Public transport service quality and sustainable development: A community stakeholder perspective

A key element in achieving sustainability's triple-bottom-line goals is a good public transport system. Many studies have shown the relationship between effective public transport services and sustainable development at the city level. The purpose of this study is to introduce and use a SERVQUAL framework to measure public transport services within a master-planned community in Australia. The stakeholder survey findings suggest a wide gap between community expectations of public transport services and the actual service quality provided. This was consistent across all commuter groups. In particular, the findings have been useful in shedding broad light on the areas where improvements are needed most, i.e. responsiveness and reliability of services, to encourage greater use of public transport within the community level.