of the respondents say that they may be left out of the communication due to the language usage.

A very important aspect is that 51.98% of the responses indicate that they are aware of avenues or mediums to find the latest information regarding the train service. However, what is concerning is the fact that 48.25% of the respondents do not trust the accuracy of the information disseminated on the online platforms, while 39.90% do not trust the accuracy of the train schedule.

The mean scores for communications ranged from 1.86 to 4.03 with an average mean score of 3.00. This indicates an even split view about Metrorail’s communications according the respondents.

Figure 4. 15: Descriptive statistics on corrective responsiveness

CORRECTIVE RESPONSIVENESS 80.00

70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00

RESPONSES (%) RESPONSES 10.00 0.00 Metrorail I receive the Service Metrorail Metrorail Metrorail Metrorail WC staff are support I representati WC is WC staff is WC WC is interested in need from ves were prompt in in tune with Customer attentive to your Metrorail professional dealing with the need of center customer comments WC and acted in customer the agents are complaints and customer my best complaints commuters. competent. suggestions center interests. Disagree 71.64 62.50 73.89 69.80 56.72 47.53 50.74 Neutral 22.39 32.00 17.73 25.74 37.81 29.21 29.56 Agree 5.97 5.50 8.38 4.46 5.47 23.26 19.70

Figure 4.15 below show positive responses to the corrective responsiveness variable. All of the seven (7) statements that measures corrective responsiveness indicate a very negative feedback, well above 73.89%. A total of 71.64% of the responses indicated that Metrorail is not attentive to customer complaints, with 62.50% of the respondents indicating their complaints are not dealt with promptly. A total of 73.89% of the

respondents believe that Metrorail Western Cape staff is not interested in customer’s comments or suggestions. Further to that, 50.74% of the respondents indicate that the service representatives have not acted professionally or in the best interest of the customers. When respondents were asked if they believed Metrorail Western Cape Customer Centre agents are competent, only 5.74% agree and a total of 56.72% disagrees.

The mean scores for corrective responsiveness ranged from 1.94 to 2.55 with an average mean score of 2.18. This indicates very low levels of corrective responsiveness towards the commuters according the respondents.

Figure 4. 16: Descriptive statistics on service reliability

SERVICE RELIABILITY

100.00 90.00 80.00 70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00

RESPONSES (%) RESPONSES 0.00 Metrorail WC Metrorail WC provides alternate I can rely on the service is always transport when train to get me to I can plan my train punctual and their service is my destination on trip well in advance reliable cancelled or time delayed. Disagree 89.16 75.74 59.90 37.31 Neutral 8.37 16.83 24.75 17.41 Agree 2.47 7.43 15.35 45.28

Figure 4.16 above show positive responses to the service reliability variable. From the five (5) statements that measure service reliability, a total of 89.16% of the respondents indicated that Metrorail WC service is not punctual and reliable. As a result, only 45.28% of the respondents agree that they can plan their trips well in advance. Only 15.35% of the respondents agree that they can rely on the train to get them to their

destination on time, while 59.90% of the respondents disagreed. A total of 75.74% indicated that in cases of service interruptions or cancellations, Metrorail Western Cape does not provide alternate transportation.

The mean scores for service reliability ranged from 1.70 to 2.88 with an average mean score of 2.16. This indicates low levels of reliability on the service according the respondents.

Figure 4. 17: Descriptive statistics on safety management

SAFETY MANAGEMENT 80.00

70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 RESPONSES (%) RESPONSES 10.00 0.00 Overall I Have you Have you Because of Metrorail Metrorail I fear for believe that ever been ever been fear for my has has train a train trip involved in involved in personal sufficient sufficient burning is safer an incident an incident safety, I will personal personal incidents compared at the on the stop using security at security in during my to other stations/pla train? the train the station. the train trip modes of tforms? transport Disagree 66.33 34.66 56.44 45.27 74.00 15.85 53.73 Neutral 0.00 25.24 9.40 22.39 19.00 12.38 27.86 Agree 33.67 40.10 34.16 32.34 7.00 71.77 18.41

Figure 4.17 above show positive responses to the safety management variable. From the seven (7) statements that measure safety of the commuters, a total of 66.33% indicated that they have never been involved in an incident on the train, while 33.67% indicated they have been involved in an incident on the train. Only 18.41% of the respondents believe that the train is safer than other modes of transport, while 53.73% of the respondents disagree. A total of 71.77% of the respondents also indicated that

they feared for the burning of trains during the journey. 45.27% believed that Metrorail Western Cape does not have enough security at the stations, while 74% indicted that there is not enough security in the trains. Overall, a total of 40.10% of the respondents indicated they would stop using the train for fear of personal safety.

The mean scores for safety management ranged from 1.66 to 3.75 with an average mean score of 2.58. This indicates low levels of safety management on the service according the respondents.

Figure 4. 18: Descriptive statistics on perceived service quality

PERCEIVED SERVICE QUALITY

90.00 80.00 70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00 RESPONSES (%) RESPONSES 0.00 would you would you My overall Over the Would you You would say that the say that experience past 3 years You would say the recommend quality of your with Metrorail definitely Metrorail our service our service expectation Metrotail WC has recommend WC service to family was s of the WC service improved our service is value for and exceptional service was their service to others? your money friends? ? were met satisfactory offering Disagree 46.04 50.00 51.98 51.72 76.85 54.73 51.24 Neutral 26.73 24.26 27.23 25.62 13.30 11.94 16.25 Agree 27.23 25.74 20.79 22.66 9.85 33.33 32.51

Figure 4.18 above show responses to the one (1) dependent variable that measures the perceived service quality variable. Overall, a total of 76.85% of the respondents disagree that Metrorail Western Cape has made any improvement to the service offering. 51.72% indicated that the service they received from Metrorail Western Cape was not satisfactory. When asked if the quality of the service was exceptional, 50% of the respondents disagreed, while on the other hand, only 27.23% of the respondents agree that Metrorail Western Cape is value for money. When asked if the respondents would recommend Metrorail Western Cape service to friends and family including other

third parties, the respondents indicated that 54.71% disagreed with only 33.33% who agreed.

The mean scores for service accessibility ranged from 1.93 to 2.55 with an average mean score of 2.38. This indicates low levels of perceived service quality according the respondents.

4.5. PEARSON’S CORRELATION COEFFICIENT

Pearson’s correlation coefficient is valuable to determine the relationship between two variables. It measures the significance between two variables. The measure is indicated by values between -1 to + 1, which represents correlation, with -1 representing very negative correlation and + 1 a very high correlation coefficient.

In this study, statistical correlation analysis was used to determine the strength of the association between the seven determinants of service quality. In table 4.11 below, the Pearson’s correlation coefficient measures of the variables are presented.

Table 4. 2: Pearson’s correlation coefficients

Note*: P – values in Red indicates statistically significant correlation (p< 0.50)

Table 4.2 shows Pearson correlation coefficient r relationships between the service dimensions, the coefficient r measures the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables.

The results from the study indicate that there is a strong positive relationship between the six independent variable (service availability, functional aesthetics, communications, corrective responsiveness, service reliability and safety management) and perceived service quality. These relationships are strong because the correlation coefficient is greater than 0.70 in all the cases, the results mean that any change in any of the independent variables, there will be a strong positive response to perceived service quality. For Metrorail Western Cape, this means that by improving these variables, there will be a direct improvement on the perceived service quality.

From the results, only service accessibility has no relationship with service quality. This means based on passenger’s perception, accessibility improvement will not have any influence on the perceived service quality.

The analyses also looked at relationship between independent variable. The results indicates a very strong positive relationship between service availability and three other variables namely; corrective responsiveness, service reliability and safety management with (r) = 0.993, 0.951 and 0.9841 respectively. This means that a change in service availability will have a positive effect to these variables.

Another factor that has very strong positive correlation relationship is safety management and two other variable namely; corrective responsiveness and service reliability with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.998 and 0.991 respectively. These results mean that improvements in safety management will result in a positive improvement in corrective responsiveness and service reliability.

Table 4. 3: Descriptive statistics: comparison between corridors

Table 4.3 above show the mean score of all the determinants as received from the different corridors of Metrorail Western Cape. Comparatively all the variables are closely matched with service accessibility having the highest mean variable from the survey. The southern corridors mean score of 3.10 is the highest of all means values, followed closely by the northern corridor on 2.96, and the central corridor’s mean score is 2.92.

Communication is the second highest scoring variable, with mean score ranging from 2.87 for the southern corridor, 2.95 for the northern corridor and central being the highest at 3.09. Corrective responsiveness is relatively low also, with a mean score ranging from 2.05 to 2.28.

