Solutions for developing and maintaining public bus passengers in ho chi minh city

MEIHO UNIVERSITY Graduate Institute of Business and Management MASTERS THESIS Solutions for Developing and Maintaining Public Bus Passengers in Ho Chi Minh City In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Business Administration Advisor: Dr Chih-Shing Tau Graduate Student: Do Viet Khanh December, 2010 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS After a period of study, research and investigation to collect information, the thesis: "Developing and maintaining Solutions for Public Bus Passengers in Ho Chi Minh City" has been successfully implemented I would like to send many thanks to great teachers, family, friends and colleagues, who willingly helped me in the process to implement the topic They are: Dr Chih-Shing Tau, who guides me from the first step of outline to the end to finish this thesis Dr Tau also encouraged and helped me a lot in the investigation to collect data and create the basis for my research in order to better collect and process data; Dr Le Cao Thanh and Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, my Vietnamese support through the whole studying process; Meiho University and Graduate Institute of Business Management, which has created very good conditions for my study and research to get this good result; Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, which helped me thoroughly understand the operation of buses in the area as well as other secondary data; Finally, I sincerely thank Ho Chi Minh City residents, who directly answered interviews questions, and contributed to the research results I Solutions for Developing and Maintaining Public Bus Passengers in Ho Chi Minh City ABSTRACT 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 However, in Vietnam so far, there have been just a few researches on this issue The purpose of this study is to introduce and use a SERVQUAL framework and exploratory factor analysis, linear regression analytical methods to measure public transport services within a master-planned community in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam 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, assurance, tangibles, convenience and reliability of services, to encourage greater use of public transport within the community level Keywords: Service Quality, Public Transport, Bus Passengers, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam II Solutions for Developing and Maintaining Public Bus Passengers in Ho Chi Minh City Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I ABSTRACT II Contents III Tables VI Figures VII Chapter Introduction 1.1 Background and Motivation 1.2 Research Purposes, Objectives and Questions 1.3 Research Scope and Limitations 1.4 Research Procedure 1.5 Definition of Terms Chapter Literature Review 2.1 The Quality Service and Customer Satisfaction 2.1.1 Quality of service 2.1.2 Customer satisfaction 2.2 Overview of Public Passenger Transport 11 2.2.1 General concept 11 2.2.2 Characteristics of the public passenger transport vehicles in urban 12 2.3 Quality of Public Bus Services 13 2.4 Status of Public Transport Passengers in Vietnam 14 2.5 Current Situation of Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City 15 2.5.1 Base network of road traffic 16 2.5.2 The puplic passenger transport in ho chi minh situation 17 2.5.3 Transport buses in HCM city 20 Chapter Research Methodology 25 III 3.1 Research Progress 25 3.2 Methods of Investigation and Interviews 26 3.2.1 Survey methodology 27 3.2.2 Interview method 28 3.3 Research Model 28 3.4 Subject of Investigation and Interview 29 3.5 Data Collection 29 3.6 The Accuracy and Reliability of Data 30 3.7 Analytical Methods 30 Chapter Research Results and Analysis 31 4.1 Descriptive Statistics 31 4.1.1 Descriptive statistics on gender, age, occupation, income, location usually catch the bus, the livel of use of the bus and the time often go bus 31 4.1.2 Descriptive statistics on the factors affecting the satisfaction of customers who use the bus in ho chi minh 33 4.2 Assessing the Credibility of the Scale 33 4.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 34 4.3.1 Exploratory factor analysis the independent variables 34 4.3.2 Exploratory factor analysis the dependent variable (Y) 38 4.3.3 Adjusted research model 39 4.4 Linear Regression 40 Chapter Conclusions and Recommendations 43 5.1 Conclusions 43 5.1.1 Responsiveness and assurance 43 5.1.2 Tangibles 43 5.1.3 Convenience 43 5.2 Recommendations 44 5.2.1 Completing technical infrastructure for bus transport 44 5.2.2 Develop the bus with hight quality, easy to identify and friendly with environment 44 5.2.3 Improve quality 45 IV 5.2.4 Improve management capacity 45 5.2.5 Financial mechanism 45 References 47 Attachment 50 Attachment 51 Attachment 54 V Tables Table Variables of SERVQUAL Scale Table Situation of Traffic Safety HCMC 21 Table Summary of Research Methods 27 Table Descriptive Statistics Results on Age, Gender and Work 31 Table Descriptive Statistics Results on Locations Usually Catch the Bus, Ride the Bus Frequency and Time Usually Catch the Bus 32 Table Descriptive Statistics on the Factors Affecting the Satisfaction of Customers Who Use the Bus in Ho Chi Minh City 33 Table Exploratory Factor Analysis Results of the Independent Variables