A survey on the local public transport in Bologna

Abstract

Ensure quality of service is the priority for private organizations and should also be the same for public companies and institutions. Therefore, customer satisfaction plays a strategic role for companies providing a public service, as the cornerstone to reach citizen loyalty, increase in sales revenues, cost reduction; but it is also interesting to take into account consequences from the dissatisfaction: the direct economic costs due to inefficiency and loss of dissatisfied customers, or the effect generated by a negative word of mouth that causes mainly damage to reputation and corporate image, as well as to the whole city in which a service wouldn’t satisfy the citizens. The survey carried out on satisfaction has been developed through the analysis of questionnaires administered in Bologna with respect to the service of local public transport. The processing of these data made an interesting user segmentation according to the perception of respective service quality. This was made possible through the multivariate data analysis, examining in depth the characteristics of the citizen-users sampled. Since transport issues lie at the heart of urban development policies, a sustainable transport policy should consider them in its local action planning. At the same time it is necessary to introduce specific organization methods and innovative technologies in terms of energy saving and environmental protection. It is therefore crucial to raise awareness on the impact of the people's choices of transport on the quality of the urban environment.