The lowest scoring variable is service reliability. The mean scores across all three corridors indicate their lowest mean score on this variable. The central and southern corridor scores match at 2.23, while the northern corridor is the lowest at only 2.06.

When the mean scores are ranked from high to low, the following order can be seen. Service Accessibility, Communications, Functional Aesthetics, Safety Management, Availability and Reliability as the lowest variable

4.6. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDEPENDENT VARIABLES TO THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

The summary of the relationship between the chosen variables is presented in Figure 4.18 below and is taken from the analyses and results of table 4.11 which show that there is no relationship between service accessibility and any other service quality factors including service quality itself. There is a high positive correlation between the other factors, service availability, functional aesthetics, communication, corrective responsiveness, reliability and safety management to perceived service quality. These associations are high because the correlation coefficient is greater than 0.70 in all the case

Figure 4. 19: Summary of the relationship between the variables

Note*: ns – not significant, meaning there was no relationship found.

4.7. ACCEPTANCE OR REJECTION OF THE HYPOTHESES

In chapter one, seven hypotheses were formulated. Based on the main findings of the study, this section reveals whether these hypotheses are accepted or rejected.

4.7.1. Hypothesis 1 (H1)

H1: Service accessibility has a positive relationship on service quality.

 The results revealed that service accessibility has a medium negative correlation to perceived success of service quality.  This hypothesis therefore was rejected.

4.7.2. Hypothesis 2 (H2)

H2: Service Availability has a positive relationship on service quality.

 The results revealed that service availability has a high positive correlation to perceived success of service quality.  This hypothesis therefore cannot be rejected.

4.7.3. Hypothesis 3 (H3)

H3: Functional Aesthetics has a positive relationship on Service Quality

 The results revealed that functional aesthetics has a high positive correlation to perceived success of service quality.  This hypothesis therefore cannot be rejected.

4.7.4. Hypothesis 4 (H4)

H4: Communication has a positive relationship on service quality

 The results revealed that Communication has a high positive correlation to perceived success of service quality.  This hypothesis therefore cannot be rejected.

4.7.5. Hypothesis 5 (H5)

H5: Corrective Responsiveness has a positive relationship on service quality.

 The results revealed that corrective responsiveness has a high positive correlation to perceived success of service quality.  This hypothesis therefore cannot be rejected.

4.7.6. Hypothesis 6 (H6)

H6: Service Reliability has a positive relationship on service quality.

 The results revealed that service reliability has a high positive correlation to perceived success of service quality.  This hypothesis therefore cannot be rejected.

4.7.7. Hypothesis 7 (H7)

H7: Safety Management has a positive relationship on service quality.

 The results revealed that Safety Management has a high positive correlation to perceived success of service quality.  This hypothesis therefore cannot be rejected 90

4.8. SUMMARY OF EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

A total of five out of the seven independent variables from the hypothesized model indicated a high positive correlation to the dependent variable that was being measured. Based on the finding from the statistical analysis, safety management scored very low on the Cronbach alpha, similarly service accessibility indicated very low scores in both the Cronbach alpha and the result of the correlation to the dependent variable. These independent variables proved a medium negative correlation to the dependent variable. Therefore, based on these findings, there is significant statistical proof that safety management and service accessibility can be removed from the hypothesised model of measuring service quality in rail transportation. The final model coming out of this study is illustrated in figure 4.21 below.

Figure 4. 20: Recommended model for measuring perceived success of service quality in public rail transport

4.9. SUMMARY

This chapter presented the empirical results from the 204 respondents who were surveyed. The data was captured and analysed using statistical tools and the findings were presented. Empirical results showed the relationship between service quality and its related variable, service accessibility, service availability, functional aesthetics, communication, corrective responsiveness, service reliability and safety management.

The analysis looked at the relationship between the independent variable of service quality and analysed the correlation between the variables themselves against the service quality variable. The three different corridors of Metrorail Western Cape were also measured against each other in terms of their perception of the service quality determinants and the findings were presented.

Chapter Four also presented descriptive statistical outcomes of this research study. The following chapter, chapter 5, will address management implications that derive from the quantitative analysis contained in this chapter. The next chapter will also give recommendations for improving employee engagement levels of the employees.

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the findings of the empirical results and their meaning to management are discussed. The findings, limitations, recommendations and a conclusion of the research are provided. This chapter also suggests and recommends opportunities for further research.

5.2. OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

The primary objective of this study was to investigate strategic service challenges within Metrorail Western Cape by investigating which set of service determinants better predict improved perceived success of service quality. The study investigated the role of service quality determinants such as, service accessibility, service availability, communication, functional aesthetics, corrective responsiveness, service reliability and safety management in relation to perceived success of service quality.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned primary objective, the following research objectives will be pursued:

 Gain understanding of the importance of customer service to passengers of Metrorail Western Cape.

To address this objective, a theoretical literature study was conducted on the determinants of service quality and customer satisfaction. In chapter two, the subject was addressed that one of the main elements influential in customer satisfaction is the customer’s perception of service quality. Quality of services in railway transport can be determined by the existing level of service quality, by detecting the causes of dissatisfaction of customers in order to uncover strengths and weaknesses

(Nedeliakova, Camaj, & Masek, 2015). According to (Irfan, Shahbaz, & Kee, 2012), customer perception of a service plays a significant role in order to measure service quality and is vital to gain customer satisfaction, loyalty and increased market share.

The measuring instrument sought to assess this objective by asking survive related questions and the responsiveness of Metrorail to the commuters view, comments and complaints. The results indicate a very negative feedback. A total of 71.64% of the responses indicated that Metrorail is not attentive to customer complaints, with 62.50% of the respondents indicating their complaints are not dealt with promptly. A total of 73.89% of the respondents believe that Metrorail Western Cape staff is not interested in customer’s comments or suggestions.

These findings do indicate very low levels of customer service from Metrorail. However, the questions do not give a clear indication of the extent to which the commuters feel about the customer service experience. It is with this that the study concludes that the objective could not be archived.

 Explore the impact of good and poor customer service on passengers

To address this objective, a theoretical literature study was conducted on the determinants of service quality and customer satisfaction. In chapter two, from various sources and studies in other railway services around the world, the study found that the implications of poor service can amount to huge monetary losses, because of lost revenue as customers choose to use alternative service from competitors, and the organisation suffers. Included in the loss in revenue there is also a cost associated to customer replacements, which mean gaining a new customer to fill the gap left by the previous ones that were lost (Sourmunen, 2017).

The study also found that on the opposite end, the implication, or rather, the benefits for good service quality can lead to customer satisfaction. According (Belas & Gabcova, 2016), customer satisfaction can lead to customer loyalty since people are inclined to be rational and are risk-adverse. Hence, they might have a tendency to reduce risk and stay with the service providers based on previous superior service experience. In fact,

customer satisfaction has been advocated to be an antecedent of loyalty in service based on previous studies. This view is also expressed by (Coelho & Henseler, 2012).

In the development of the questionnaire, a number of questions were included under the service quality variable to access the impact of perceived service quality. When asked if the quality of the service was exceptional, 50% of the respondents disagreed, When asked if the respondents would recommend Metrorail Western Cape service to friends and family including other third parties, the respondents indicated that 54.71% disagreed. Under the person safety a total of 40.10% of the respondents indicated they would stop using the train for fear of personal safety.

These finding give a clear picture of the impact that the service levels have on the commuters, it can thus be concluded that this objective was archived.

 Establish in priority order the most valued quality service determinant for the commuter as perceived by commuters of Western Cape.

In order to address this objective, in the development of the measuring instrument in chapter three, a question was coded into the survey which gave the respondents a chance to indicate which of the service quality determinants is important to them. From a total of 198 respondents who answered this question, it can be observed from table 4.10 that Safety was the most important of the determinants with 98 of the respondents choosing Safety. Communication is the second most important variable as indicated by 57 respondents, followed third by Service Reliability with 36 respondents. The lowest or least important factor as indicted by the respondents was Responsiveness and Access, both receiving 2 selections each. Comfort or Service Aesthetics received 3 out of 198.

The analysis of the data in Figure 4.10 indicates that the majority of respondents, 49.49% indicated that Safety was important to them, followed by Communication and Reliability both with 28.79% and 18.18% respectively. While only 3% of respondents indicated that there is an equal split between the respondents who indicated that Access and Responsiveness were important features to them, both represented by 1.01%.

These finding give a clear priority order of important service determinants and thus it can be concluded that this objective was archived.