EFA 35 Table Results of Exploratory Factor Analysis the Dependent Variable 38 Table Summary Results of Regression 40 VI Figures Figure Map of Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam Figure The Functional and Relationships Model of Customer Satisfaction Figure Causal Model between Quality Perception of Customers with Customer Satisfaction 10 Figure Volume of Passengers Carried by the Transport Industry in Vietnam (million passengers) 14 Figure Volume of Goods Transported by Transport Industry of Vietnam (Thousand tons) 15 Figure Volume of Goods Transport by Road of HCM City (thousand tons) 17 Figure Volume of Passenger Transport by road of HCM City (million people) 18 Figure Volume of Goods Transport by Waterway of HCM City (thousand tons) 18 Figure Volume of Passenger Transport by Waterway of HCM City (million people) 19 Figure 10 Volume of passenger transportation by public transport 2005-2009 ( million paseople) 20 Figure 11 Research Process 26 Figure 12 Research Model 29 Figure 13 Adjustment Model 40 VII Types of traffic: „ Railways: There is only one national railway, North – South railway with 1m in size to Hoa Hung Station (downtown) This railways cross along the 14 roads causing congestion and unsafe traffic „ Seaports: As New Port, Ben Nghe, Tan Thuan, Saigon deeply is located within the city The new port construction as VITC, Nha Be located not far from the suburban Do not have a dedicated inner road so trucks use the road to the port leading to city traffic congestion „ Waterways: Due to the characteristics of tides and the bridge over the river, stability of water level is not hight so we can not use the waterway system to public transport „ Airway: The city is only one of Tan Son Nhat airport Capacity of the airport is about 70-10 million passengers It is located deep within the city so it always has traffic jams on the way to the airport from downtown Bus passengers are mainly students (67%) and other subjects such as employees Students in other provinces to HCM City mainly use buses for school So the peak hours often is the time on school and school finishs of students of major universities such as Economics University, Technology University, Banking University, Industrial University 2.5.1 Base network of road traffic For an organization for urban transport about 10 million people in 2020 in the direction of civilization and modern road network should be and needs to form the first base line network consists of transit transport routes, for Foreign: radial roads, ring roads, radial roads are motorways grade is level I, level II highway, the main street level I and level II urban inner city Theoretical, are considered mandatory conditions can not be ignored, because the network decided to baseline the formation and development of a long-term stability in the entire road network planning Practical terms, then the formation of a network baseline is not derived from the place "nothing" but rather on the basis of the road system is made to renovate and upgrade the building line with up some new routes Thus the construction of the road 16 network facilities will not break the existing urban space that otherwise would create preconditions for the improvement and development of urban planning In Ho Chi Minh City, road network on basic facilities have been identified and form a part In the next 20 years to renovate and upgrade availability and new construction to add some routes have been planned for a network baseline or main dish.The development of new roads in the amount of baseline network will be made only after the new areas is local outside the Ring Road as in Cu Chi, Binh Chanh But the overall network development towards wider territory must be contrite after 2020 This has practical implications not only by network-oriented planning is clear, but also by the ability to open new lines within the second ring road is not possible because of the urbanization level is too high 2.5.2 The puplic passenger transport in ho chi minh situation Due to natural conditions and history, Ho Chi Minh City was built on the junction connecting the east and southwest as well as connecting the North and Central should have a transportation system increasingly developed for road, river, rail and air 37529 40000 34430 30578 30000 20000 10000 2007 2008 2009 Figure Volume of Goods Transport by Road of HCM City (thousand tons) Source: General Statistical Office, 2010 17 50 32.31 40 34.8 25.13 30 20 10 2007 2008 2009 Figure Volume of Passenger Transport by road of HCM City (million people) Source: General Statistical Office, 2010 Volume of freight and passenger transport by city road increased continuously over the years from 2007 to 2009 In 2009, the volume of goods transported by road to reach more than 37 million tons, up nearly 23% compared to 2007 In 2009, the volume of passengers transported by road to reach nearly 35 million, up 38% compared to 2007 34453 34500 33725 33500 32721 32500 31500 2007 2008 2009 Figure Volume of Goods Transport by Waterway of HCM City (thousand tons) Source: General Statistical Office, 2010 18 0.52 0.6 0.47 0.32 0.4 0.2 2007 2008 2009 Figure Volume of Passenger Transport by Waterway of HCM City (million people) Source: General Statistical Office, 2010 On waterway also tend to like goods roads, the volume of cargo and passenger