Customer loyalty in the public transportation context

[摘要] (cont.) The results for the general population showed that the average customer bases their decision to continue to use the service in the future fairly evenly on perceptions of service quality, service value, and customer satisfaction with the remaining two factors playing only indirect roles. The most important factor for a customer to recommend the service to others is their perceptions Qf service quality. The model results were then applied to key market segmentations (captive vs. choice riders, riders with low vs. high accessibility to transit, and bus riders vs. rail riders) using ANOVA, MIMIC, and multiple group analysis. It was found that captive riders are highly sensitive to problem experience; they report experiencing more problems and those problems more strongly influence the rest of the loyalty model. Riders with high accessibility generally rate all model factors higher than those with low accessibility and are, in turn, more loyal. Finally, bus riders;; loyalty is more highly affected by their perceptions of service quality which could stem from the unpredictability of bus service resulting from exogenous factors. By developing a more thorough understanding of what keeps their customers coming back, public transportation agencies can more effectively use their limited resources by growing a base of loyal customers, and in turn, increasing their revenues.

[发布机构] Massachusetts Institute of Technology