5.3. MAIN CONCLUSIONS AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS To achieve the main objective of the study by investigating determinants of service quality and their effects on the perceived success, a sample of 384 respondents was identified for the study. In the end, a total sample size of 204 was archived; this gives the study a 68% response rate. The data was collected using a questionnaire administrated by trained volunteers at strategic stations within three of Metrorail’s corridors. An online platform was also used in order to reach more of the target audience through use of software program Questionpro.

The paragraphs below strive to present the conclusions and include all the variables that were chosen for the study.

5.3.1. Service Accessibility Accessibility is a critical element in transport topography, since it is a direct manifestation of mobility by the consumers (Rodgrigue, 2017).

The mean scores (mean = 2.99) from the analyses shows that the perception on this variable is that the commuters feel strongly about this variable. This indicates low levels of accessibility to the service according the respondents. From the five (5) statements that measure service accessibility, three (3) statements measure positive response. They are well above 67%. The statement “is the station easily accessible” has the highest score with 70.94%. When asked if respondents are happy with the process of purchasing a train ticket, 70.15% agreed with the statement. Only two (2) of the statements scored low with the question “I believe the train stations cater for the elderly and disabled” scoring the lowest at 7.03%. A total of 54.94% indicated that the train stations did not have connections with other mode of public transport systems

A correlation relationship was tested and the data shows a no correlation relationship between accessibility and service quality or any other determinant on the SERQUAL model. This means in terms of these findings, any improvement works done by Metrorail will have no effect on the perceived quality of service.

In summary, this study was not able to prove that accessibility has influence in the way commuters perceive the quality of the service. In the final recommended model form this study, the variable will be removed.

5.3.2. Service Availability Availability is the ratio of time a system or component is functional to the total time it is required or expected to function. This can be expressed as a direct proportion or as a percentage. It can also be expressed in terms of average downtime over a period of time (Spacey, 2017). According to (Katukoori, 2013), Availability has numerous meanings and methods of being calculated depending upon its use. Availability is defined as “a percentage measure of the degree to which system and equipment is in an operable and committable state at the point in time when it is needed.”

In the study, it was found that the commuters’ perception of service availability was below average (mean = 2.52). This indicates relatively low levels of availability of the service, according the respondents. From the five (5) statements that measures service availability, four (4) statements indicate a negative response towards the availability questions. A total of 55.44% of the respondents indicated unhappiness with the frequency level of train service, while 75.37% indicated that, in cases of delays, Metrorail is not quick to restore the service to normal.

A correlation relationship was tested and the data shows a very high positive correlation is observed between availability and service quality, with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.893. This means that an improvement in availability by Metrorail will have a positive influence the perception of service quality. Availability also indicated a very positive correlation relationship with corrective responsiveness, service reliability and safety management with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.993, 0.951, 0.984 respectively.

Availability as a variable was ranked last in terms of importance compared to the other six (6) variables with 0%. In a study by Govender, it was found that in South Africa public transport, availability was ranked as a highly important factor in commuters’ perception and the availability of service on public holiday and evenings is shown to have an influence on the passengers’ perception of service quality (Govender, 2014). The perception of the commuters is relatively negative towards the availability of the service, and there is an indication that commuters are not happy with the train availability of service outside the peak hours (this includes weekends and public holidays). In summary, this study was able to prove that availability does influence the way commuters perceive the quality of the service.

5.3.3. Functional Aesthetics In the literature, Functional aesthetics relates to overall feeling about service received. This extends to crowding, cleanliness and any other requirements introduced for the purpose of making public transportation trips as comfortable as is practically imaginable (Anderson & Condry, 2013).

In the study, it was found that the commuters’ perception of functional aesthetics was below average (mean = 2.76). This indicates relatively low levels of functional aesthetics of the service according the respondents. From the six (6) statements that measure functional aesthetics, a total of 68% of the respondents indicated that the trains are always overcrowded, while 70.15% indicated that there is insufficient capacity for passengers in the train. When asked about the internal spacing and seating arrangement in the trains, 45.77% indicate that these arrangements are not comfortable. On the issue of station facilities and general maintenance, 51.72% of the respondents agree that the stations have enough parking facilities

A correlation relationship was tested and the data shows a high positive correlation is observed between functional aesthetics and service quality, with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.750. This means that an improvement in functional aesthetics by Metrorail will have a positive influence the perception of service quality. Functional aesthetics also

indicated a very positive correlation relationship with communication with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.997.

The perception of the commuters is relatively negative towards the aesthetics of the service, and there is an indication that commuters are not happy with the train internal spacing arrangement. They are not happy with the service quality as a result of trains always being overcrowded.

Functional aesthetics as a variable was ranked fourth in terms of importance with 1.52%. In summary, this study was able to prove that functional aesthetics does influence the way commuters perceive the quality of the service.

5.3.4. Communication Communication for organisations could mean the difference between success and failure. Effective communication with customers can lead to increased sales and repeat business (Taylor M. , 2017). Handling unexpected service interruptions in passenger rail environment is an important aspect of operations (Pender & Wang, 2012). This necessitates the communication of accurate information in real time to passengers. This can be archived through various platforms including printed material, website, portals, short message service (sms) and display screens on platforms (Bigby & Johnson, 2017). In the study, it was found that the commuters’ perception of communication was average (mean = 3.00). From the eight (8) statements that measured communications, a total of 84.65% of the responses indicated that having train updates information before arriving at the station is important to them. On a positive note, 65.17% of the respondents agree that Metrorail Western Cape communicates in a language that they can understand, however 23.39% of the respondents say that they may be left out of the communication due to the language usage.

Communication as a variable was ranked second in terms of importance with 28.79%, this is a clear response that the commuters value communication. However, what is concerning is the fact that 48.25% of the respondents do not trust the accuracy of the

information disseminated on the online platforms, while 39.90% do not trust the accuracy of the train schedule.

A correlation relationship was tested and the data shows a very high positive correlation is observed between communications and service quality, with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.802. This means that an improvement in communication by Metrorail will have a positive influence the perception of service quality. Communications also indicates a very positive correlation relationship with coefficient (r) = 0.997 with functional aesthetics. In summary, this study was able to prove that communication does influence the way commuters perceive the quality of the service.

5.3.5. Service Reliability A reliable public transport service is one that observes the published schedule and whose operations run on-time. It is a commonly accepted occurrence that the deviation from planned and advertised schedule in public transport is a crucial operational difficulty that affects both the operators and passengers (Firew, 2016). According to (Omar, 2015), reliability is the ability to make the customers trust that the organisation will perform what is promised, this include accurate delivery of service and being truthful about service offering. Superior service reliability is beneficial to both the passengers and the operator, because it provides predictable travel times and it lowers costs (Van- Oort, 2015).

In the study, it was found that the commuters’ perception of service reliability was below average (mean = 2.16). This indicates low levels of reliability on the service according the respondents. From the five (5) statements that measure service reliability, a total of 89.16% of the respondents indicated that Metrorail WC service is not punctual and reliable. Only 15.35% of the respondents agree that they can rely on the train to get them to their destination on time, while 59.90% of the respondents disagreed. A total of 75.74% indicated that in cases of service interruptions or cancellations, Metrorail Western Cape does not provide alternate transportation. This is a clear message that, in

100

the eyes of the commuters, the service received from Metrorail Western Cape falls short of being reliable. There is a common belief by commuters that the service is always late and there is no alternate transport measures put in place to get the commuters to their destination

A correlation relationship was tested and the data shows a very high positive correlation is observed between service reliability and service quality, with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.709. This means that an improvement in service reliability by Metrorail will have a positive influence the perception of service quality. Service reliability also indicates a very positive correlation relationship with coefficient (r) = 0.991 with safety management. This relationship means that an improvement in safety will improve reliability.

An improvement in reliability can be achieved through an increase in punctuality. Typically, this is measured as the percentage of trains that arrive at their end destination on time. There is also a need to review the published time table against the true network capabilities. Due to the loss of rolling stock and deteriorating infrastructure, the timetable could be measuring unattainable results thus creating unrealistic demands and promises.

Service reliability was ranked third in terms of importance when compared to the other six (6) variables. In summary, this study was able to prove that service reliability does influence the way commuters perceive the quality of the service.

5.3.6. Corrective Responsiveness Responsiveness involves the willingness of the staff to assist customers and provide quick service (Lee & Moghavvemi, 2015). According to (Wroblewski, 2018), being responsive means providing fast, friendly, knowledgeable service to you customers. (Saghier, 2015), defines responsiveness as “the degree to which service providers are willing to help customers and provide prompt service”.