transport volume has increased over the years from 2007 to 2009 However, given the scale of the road map is only a very low proportion in the structure of transport sector Airway, Ho Chi Minh City Tan Son Nhat airport, is the largest airport in terms of Vietnam's area and power compared with 850 area of 750 hectares of Cam Ranh International Airport and 650 ha's Noi Bai International Airport and Da Nang International Airport and the station in terms of capacity (with a capacity of 15-17 million passengers per year - passenger traffic overload when more than 25 million passengers per year, compared with the current capacity of million Noi Bai, Da Nang Airport is million and is also the airport has the largest number of tourists in Vietnam.Far from the center of Ho Chi Minh City, km to the north in Tan Binh district, the international airport Tan Son Nhat Airport is an important traffic hub of the South On the railways, 2007 compared with 2003, passenger volume increased by nearly 37%, revenue up 38% Especially in 2008, the station's revenues reached 400 billion, welcomed more than 1.1 million passengers, more than 12 thousand tons of goods unloaded, the average income of million VND per month 19 2.5.3 Transport buses in HCM city Public transport Bus Figure 10 Volume of passenger transportation by public transport 2005-2009 ( million paseople) Source: The Department of Transport HCM City, 2010 The average total volume of buses increased 15.9% per year in period 2005-2009 In 2009 has reached more than 342 million passenger (average 937 thousand passenger/day), increased 1.64 times compared with 2005 (573 thousand passenger/day), 6% meet travel demand By September 2008, the volume of passengers traveling by bus to reach over 900 thousand passenger/day, including a taxi if they public passenger transport has reached over 1.2 million/day, 7.1% to meet demand travel The public passenger transport by bus has the right to develop and achieveoriented plan is People's Committee Office HCM city This confirms the policy of implementing the program buses are subsidized by the city is completely correct However, the development of bus operations thepublic passenger transport years between surfaces is uneven in quality and quantity, there are still issues that need corrective to serve travel needs of city residents are better 2.5.3.1 Price To restore and develop the system of public passenger transport by bus, make the direction of the city People's Committee, on 21/01/2002 HCM City Department 20 of Transportation held implement subsidized bus fare class of 1000 VND / once for a passenger To date, over six years of the city has 151 buses (including 117 subsidized bus routes and 34 bus routes are not subsidized) by 31 transportation companies in four economic sectors, using 3208 bus used to participate in organizing activities 2.5.3.2 Reliability According to City Traffic Safety Board, in 2009 with 1152 accidents that killed 940 people, 495 people were injured According to this committee, traffic accident tends to decrease compared with 2007 and 2008 Table Situation of Traffic Safety HCMC TNGT 2007 2008 2009 2008 2009 Compare with 2007 Compare with 2007 Increase (+), Increase (%) Increase (+), Increase (%) decrease (-) decrease (-%) decrease (-) decrease (-%) Road 1,346 1,115 1,123 -231 -17.16% -223 -16.57% Train 12 -5 -41.67% -8 -66.67% Waterway 23 33 25 10 43.48% 8.70% Total 1,381 1,155 1,152 -226 -16.36% -229 -16.58% Source: The Department of Transport HCM City, 2010 About traffic jams, months in 2010 only 33 cases occurred over 30 minutes long, down 17 cases over the same period in 2009 The cause of most cases are severe congestion caused by incidents and accidents such as accident and car stalls on the road, the vehicle Cat Lai Port increased sharply during rush hour, flooded, fire, tree falls However, overall traffic situation remains very complicated The slight congestion lasted for less than 30 minutes still happen every day This is a new problem to solve the transport sector of Ho Chi Minh City (HCM City Department of Transportation, 2010) 21 2.5.3.3 The level of satisfaction According to the Center for Management and Executive public passenger transport HCM City, according to the number of tourists each time, routes that account the time between flights to be arranged as appropriate Average to 10 minutes will have a bus on each route With the gap between the block should be determined before the time of departure and arrival time at each station for each flight will be determined in advance Thus, from the viewpoint of the Center for Executive Management and the HCMC public passenger transport calculation of a timely and regular public bus service are guaranteed in HCM City (Central Management and Operations public passenger transport HCMC, 2010) 2.5.3.4 The guarantee According to survey results of the City Development Research Institute in late 2008, only the number of people satisfied with bus services decreased from 78.9% in 2006 to 49.5% in 2008 One reason is the attitude of employees in service on the bus is not good (Vietnam Institute of Development Studies, 2008) As reported by the Centre for Management and Operations of public passenger transport, the number of violations of behavior, poor service staff on the bus in 2006 was 140 cases, 279 cases in 2007 increased