CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

For many years, public transport has been viewed as an inevitable need in several parts of the world (Cervero&Golub,2017). Illes (2015) stated that immobility leads to poverty. This implies that the movement of people and goods affects the daily endeavours of human beings, particularly in the economic aspect. A good transport system cannot be attained if there are no effective and efficient services that enhance people’s living standards and gives them satisfaction through features such as affordability, efficiency, availability and economically importance for development. Not only should it have these features but should be a transport system that gives commuters the satisfaction they want.

Public transport services in Cameroon is inadequate both in qualitative and quantitative terms considering the rate of population growth and the economic condition of an average Cameroon on the affordability of transport services to meet his or her travel demands over the past four decades.  Transport is important for the survival of modern society and without it there would be no life in the city (Onokala, 2011). As an essential service in urban centers‟, Transport enables people, firms and other organizations to carry out their activities at sites selected for these purposes in separate locations in the cities. Transport provides a key to the understanding and operation of many other systems at many different scales, and is an epitome of the complex relationships between social and political activities and the level of economic development,  (Hoyle, 2022).

Today, experiences show a need for a greater variety of public transport modes, but buses are choice of a majority of the communities and are the only means of mobility that can be afforded by the poor in developing countries of the World, (Armstrong 1993). The choice of any or a combination of the public transportation systems enumerated above could be influenced by population and size of the urban area, their transportation demands and characteristics and land use pattern. Given our level of technological development, the bus system is chosen in this work. The bus system is the transportation system that uses bus which have a range of passenger capacities and performance characteristics, and may operate on fixed routes with fixed schedules, or may be flexibly routed (Smerk, 2020).

It is pertinent to note that, of all the trips made by vehicles traveling in and out of Bamenda, about 70% were by public transport; which is dominated by private sector operators. According to Oyesiku (2022), more than 95% of all urban public transport journeys in Cameroon were provided by private operators using mainly taxis and transit buses. It is interesting to note that many of the urban residents are less accessible to these transport services. Besides, the service delivery of public transport operators is less satisfactory to the urban commuters in the country. Most of the research works carried out on the mode of operation of public transport services in Cameroon do not consider the quality of transport services both during the day and the night in relation to comfort, affordability, safety and income level; which are all of paramount important to mobility pattern of urban residents in any country of the world. To keep and attract more bus passengers, public bus transport must have high service quality to satisfy and fulfill a wider range of different passengers‟ needs. Increases in passenger satisfaction are translated into retained markets, increased use of the system, new customers, and more positive public image.

Assessing and improving the quality of bus transit service holds a great priority for all stakeholders associated with transport. The international literature on public transport specifically on bus transit service revealed the great value of improving the quality of the services and offered numerous applications. The transport literature review emphasized the essential need to identify concise methods of measuring and evaluating bus transit quality based on different perspectives, not only to overcome the multidimensionality of bus transit stakeholders, but also to identify the relative impacts of the service quality over all bus transit service stakeholders (Smerk, 2020).

The term service quality in transportation has long been investigated and has been defined as; the quality criteria and the accurate measures for which the providers are responsible to provide the measurement process on how the service quality level delivered, matches the customer satisfaction. The assessment that reflects users` perceptions towards the service, the pre-defined standard of service attributes relatively to the actual service quality, the measuring of customer expectation on a constant service standard base. These definitions have opened the door for further in-depth analysis of the quality process in the context of bus transit service.

Despite the popularity of the mode of transport, there has been an outcry from passengers about the quality of service offered that are very poor. Researchers and transport expert have tried to single out all problems related to transportation to the level of satisfaction. For example, Fellesson and Friman (2018) conducted a study in European countries to assess the satisfaction of passengers in public transport during the day and the night. Results showed that passengers were not satisfied with the reliability and information, waiting time in bus stops, comfortability of seats and staff skills, knowledge and attitudes to passengers. There has been a similar study in Africa where road transport during the day is dominant compared to night mode of transport. Odufuwa (2016) highlighted some indicators for public transport to offer more efficient and safer services to passengers (Okoko 2017).

Commonly identified urban transport problems in Many Cameroonian cities are long waiting times for buses, traffic congestion, parking difficulties, air pollution, and traffic accidents (Ashiedu 2011). This is because of the increasing travel demand and preferences in using private vehicles in most cities in Cameroon (Banjo 2008). To prevent more problems caused by the rise in demand for urban transport and increase in private motorization, it is highly recommended by many researchers as well as public decision-makers to provide an attractive public transport service as an alternative transport mode in many cities (Banjo 2008).  Many factors give reasons for people to travel either during the day or during the night some of which are external factors like security. However, the rising demand for travels according to their program of activities makes travelling to be both during the day and during the night. Passengers leaving Bamenda to other regions of the country like the central, littoral, southwest, are liable to spend over six hours excluding bus stops. This therefore gives credible reasons for passengers leaving or entering Bamenda to travel during the day and night.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

There is an increase in the level of competition between transport operators and hence reduced earnings (Mporogomi, 2001). But on the other side, there is a challenge among transport operators to seek and improve other dimensions pertaining quality of the transport service they provide to win customers. It is necessary to make a thorough research on how the service quality influences customer satisfaction in connection with the strategies to retain customers’ choices to travel either during the day or during the night.

The population of Bamenda Municipality is increasing significantly and the size of the city is expanding horizontally. As the number of population increases, the number of passengers using public transport also increases. To accommodate the increasing numbers of passengers, transport service is expected to expand throughout the day and the night. However, the supply of transport services is not proportional to the demand. Due to the different demands of passengers and the service quality they enjoy or prefer, people tend to travel both in the day and nights so as to have buses. During peak hours or periods, the demand extremely exceeds the supply of service. At this time, many people are waiting for transport service for a long time and there is a hard struggle to get the service. Moreover, travels during the day could involve vices like traffic congestion, security checks and minor stops which delay arrival of passengers to their destinations. This is contrary to night travel where there is little or no traffic congestion. Furthermore, the security situation of Bamenda has not been the best for some time now. Equally, buses travelling out of Bamenda do so during the evening through night so as to arrive their destinations during the morning which is more secured. However, travelling in Bamenda seems to become cumbersome which therefore gives reasons for this study on assessment of passengers’ service quality.

1.3 Research Questions

1.3.1 Main Research Question

What is the passengers’ service quality during the day and night traveling in Bamenda?

1.3.2 Specific Research Questions

1. What are the determinants of passengers’ choice of travel in the day or night?
2. What are the impacts of travelling time on passengers’ choice?
3. What are the possible measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the service quality?

1.4 Research Objectives

1.4.1 Main research Objective

To assess the contribution of day and night travel on passengers’ quality of services

1.4.2 Specific Research Objectives

1. To assess the determinants of passengers choice of travel in the day or night
2. To check the impacts of the travelling time on passengers choice of travel
3. To check the measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the service quality rendered