101

In the study, it was found that the commuters’ perception of corrective responsiveness was below average (mean = 2.18). All of the seven (7) statements that measures corrective responsiveness indicate a very negative feedback, well above 73.89%. A total of 71.64% of the responses indicated that Metrorail is not attentive to customer complaints, with 62.50% of the respondents indicating their complaints are not dealt with promptly. A total of 73.89% of the respondents believe that Metrorail WC staff is not interested in customer’s comments or suggestions. Further to that, 50.74% of the respondents indicate that the service representatives have not acted professionally or in the best interest of the customers. When respondents were asked if they believed Metrorail Western Cape Customer Centre agents are competent, only 5.74% agree and a total of 56.72% disagrees.

A correlation relationship was tested and the data shows a very high positive correlation is observed between corrective responsiveness and service quality, with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.832. This means that an improvement in corrective responsiveness by Metrorail will have a positive influence on the perception of service quality.

Corrective responsiveness also indicated a very high positive correlation relationship with service reliability and safety management with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.981 and 0.998 respectively. These results mean that any improvement works on corrective responsiveness by Metrorail will have a strong positive response on service reliability and safety management.

Service reliability was ranked fifth in terms of importance when compared to the other six (6) variables. In summary, this study was able to prove that corrective responsiveness does influence the way commuters perceive the quality of the service.

5.3.7. Safety Management Research on personal safety of passengers during a train journey in Melbourne suggests that passenger perception of personal safety in a train is not influenced by actual experience of crime on the train, but rather there are psychological influences that inform the individual’s perception of safety. The study established a link between

102

the feeling of anxiety and the discomfort associated with travelling with strangers as being the most influencing factor to a passenger’s perception of safety in public transport (Currie & Delbosc, 2013).

In the study, it was found that the commuters’ perception of safety management was mainly negative (mean = 2.58). From the seven (7) statements that measure safety of the commuters, a total of 66.33% indicated that they have never been involved in an incident on the train, while 33.67% indicated they have been involved in an incident on the train. Only 18.41% of the respondents believe that the train is safer than other modes of transport, while 53.73% of the respondents disagree. A total of 71.77% of the respondents also indicated that they feared for the burning of trains during the journey. 45.27% believed that Metrorail Western Cape does not have enough security at the stations, while 74% indicted that there is not enough security in the trains. Overall, a total of 40.10% of the respondents indicated they would stop using the train for fear of personal safety.

In a study of the safety of train commuting in the United States and Canada, the probability of passengers being involved in a fatality whilst commuting on a train is ten times lower than commuting with private vehicle on public roads (MacKechnie, 2018). While (Bhatt & Menon, 2015), urges that the availability of safe and reliable transport services is not just necessary but compulsory.

A correlation relationship was tested and the data shows a high positive correlation is observed between safety management and service quality, with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.798. This means that an improvement in safety management by Metrorail will have a positive influence on the perception of service quality.

Safety management also indicated a very high positive correlation relationship with service reliability and corrective responsiveness with a correlation coefficient (r) = 0.991 and 0.998 respectively. These results mean that any improvement works on safety management by Metrorail will have a strong positive response on service reliability and corrective management.

103

Service reliability was ranked first, with 49.49% in terms of importance when compared to the other six (6) variables. In summary, this study was able to prove that safety management does influence the way commuters perceive the quality of the service.

5.4. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

There was no major limitation to the study except the fact that during the data collection process, the majority of the central corridor was experiencing violent attacks with station and train personnel, Thus, the depths of the intended numbers that were planned for the central corridor were not achieved and this delayed the intended time frame from that in which the survey was initially intended.

The study also had intended to quantify the financial loss of Metrorail Western Cape as a result of the arson attacks and to quantify the financial status of the organisation after the closure of the central corridor. However, this information was not readily available from Metrorail and could not be used in the study.

5.5. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH On the basis of data analysis and, thereafter, the interpretation of results, the following recommendations are made for future research. The areas that were identified are as follows:

1. Using the same approach, further studies can be carried out to measure the perceptions of the service quality of Metrorail Western Cape from the perspective of Metrorail staff and management. 2. During the process of this study, Metrorail Western Cape has already embarked on infrastructure upgrade programs to address service reliability. Therefore, this can give birth to a study to measure the perceived service after the infrastructure investments.

104

3. Using the same approach, further studies can be carried out to assess the relationship of the organisational culture within Metrorail Western Cape and its influence on perceptions of the service quality delivered.

5.6. CONCLUSION

The study conducted a survey of Western Cape Metrorail commuter’s perception of service quality using a SERVPERF model. The results of the study found that like many other previous studies, that there is a real justification for use of the SERVPERF as a measuring tool to measure service quality in transportation.

Comparing finding from previous studies on this topic of transport service quality, a conclusion can be made that the levels of service are relatively low and do not meet the needs of the commuters. A study by (Heyns & Luke, 2018), on Metrorail Gauteng service quality found that commuters are not satisfied with the level of service quality and they list the reliability of service and safety as the major concerns. A similar study was conducted on Metrorail East London by (Bosch, 2009); the study found that according to the perception of commuters, Metrorail service quality is below the expected levels. The major arears of importance for commuters was reliability, assurance and responsiveness.

A study in Kenya found that safety of passengers and comfort levels were the most important qualities that impact perceived service quality and these lead to increased attractiveness of the service (British Youth Council, 2012). While in South Africa (Govender, 2014), found that increasing frequency of service (Availability), punctuality and reduced travel and waiting time (Reliability) were regarded as important to commuters

Finally this study also found that according to the perception of commuters, Metrorail service quality is below the expected levels. The major arears of importance for commuters in Western Cape is safety, communications and reliability of the service.

105

6. REFERENCES

Adil, M., Mohammad, F., & Ghaswyneh, A. (2013). SERQUAL and SERVPERF: A Review of Measures in Service Marketing Research. Global Journal of Marketing and Business Research Marketing, 13(6).

Akdere, M., Top, M., & Tekingündüz, S. (2018). Examining perception of service quality in Turkish hospitals: The SERVPERF model. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence.

Ali, M., Ali, H., & Radam, A. (2010). Validating SERVPERF model in government agencies. The Journal of Human Resources and Adult Learning, 6(1), 84-93.

Alviv, M. (2016). A Manual for Selecting Sampling Techniques in Research. University of Karachi. Munich Personal PePEc Archive. Retrieved from hhhps://mpra.ubi.uni-muenchen.de/70218/

Anderson, R., & Condry, B. (2013). Measuring and Valuing Convemience and Service Quality. International Transport Forum, 10.

APTA. (2013). Why Design Matters for Transit. Washington: American Public Transport Association.

Babbie, E., & Morton, J. (2004). The Practice of Social Research. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.

Bajada, T., & Mifsud, D. (2016). Accessibility as an indicator of transport equity. The case of public. Journal of The Malta Chamber of Scientists, 4(1), 72-81. doi:DOI: 10.7423/XJENZA.2016.1.10

Belas, J., & Gabcova, L. (2016). The Relationship among customer satisfaction, loyalty and financial perfomance of commercial banks. E&M Economics and Mnagement, 19(1).

Bellamy, N. (2015). Principles of clinical outcome assessment (Edition, Sixth ed.). Elsevier Ltd.

Benezech, V., & Coulombel, N. (2013). The value of service reliability. Transportation Research, 1-15.

Bezyak, J. L. (2017). Public Transportation: An Investigation. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 28(1), 52–60. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/10442073177020

106

Bhatt, A., & Menon, R. (2015). Woman's Safety In Public Transport: In Pilot Initiative in Bhopal. Bhapal, India: WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.

Bigby, C., & Johnson, h. (2017). Communication access on trains: a qualitative exploration of the perspective of passangers with communication disabilities. tandonline.

Bosch. (2009). AN EVALUATION OF THE QUALITY OF CUSTOMER SERVICE DELIVERY OFFERED BY THE EAST LONDON PUBLIC TRANSPORT COMMUTER RAIL SERVICE PROVIDER (OPERATED BY METRORAIL). RHODES UNIVERSITY, East London.

Bosch, C. (2009). An Evaluation of Quality of Customer Service Delivery offered by Metrorail East London. 90.

Bowling, A. (2005). Mode of questionnaire administration can have serious effect on data quality. Journal of Public Health, 27(3).

Brace, I. (2018). Questinnaire Design: How to plan, structure and write survey material for effective market research. Kogan Page Publishers.

Bregman, S. (2011). Uses of Sociial media in Public Transportation - A synthesis of Transit Practice. Transit Cooperation Research Program.

British Youth Council. (2012). Public Transport and Young People in Suffolk. London: Youth Parliment.

Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2007). Business Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.

Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2007). Business Research Methods. London: Oxford University.

Burch, J. (2018). How Does Poor Customer Service Affect a Business? Carlifornia: AZcentral.