to and in 2008 was 250 cases (Center for Management and Executive public passenger transport HCMC, 2010) 2.5.3.5 Means of tangible material The network includes 151 city bus routes, with a total distance of approximately 3470 line km, an average distance of 23 km route By late 2007, has 151 buses, 54 routes increase compared to 2002 (average increase of 9.3% per year) In particular, subsidized bus lines is 117 lines (including three specialist routes to pick students), route 34 bus routes are not subsidized (Department of Transportation HCMC, 2010) Through statistical status, area station, station-pass, transfer station used for public transport passengers are missing, only 97.066m (this area including the 22 area of heart curb some line as the start and end points), rate of 0.0046% compared with the general area of the city.The passenger terminal by bus: Center Management and Operations current public passenger transport is managing four dedicated bus terminals are: Terminal Operations Saigon, the total area of 1850 m2 including the No car parking facilities Quach Thi Trang field, an area of 240 m2, piers car park number before 23 / 9, an area of 1610 m2; Ga passengers Cholon, located next to the road opposite Mr Lang Hai Thuong Binh Tay Market, District The area is 9750 m2; Ga passengers District (The bus station sign on) is located on Tung Thien Vuong, a total area of 10,000 m2; Van Thanh Bus Station area 1500 m2 (Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transportation, 2010) Currently parking is the most pressing problems of the bus system To develop a system or network route perfectly for bus parking is a very important factor It may be particularly proved in the Project to complete network planning bus routes to the city in 2010, made by Research and Development Centre of Transport South (TEDI SOUTH), at the point belt to move the car bus before entering the inner city area to reduce pressure on transport of personal vehicles during rush hours As of 31/10/2008, the area is 4331 Ho Chi Minh City bus stop locations (with 96.5% in 2007), down from a year ago due to be dismantled for transport classification information as well as the relevant positions are affected by traffic congestion and adjust routes Which had to laying the table hung, head stops, bus shelters are located at 2710 rate of 63% and the 3890 box painted bus stop rate of 89.8% Stations along the route of the road lanes and even rude to embark and disembark passengers, no planning separate bus stations so greatly to impede traffic flow at the station Except for the company's online ventures Transportation star Saigon and some of the Coach company is Saigon signage relatively complete, the line also very lacking instructions The information shown on the signs is very limited (not shown the driving distance, the name of the next stop, the schedule of the route, duration of the trip, information on transit) Most stations have no roofs, seats for waiting passengers All of the above reasons also contributed to the passengers traveling by bus is not satisfied with the quality of service (Ho Chi 23 Minh City Department of Transportation, 2010) Since 1975, public transportation in Ho Chi Minh City include car Lambro three wheeler (gasoline period, with 10 seats), 50 types of car seats (there are some cars up and down the door later) passenger transport in the city By the 1990s the majority of vehicles in circulation expired (old car, first circulated in 1975), causing serious pollution (gasoline engine two terms), technical conditions seriously deteriorated, the situation activities of branches of public passenger transport is increasingly going down, people have to find transportation to their own personal transport boom (Police Road Traffic in HCM City, 2010) In the period 2003-2005, has done two projects buses: Project 1318 400 Project Car and truck to pick students, students, workers (Phase 1: 200 car, round 2: 200 vehicles) The change means old and does not guarantee the technical condition is a step in the right and appropriate in order to attract people to use buses to transport, an important contribution in developing the system bus 24 Chapter Research Methodology Chapter includes the following contents: (1) the research process: the steps described the research process, (2) survey methods: description of how to conduct investigations, (3) model picture research: This model represents the major activities in the research process, (4) subject to investigation interviews: characterization of those investigations and interviews; (5) collecting issues Data: to know how to collect quantitative data and how to calculate; (6) on the accuracy and reliability of research data, and (7) methods of analysis: describes how analyzed survey data collected from questionnaires and from interviews 3.1 Research Progress Process of research topics including steps.First, to study the problem was to find solutions to develop and maintain customer buses in HCM City.On the basis of the theory of service quality, the theory of customer satisfaction and theories about the bus service quality, we conducted research to build models.The modeling studies to guide the research process After the research model is formed, the authors conducted a preliminary study subjects were experts in the field of bus services