Burns, G., & Bowling, N. (2010). Dispositional Approach to Customer Satisfaction and Behaviour. Journal of Business and Psychology, 99 - 107.

BusinessDictionary. (2019, 03 10). Closed Questions. Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/closed-question.html

Carteni, A., & Henke, I. (2017). The Influence of Travel Experience within Perceived Public Transort Quality. International Journal of Transport and Vehicle Engineering, 11(9), 2259-2263.

107

Cascetta, E., & Carteni, A. (2014). Th Hedonic value of railways terminals: A quantitative analysis of the impact of station quality on travellers behaviour. Transport Research, 61 -69.

CEN. (2002). Transportation - Logistics and services - public passenger transportation - service quality definition, targeting and measurements. Transport.

Ceran, E. B., & Esen, T. E. (2018). SERVICE QUALITY PERCEPTION COMPARISON IN TRANSPORT SYSTEMS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF USERS OF ISTANBUL CITY'S METRO AND METROBUS PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS. International Journal of Socal Sciences, 6(AGP Special Issue), 95-106.

Christopher, M. (2006). Logistics and Supply Chain Management. London: Financial Time.

Coelho, P., & Henseler, J. (2012). Creating customer loyalty through service customization. European Journal of Marketing, 46(3).

Cohen, M. L., & Morrison, K. (2006). Research methods in Education. London: Routledge.

Collins, H. (2010). Creative Research: The Theory and Practice of Research for the Creative Industries. AVA Publications.

Collis, J., & Hussey, R. (2014). Business Research: A Practical Guide for Understanding and Postgraduate students. London: McMillan Publishers Limited.

Conradie, P., Fourie, C., Vlok, P., & Treurnicht, N. (2015). Quantifying system reliability in rail transportation in an ageing fleet environment. South African Journal of Industrial Enginering, 26(2), 128-142.

Cooper, D., & Schindler, P. (2011 ). Business Research Methods (11th Edition ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill.

Corman, F., D'Ariano, A., & Hansen, A. (2010). Disruption handling in large railway networks. WIT Transactions on The Built Environment, 114, 629-640. doi:doi:10.2495/CR100581

Cowley, E., & Griffin, G. (2012). Micro-participation: Community Engagement in Transportation Planning with Social media. Washington DC.

Creswell, J. (1994). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approach. London: Sage Publishing Ltd.

108

Creswell, J. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approach. London: Sage Publishing Ltd.

Cronin, J., & Taylor, A. (1992). Measuring service quality: A reexamination and extension. Jornal of Marketing, 56.

Cronin, J., & Taylor, S. (1992). Measuring Service Quality: A re-examination and extension. Journal of Marketing, 56(3), 55-68.

Crossman, A. (2019, February 26). What Is a Pilot Study in Research? Retrieved March 30, 2019, from ThoughtCo.: https://www.thoughtco.com/pilot-study-3026449

Currie, G., & Delbosc, A. (2013). Factors Influencing Young Peoples' perception of personal safety in public transport. Journal of Public Transportation, 16(1).

Cusatelli, C., & Troisi, A. (2016). The Citizan Satisfaction Survey on the local public transport in Bolivia. Jornal of Applied Statistical Analysis, 09(04).

Dalkmann, H. (2015). Public Transport Accessibility for All. EMBARQ. Retrieved from https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/accessibility- all/165211/

D'Ariano, A., Pacciarelli, D., & Sama, M. (2017). Microscopic Delay Management: Minimizing Train Delays and Passenger Travel Times during Real-Time Railway Traffic Control. 5th IEEE International Conference on Models and Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems (MT-ITS). Naples, Italy: IEEE.

De Vaus, D. (2001). Research Design in Social Research. London: Sage.

DeFranzo, S. (2011, September 16). Snapsurvey. Retrieved August 2018, 2018, from Snapsurvey.com: generalize results from a larger sample population.

Dehghani, A., & Kheirkhah, A. (2017). A Heirarchial Topsis method Based on Type 2 Fuzzy set to Evaluate Service Quality of Public Transportation. Jornal of Industrial Engineering, 24(5).

Denzel, N., & Lincoln, Y. (2005). Introduction: The Discipline and Practiceof Qualitative Research. (3rd, Ed.) California: Sage.

Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (2000). Handbook of qualitative research. (Sage, Ed.) London.

Depoy, E., & Giltin, L. (2016). Introduction to Research: Understanding and Applying Multiple Strategies (Fifth Edition ed.). Elsevier Ltd.

Desmaris, C. (2014). The reform of passenger rail in Switzerland: more performance without competition? Regulating Railways, 3-6.

109

Diab, E., Badami, M., & El-Geneidy, A. (2015). Bus Transit Service Reliability and Improvement Strategies: Integrating the Perspectives of Passengers and Transit Agencies In North America. Transport Reviews, 292-328.

Douglas, J., West, D., & Bould, E. (2017). Comminication access on trains: a perspective of passangers with disability. Informa UK Limited.

Dudovskiy, J. (2018). The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Dissertation in Business Studies: A Step-by-Step Assistance. Retrieved from https://research- methodology.net/research-philosophy/positivism/

Elms, C. (1997). Defining and Measuring Service Availibility for Complex Transport Network. Jornal of Advanced Transportation, 32(1), 75.

Entrepreneurship. (2016, September 7). Entrepreneurship. Retrieved from Careerbright: http://careerbright.com/entrepreneur/major-causes-customer-dissatisfaction-can- prevent

Etikan, I., & Musa, S. A. (2016). Comparison of Convenience Sampling and Purposive Sampling. American journal of Theoretical and applied Statistics, 5(1), 1-4.

Etim, J. (2017). Transportation and Comminication: Definition and Importance.

Faber, J., & Fonseca, L. M. (2014). How sample size influences research outcomes. Dental Press Journal of Orthodontics. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2176- 9451.19.4.027-029.ebo

Fadhel, K. (2002). Positivist and Hermeneutic Paradigm: A Critical Evaluation under their Structure of Scientific Practice. The Sosland Journal, 21-28.

Farghaly, A. (2018). Comparing and Constrasting Quantitative and Qualitative research in Education: The Peculiar Situation of Medical Education. Education in Medicine Journal, 10(1), 3-11.

Farrell, S. (2016, May 22). Open-Ended vs. Closed-Ended Questions in User Research. Nielsen Norman Group.

Fassinger, R. (2013). Toward best Practices in Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed method Researc: A Social Justice Perspective. Journal for Social action in Counseling and Psychology, 5(2).

Fazliogullari, O. (2012). Scientific Research Paradigm in Social Sciences. International Journal of Educational Policies, 6(1), 41-55.

110

Fellesson, F. (2009). Service supply and customer satisfaction in public transportation. Jornal of Public Transportation, 12(4). Retrieved March 18, 2018, from http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jpt/vol2/iss1/4/

Firew, T. (2016). Analysis of Service Reliability of Public Transportation in Helsinki Capital Region: The Case Bus line. Aalto University School , School of Engineering.

Fore, S., & Zuze, L. (2010). Improvement of Overall Equipment Effectiveness through Total Productive Maintenance. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 402-410.

Forsuld, H. (2007). The impact of performance management on customers’. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 27(8), 901-918.

Fouka, G., & Mantzorou, M. (2011). What are the Major Ethical Issues in Conducting Research? Is there a Conflict between the Research Ethics and the Nature of Nursing? Health Science Journal, 5(11), 3-14.

Fourie, C., & Zhuwaki, N. (2017). A Modelling Framework For Railway Infrastructure Reliability Analysis. South African Journal of Industrial Engineering , 28(4), 150- 160.

Fourie, C., & Zhuwaki, N. (2017). A MODELLING FRAMEWORK FOR RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE RELIABILITY ANALYSIS. South African Journal of Industrial Engineering, 28(4), 150-160.

Fragoso, J., & Espinoza, I. (2017). Assessment of Banking service quality perception using the SERVPERF model. ScienceDirect. Retrieved from https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0186104217300761?token=E900A8A7 7E61A854BE7D207F4BDB32E8C66DD9ED21C4928F4C72896D48FA3B45490 AB954946376303B30C9B830EF7B29

Francis, L., & Richard, J. (2017). Customer Service Quality Management in Public Transport: The Case of Rail Transport in Tanzania. ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER, 3(4).

Frimpong, F. (2017). THE EFFECT OF MARKETING COMMUNICATION TOOLS ON SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN THE FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR IN GHANA. International Journal of Sales & Marketing Management, 7(1), 1-10.

111

Fukey, L., & Issac, S. (2014). Service Delivery Quality Improvement Models: A Review. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Science. Retrieved from www.sciencedirect.com

Furlong, M. (2013). Clear at a distance. Jumbled up close: Observation, immersion and reflection in th process that is creative research. (2nd, Ed.) South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.

Gal-Tzur, A., & Grant-Muller, S. (2014). The Impact of Social Media Usage in Transport Policy: Issues, Challanges and Recommendations. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Science, 937-946.

Ganiyu, R. (2012). Is Customer Satisfaction an Indicator of Customer Loyalty? . Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, 2(7), 14-20.

Glover, L. (2011). Public Transport as a Common Pool Resource. GAMUT.

Govender, K. (2014). Public transport service quality in south africa: A case study of bus and mini bus service in Johannesburg. African Journal of Business Management.

Griffith, D. A. (2013). Establishing Qualitative geography sample size in the presence of spatial Autocorrelation. University of Texas , School of Economics, Political and Policy Science. Dallas: Taylor & Franchis.

Grix, J. (2004). The Foundations of Research. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Grönroos, C. (1993). A Service Quality Model and Its Marketing Implication. European Journal of Marketing, 18(4), 36-44.

Gruber, T., & Voss, R. (2009). Handling customer complaints effectively: a comparison of the value maps of female and male complainants. 636-656.

Guba, E., & Lincoln, Y. (1996). Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research: Handbook of Qualitative Research. USA, USA: Sage publishers.

Gurhan-Canli, Z. (2003). The Effect of Expected Vaibility of Prduct Quality and Attribute Uniquess on Family Brand Evaluation. Journal of Consumer Research, 105 - 114.

Hamilton, B. A. (2007). Personal security in public transport travel - problems, issues and solution. Land Transport New Zealand Research project.

Handrinos, M., Folinas, D., & Rotsios, K. (2015). Using the SERVQUAL model to evaluate the quality of services for a farm school store. Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets, 62-74.

112

Hawas, Y., & Hassan, M. (2016). A multi-criteria approach of assessing public transport accessibility at a strategic level. Journal Transport Geography, 57(1), 19–34.

Hazzi, O., & Maldoan, I. (2015). A Pilot Study: Vital Methodological Issues. Verslas Business: Theory and Practice.

Heala, R., & Twycross, A. (2015). Validity and reliability in quantitative studies. Ontario: group.bmj.com.

Healy, M., & Perry, C. (2000). Comprehensive criteria to judge validity and reliabilty of qualitative research within the realism paridigm. Qualitative Market Research- An Interantional Journal, 3(3), 118-126.

Herington, C., & Weaver, S. (2009). E-retailing by banks: E- service quality and its importance to customer satisfaction. Europena Journal of Markerting, 43(9).

Heyns, G., & Luke, R. (2018). Rail Commuter Service Quality in South Africa: Results from a Longitudinal Study. 37th annual Southern African Transport Conference. Pretoria.

Hill, C., & Jones, W. (2013). Strategic Management An Intergrated Approach. (10th, Ed.) Mason, USA: South-Western.

Hoffman, & Bateson. (2006). Services marketing: Concepts, strategies and cases. (3rd, Ed.) Ohio: Thomson/South- Western.

Hoffman, k., & Bateson, J. (2006). Service Markerting: Concepts, strategies and cases. (3. Edition, Ed.) Mason, OH, USA: Thomson/South-Western.

Horsu, E. (2015). Influence of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction: A study of miicab taxi services in cape coast of Ghana. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Mangement .

Ing, D. S. (2014). Objective and subjective public transportation service quality measure: theoretical approach. Science and Development. Europenan Union.

Ingaldi, M. K. (2016). Use of the SERVPERF Method to Evaluate Service Quality in the Transport Company. Independent Journal of Managment & Production, 7(1), 168-177.

International Transport Forum. (2018). TRANSPORT SAFETY AND SECURITY. Transport Safety and Security. Leipzig: International Transport Forum.

113

Irfan, S., Shahbaz, S., & Kee, D. H. (2012). Service Quality and Rail Transport in Pakistan: A Passenger Perspective. World Applied Sciences Journal, 18(3), 361- 369.

ITF. (2018). Woman's Safety and Security: A Public Transport Priority. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Jidayi, Y. (2015). RELIABILITY IMPROVEMENT OF RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE. Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch.

Joewono, B., & Kubota, H. (2006). Satefy & Security Improvement in Public transportation based on Public Perception in Developing Countries. International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, 30(1), 86.

Kalid, U., Bachok, S., Osman, M., & Ibrahim, M. (2014). User Perceptions of Rail Public Transport Services in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: KTM Komuter. Prodecia - Social and Behavioral Sciences , 566-573.

Katukoori, V. (2013). Standardizing Availability Definition. University of New Orleans, New Orleans.

Kaynarca, O., & Ekmekçi, I. (2017). SERVICE QUALITY MEASUREMENT MODEL IN URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: THE CASE OF IETT. Journal of International Trade, Logistics and Law, 3(1), 1-10.

Kenyon, S., Lyons, G., & Rafferty, J. (2002). Transport and social exclusion: investigating. Journal of Transport Geography, 4(1), 207–219. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0966-6923(02)00012-1

Kerns, I. (2005). How to develop an Effective Customer Satisfaction Survey. Guidestar Research. Retrieved from www.guidestarco.com

Khuong, M., & Dai, N. (2016). The Factors Affecting Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty — A Study of Local Taxi Companies in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, 7(5), 228-233.

Kido, E. (2013). Stations for people – recent developments in railway station design.

Kimberlin, C. L., & Winterstein, A. G. (2008). Validity and Reliability of Measurement instruments used in Research. American Society of Health-system Pharmacist., 65.

Kitamura, R. (2003). An experimental analysis of the habit and attitue change. Transportation , 30, 81 - 95.

114

Kivunja, C., & Kuyini, A. (2017). Understanding and Applying Research Paridigms in Educational Contexts. International Journal of Higher Education, 6(5), 26-41. Retrieved October 06, 2018, from http://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v6n5p26

Korsu, E., & Wenglenski, S. (2010). Job Accessibility, Residential Segregation and Risk of Long-term Unemployment in the Paris Region. Urban Studies, 47(11), 2279– 2324.

Kothari, C., & Gaurav, G. (2015). Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques (Vol. 3rd Edition). New Delhi: New Age Internatinal Publishers.

Kotler, P. (1991). Markerting Management, Analysis, Planning, Implemantation and Control. Prentice Hall.

Kranias, A., & Bourlessa, M. (2013). Investigating the Relationship Between Service Quality and Loyalty in Greek Banking Sector. Procedia Economics and Finance, 5(13).

Krauss, S. E. (2005). Research Paradigms and Meaning Making: A Primer. Universiti Putra. The Qualitative Report. Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol10/issu4/7

Kruger, T. (2007). Crime and Public Transport: Designing a Safer Journey. 26th Southern African Transport Conerence (SATC 2007). Pretoria: CSIR.

Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolution. Chicogo: University of Chicago Press.

Kumar, R. (2010). Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners (3rd Edition ed.). London: SAGE.

Kura, S. (2012). Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches to the Study of Poverty: Taming the Tensions and Appreciating the Complementarities. The Qualitative Report, 17(20), 1-19. Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol17/iss20/4

Kwon, D. Y., & Kim, D. C. (2016). Improving the Customer Experience. Transit Leadership Summit. London: Transit Leadership Summit.

Lather, P. (2006, January - February). Paradigm Proliferation As A Good Thing to Think With: Teaching Research in Education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19(1), 35-57.

Lattaman, K., & Olsson, L. (2016). Perceived Accessibility of Public. Perceived Accessibility of Public, 36-45. doi:https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v4i3.481

115

Lee, S., & Moghavvemi, S. (2015). The Dimension of Service Quality and Its Impact on Customer Satisfaction, Trust, and Loyalty: A Case of Malaysian Banks. Asian Journal of Business and Accounting, 8(2), 91-115.

Leon, A., & Davids, L. (2011). The Role and interpretation of Pilot studies in Clinical Research. US National Library of Medicine, 626 - 629. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3081994/

Liang, R., Chang, C., & Wang, T. (2011). The effect of service responsiveness and social emotions on service outcomes: An empirical investigation of service firms. African Journal of Business Management, 5(8), 3155-3167. doi:10.5897/AJBM10.634

Litiman, T. (2017). Evaluating Accessibility for Transport Planning. Victoria Transport Policy Institute.

Litman, T. (2018). A New Transit Safety Narrative. Journal of Public Transportation, 17(4), 121-142.

Mack, S. (2018, April 20). AZcentral. Retrieved August 11, 2018, from your business: https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/advantages-disadvantages-selfcompletion- questionnaire-16800.html

MacKechnie, C. (2018). How safe is public transportation. London. Retrieved from http://julyseventh.co.uk/

Mackett, R., & Thoreau, R. (2015). Transport, social exclusion and health. Journal of Transport & Health, 2(4), 610–617.

Manisha. (2012). Marketing communications strategies of public and private sector banks – A comparative analysis. International Journal of Computational Engineering and Management, 15(5), 16-21.

McGurgan, H. (2015). What Is Customer Responsiveness? Small Business. Retrieved from Chrone.com

McKnight, C., Pagano, A., & Paaswell, R. (1986). Using Quality to Predict Demand for Special Transportation. International Conference on Travel Behaviour. Noordwijk, The Netherlands: VNU Science Press.

Meehan, S., & Dawson, C. (2002). Customer Responsiveness: Getting it Fast and Right Through Impatience and Intolerance. Business Strategy Review, 13, 26.

116

Meulen, D. D. (2006). Ten Questions for South African Railway Stakeholders. South african Transport Conference. Pretoria: Document Transformation Technologies cc.

Mohajan, H. (2007). Two Criteria for Good Measurements in research: Validity and Reliability. Chittagong: Munich Personal RePec Archive.

Mohsan, F., Nawaz, M., & Khan, S. (2011). Impact of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty and intentions to switch: Evidence from banking sector of Pakistan. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(2), 1982-1991.

Mokonyama, M. (2012). Public Transport transformation. Department of Transport. Pretoria: Department of Transport Publishing.

Morton, C., Caulfield, B., & Anable, J. (2016). Customer Perceptions of Quality of Service in Public Transport: Evidence for bus transit in Scotland. World Conference on Transport Research Society (pp. 199-207). Leeds: Elsevier Ltd.

Muijis, D. (2011). Doing Qualitative Research in Education with SPSS. London: SAGE Publication Ltd.

Mukherji, P., & Albon, D. (2014). Research Methodology in Early Childhood. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Nathanail, E. (2007). Measuring the quality of service for passangers on the hellenic railways. ScienceDirect.

Nayak, B. K. (2010). Undrrstanding the relevance of sample size calculation. Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2993974/

Nedeliakova, E., Camaj, J., & Masek, J. (2015). Logistics Model for Improving Quality in Railway Transport. International Journal of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, 9(11).

Netemeyer, R., & Sharma, S. (2003). Scaling Procedures: Issues and applicatios. London: Sage.

Niles, R. (2006, June 28). Statistics Every Writer Should Know. Retrieved February 26, 2018, from http://www.robertniles.com/stats/.

Nind, M., & Todd, L. (2011). Prospects for research. International journal of Research & Methods In Education, 1(34), 1-2.

117

Noland, R., & Polak, J. (2002). Travel time variability: A review of theoretical and empirical issues. Transport Reviews, 22(1), 39-45.

Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric theory. (2nd, Ed.) New York : McGraw-Hill.

Odendaal, N. (2016). Vandalised assets costing PRASA million, raises concern over risk to new rolling stock. Retrieved from http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/vandalised-assets-costing-prasa- millions-raises-concern-over-risk-to-new-rolling-stock-2016-06-27/rep_id:4136

Olievschi, V. (2013). Framework for improving railway sector performance in Sub- Saharan Africa. SSATP.

Olsson, N., & Haugland, H. (2004). Influencing factors on train punctuality: Resluts from some Norwegian studies. Transport policy, 11(4), 387-397.

Oluwatayo, J. (2012). Validity and Reliability issues in Educational Research. (2, Ed.) Journal of Education and Social Research, 391- 400.

Omar, H. (2015). Determining the Influence of the Reliability of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction: The Case of Libyan E - Commerce Customers. International Journal of Learning & Development, 5(1), 87.

Onderwater, P., & Kishoon, A. (2017). Influence Factors For Passanger Train Use. Southern African Transport Conference .

O'Neill, B. (2004). Collecting Research Data Online: Implications for Extension Professionals. Journal of Extension, 42(3). Retrieved from https://joe.org/joe/2004june/tt1.php

Osman, Z., & Sentosa, I. (2013). Service Quality and Customer Loyalty in Malaysian Rural Tourism: A Mediating Effect of Trust. International Journal of Marketing Practices, 1, 31-42.

Padgett, D. K. (2017). Qualitative Methods in Social Work Research (3rd ed.). New York: SAGE Publishing.

Papaioannou, D., & Martinez, L. (2015). The Role of accessibility and connectivity in mode choice. Transport Research Procedia.

Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, & Berry, L. (1985). A Concept Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research. Jornal of Marketing, 41 - 50.

Passangerfocus. (2014). Passanger Information Screens. London: Illuminas.

118

Patra, A., Kumar, U., & Kraik, P. (2015). Availability target of the railway infrastructure: an analysis. Borlange: Banverket.

Pender, & Wang. (2012). Pro-active Rail Disruption Recovery using track crossover provision and bus bridging. Transport Research Journal.

Pender, B., & Currie, G. (2013). Social Media Utilisation during Unplanned Passenger Rail Disruption - Whats not to Like". Australian Transport Research Forum. Brisbane: Public Transport Research Group.

Pillay, K. (2001). The South African Public Transportation Professional. 20th South African Transport Conference. Pretoria.

Poku, K., & Zakari, M. (2013). Impact of Service Quality on Customer Loyalty in the Hotel Industry: An Empirical Study from Ghana. International Review of Management and Business Research, 2(2), 600-609.

Ponelis, S. (2015). Using interpretive qualitative case studies for exploratiry research in doctoral studies: A case of information systems in small and medium enterprises. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 535-550.

Pongjirawut, S., Techapeeraparnich, W., & Dilokkhunanan, W. (2017). A Comparitive study of perfomance measurements standards of railway operators. MATEC Web of Conferences 138 (pp. 1-10). Bangkok: EDP Sciences.

PRASA. (n.d.). Mission and Vision. Retrieved from www.prasa.com

Radle, B., & Bradicich, T. (2019). What is Availability? National Instruments.

Railway Technical. (2018). Retrieved November 27, 2018, from The Railway Technical Website : http://www.railway-technical.com/trains/train-maintenance/

Ramphal, R. R. (2016). A Complaints Handling System for. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 5(2).

Rasyinda, D., Ulkhaq, M., Priska, P., Setiowati, R., & Setyorini, A. (2016). Assessing Service Quality: A Combination of SERVPERF and importance-perfomance analysis. Diponegro University, Department of Industrial Engineering . EDP Sciences. doi:10.1051/matecconf/20166

Regulations, R. (2015). Improving access to rail information for disabled passangers. Open Data Institute. Office of Rail Regualations.

Resnik, D., Miller, A., & Elliot, K. (2015). A framework for addressing ethical issues in citizen science. Environmental Science & Policy, 54, 475-485.

119

Rice, S., Winter, S., Doherty, S., & Milner, M. (2017). Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Internet-Based Survey Methods in Aviation-Related Research. Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering, 7(1), 58-65.

Rodgrigue, D. J.-P. (2017). The geography of Transport Systems. New Yor.

Rossman, G., & Rallis, S. (1998). Learning in the field: An Introduction to qualitative research. London: Sage Publications.

Saghapour, T. (2016). Estimating Public Transport Accessbility in Metropolitan Area Incorporation Population Density. researchgate.

Saghier, N. E. (2015). Managing Service Quality: Dimensions of service quality: a study in Egypt. International Journal of African and Asian Studies, 9(1), 56-63.

Saif, M., & Sefreh, M. (2018). Public Transport Accessibility: A Literature Review. Periodica Polytechnica Transportation Engineering. doi:https://doi.org/10.3311/PPtr.12072

Samson, R., & Thompson, R. (2007). Passanger focus: priotities for improving service in scotland. Transport Scotland.

Schmöcker, J.-D., & Cooper, S. (2005). Metro Service Delay Recovery: Comparison of Strategies and Constraints Across Systems. Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 30-37.

Schwartz, B. (2015). The Factors That Impact Availability, Visualized. VividCortex.

Scinteie, V. (VALENTIN SCINTEIE). Implementing Passenger Information Entertainment, and Security Systems in Light Rail Transit. 9th National Light Rail Transit Conference (pp. 528-533). ALSTOM Transport Information Solutions.

Scotland, J. (2012). Exploring the Philosophical Underpinnings of Research: Relating Ontology and Epistemology to the Methodology and Methods of the Scientific, Interpretive, and Critical Research Paradigms. English Language Teaching, 9-16. Retrieved from www.ccsenet.org/elt

Sharma, Jain, & Srinivasa. (2017). Analysis of Service Quality Attributes for Jaipur Urban Bus Transportation. International Journal on Emerging Technologies, 8(1), 43-48.

Sharma, P., & Reddy, S. (2017). Analysis of Service Quality Attributes for Jaipur Transportation. International Jornal on Emerging Technologies, 8(1).

120

Sharrieff, M. (2016). How to Improve a Company's Responsiveness to Improve Customer Service. Chron.com. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/improve-companys-responsiveness-improve- customer-service-1127.html

Sherwin, D. (2000). A review of overall models for maintenance. Journal of quality in Maintenance Engineering, 17(1), 5-25.

Showkat, N. (2017). Non-Probability ad Probability Sampling. Researchgate. Retrieved October 15, 2018

Shuttleworth, M. (2009, July 6). Retrieved August 21 , 2018, from Explora.com: https://explorable.com/content-validity

Sourmunen, M. (2017). Customer Satisfaction Survwey Process in a Service based Company. Oulu University of Applied Sciences, 6.

Spacey, J. (2017, January 16). Simplicable. Retrieved March 13, 2019, from https://simplicable.com/new/availability

Stejerean, C. (2016). Measuring and Improving Service Quality. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@offbytwo/measuring-and-improving-service-quality

Stjernborg, V., & Mattisson, O. (2016, November 1). The Role of Public Transport in Society - A Case Study of General Policy Documents in Sweden. Lund University, Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Management, Sweden.

Stroyen, J., & Brown, N. (2012). Study on the implementation of service standards and their impact on service providers and users. Technopolis Group.

Struwig, F., & Stead, G. (2013). Research: Planning, Desing and Reporting. Cape Town: Peason.

Sundling, C. (2014). Overall Accessibility to Traveling by Rail for the Elderly with and without Functional Limitations: The Whole-Trip Perspective. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 11(1). Retrieved from www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

Swanwick, T. (2014). Understanding medical education: Evidence theory and practice. (2nd, Ed.) London, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

Sze, N., & Christensen, K. M. (2017). Access to urban transportation system for individuals with disabilities. International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, 41, 66-73.

121

Tavakol, M., & Dennick, R. (2011). Making sense of Cronbach's alpha. (2, Ed.) International Journal of Medical Education, 53-55.

Tavakol, M., & Dennick, R. (2011). Making Sense of Cronbach's alpha. International Journal of Medical Education, 2(1), 53=55.

Taylor. (2017, May 30). Entrepreneur. Retrieved 10 04, 2018, from Customer Relationship Management: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293994

Taylor, M. (2017, May 30). Customer Relationship Management. Retrieved July 12, 2018, from Entrepreneur: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293994

Taylor, P., & Medina, M. (2013). Educational Reseach Paradigms: From Positivism to Mutliparadigmatic. Journal for meaning-Centered Education, 1.

Tazreen, S. (2012). An Empirical Study of Servqual as a Tool for Service Quality Measurement. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 1(5), 09-19.

TCRP. (2012). Uses of Social Media in Public Transport : A Synthesis of Transit Practice. Washington DC: Transport Research Board of National Academies.

Teijlingen, E. V., & Hundley, V. (2001). The Importance of Pilot Study. Social Research update, 35. Retrieved from http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/handle/2164/157

Thomas, D. (2016). Public Transportation in South Africa: Challanges and Opportunities. World Journal of Social Rersearch, 3(3).

Thomas, D. P. (2016). Public transportation in South Africa: Challanges and Opprtunities. World Journal of Social Science Research, 3(3).

Transport, D. o. (2017). PRASA's metrorail train operation reeling from vandalism. Johannesburg. Retrieved from https://www.arrivealive.co.za/news.aspx?i=30396&s=0&page=PRASA-s- metrorail-train-operations-reeling-from-vandalism

TSG. (2016). FACTORS AFFECTING TRANSIT RIDERSHIP. Edmonton.

Tyler, N. (2017). Safety accessibility and sustainability: The importance of micro-scale outcomes to an equitable design of transport systems. International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, 41, 57-65.

Van-Oort, N. (2014). Incorporating service reliability in public transport design and performance requirements: International survey results and recommendations. Research in Transportation Economics, 1-9. Retrieved from www.elsevier.com/locate/retrec

122

Van-Oort, N. (2015). Unrelibility Effects in Public Transport Modelling. International Journal of Transport, 3(1), 113 - 130.

Veiseth, M., & Olsson, N. (2007). Infrastructure's influence on rail punctiality. Urban Transport XIII: Urban Transport and the Environment in the 21st Century (pp. 481-487). Trondheim: Urban Transport XIII:.

Vilakazi, A., & Govender, K. (2014). Exploring public bus service quality in south africa: A structural equatiojn modelling approach. Journal of Transport abd Supply Chain Management, 8(1), 2.

Village Well. (2006). Train Stations as Places for Community Wellbeing. Melbourne: Village Well.

Village Well. (2010). Train Stations as Places for Community Wellbeing. Melbourne: Village Well.

Vos, A. d., Fouche, C., & Delport, C. (2002). Research at Grass Roots: For the social science and human service proffessions. Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers.

Vuchic, V. (2002). URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS. University of Pennsylvania, Department of Systems Engineering, Philadelphia,PA. Retrieved from www.reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/20020114urbanpubtrsysVuchic.p df

Wegner, T. (2016). Applied Busiiness Statistics (4th Edition ed.). (W. Prilaid, & P. Carter, Eds.) Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa: Juta & Company LTD .

Weiner, J. (2007). Measurement: Reliability and Validity Measures. Johns Hopkins Boomberg School of Public Health.

Wilson, A., & Zeithaml, V. (2012). Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm. (2. edition, Ed.) Maidenhead, Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Wroblewski, M. (2018, May 07). What Is Customer Responsiveness? Retrieved March 13, 2019, from https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/customer-responsiveness- 7789.html

Yarimoglu, E. (2014). A Review on Dimensions of Service Quality Models. Journal of Marketing Management, 2(2), 79-93.

123

Yilmaz, K. (2013). Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Research traditions: Epistomological, Theoretical and Methodological differences. European Journal of Education, 48(2).

Yoskovits, B. (2011). Being Responsive is Critical for Successful Customer Development. Instigator.

Yucel, M. (2013). TOTAL SERVICE QUALITY WITH SERVQUAL ANALYSIS MEASUREMENT: A RESEARCH IN THE BANKING SECTOR. Journal of Social Sciences, 12(44), 82-106.

Zeithaml, P. A., & Berry, L. (1985). A Concept Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research. Jornal of Marketing, 41 - 50.

Zeithaml, V., & Bitner, M. (2000). Service marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm. New York: Irwin Mcgraw-Hill Publishing.

Zeithaml, V., Parasuraman, A., & Berry, L. (1990). Delivering Quality Service. New York.

Zikmund, W. (2013). Business Research methods. Mason: Thomas South -Western.

Zohrabi, M. (2013). Mixed Method Research: Instruments, Validity, Reliability and Reproting Findings. Throery and Practice in Language Studies, 254-262.

124

ANNEXURE 1: PERMISSION TO CONDUCT STUDY AT METRORAIL WESTERN CAPE COVERING LETTER

125

126

127

ANNEXURE 2: QUESTIONEER COVERING LETTER

128

129

ANNEXURE 3: MEASURING INSTRUMENTS

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

ANNEXURE 4: ETHICS CLEARANCE. FORM E

137

138

139

ANNEXURE 5: TURNITIN REPORT (SIMILARITY INDEX PAGE)

140

141

ANNEXURE 6: LETTER FROM DOCUMENT EDITOR

142

143

ANNEXURE 7: PERMISSION TO SUBMIT FOR EXAMINATION

144

PERMISSION TO SUBMIT FINAL COPIES OF TREATISE/DISSERTATION/THESIS TO THE EXAMINATION OFFICE

Please type or complete in black ink

FACULTY: BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC SCIENCES

SCHOOL/DEPARTMENT:

I, (surname and initials of supervisor), Prof. Adendorff C.

and (surname and initials of co-supervisor) N/A

the supervisor and co-supervisor respectively for (surname and initials of

candidate) SKOSANA NT

(student number) 211303151 a candidate for the (full description of qualification)

MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

with a treatise/dissertation/thesis entitled (full title of treatise/dissertation/thesis):

STRATEGIC SERVICE QUALITY CHALLENGES WITHIN METRORAIL IN THE WESTERN CAPE

It is hereby certified that the proposed amendments to the treatise/dissertation/thesis have been effected and that permission is granted to the candidate to submit the final bound copies of his/her treatise/dissertation/thesis to the examination office.

23 October 2019

SUPERVISOR DATE

And

CO-SUPERVISOR DATE