The purpose of preliminary studies in order to adjust the scale and adjusting models.Projected on this scale and the model, the formal research questions are built.The questionnaires were transmitted and collected afterwards Finally, data obtained from these questionnaires are aggregated and analyzed to draw conclusions Process of research topics is shown in Figure 11 25 RESEARCH ISSUES Development and maintenance of bus passenger THEORETICAL BASIS Theory of service quality Theory of customer satisfaction Theory of quality bus service RESEARCH MODEL PRELIMINARY RESEARCH (Talks hands sometimes) (Face to face discussion) ALIGNMENT MEASUREMENT ADJUSTMENT MODEL OFFICIAL STUDIES (Questionnaire) DATA ANALYSIS Data analysis (descriptive statistics) Assessment scale (reliability, high value) Adjustment model Factor analysis & linear regression analysis REPORT & RECOMMENDATIONS Figure 11 Research Process 3.2 Methods of Investigation and Interviews To answer the research question 1, "Research Service quality status of the public bus system in Ho Chi Minh City like?" themes based on data published from Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transportation and survey data to describe the statistical analysis 26 For research question 2, "The level of satisfaction of passengers using public bus system in Ho Chi Minh City like?", subject using the methods of survey questionnaires to obtain quantitative data from research subjects who usually take the bus, so that factor analysis and regression analysis These results will form the basis to find answers to research questions Table Summary of Research Methods Research Questions Question 1: Study on Quality of service status of public bus system in Ho Chi Minh City like? Question 2: The level of satisfaction of passengers using public bus system in Ho Chi Minh City like? Question 3: Solutions to maintain and develop the number of passengers traveling on buses in Ho Chi Minh, to contribute to promoting economic growth and stability need to have? Research Methods Based on published data from the HCM City Department of Transportation and survey data to describe the statistical analysis Using the method of survey questionnaires to get through quantitative research data from subjects who usually take the bus, so that factor analysis and regression analysis Using situation analysis of quality of bus service and satisfaction analysis of passengers using public bus system in Ho Chi Minh City to propose solutions 3.2.1 Survey methodology Survey questionnaires conducted by two purposes: First, analyze the current status of quality service the public bus system, and second, assess the level of satisfaction of passengers using the bus system public The questions in question was designed based on secondary data sources such as books, academic journals, the annual summary report of the HCM City Department of Transportation, the schemes, circulars - Government decree Government, the opinion of some experts is that the senior management, Web sites on the Internet, etc and based on guidelines developed questionnaires most often arises when assessing the quality of service service of Thomson (2002) have combined with the particularities of quality public bus service under study by George and Linda Too Ear, 2009 27 3.2.2 Interview method From the research results in Chapter of the grounds and bus transport situation in the country and Vietnam, the content of the interview questions were designed to study the situation in line with bus , interview results are reflected accurately and scientifically.Contents of interview questions include: Group 1: General information: gender, age, occupation, income, place of permanent bus, bus time Group 2: Evaluation of passengers on public transport in HCM City - Prices - Reliability - The level of satisfaction - The guarantee - The level of empathy - Means of tangible material Group 3: Comments to improve the quality of bus service 3.3 Research Model Model of causation between the quality perception of customers with the satisfaction of our customers Zeitham & Bitner (2000) model is fairly complete study of service quality and customer satisfaction model components of quality of service & Parasuraman et al (1985) model is a simple quality of service Also, & Parasuraman et al (1991) that: "In business services, service quality factors impact on customer satisfaction Servqual scale is one of the tools given to measure service quality in marketing research " the public passenger transport quality service, Linda and George Too Ear model also has employed five components of quality of service & Parasuraman et al (1985) and SERVQUAL scale in the model to analyze their research Therefore, two subjects combined model for the proposed research model.Simultaneously using SERVQUAL scale to measure the quality of public bus services in this study As introduced, SERVQUAL scale was used widely in the types of services, the researchers synthesized five key components for measuring service quality Over the period, 28 the application of this theory is still of practical value However, there is need to add new points, which is the scale when the user adjusts the research, several factors change, changes consistent with observations for research purposes Because results from previous studies apply SERQUAL scale shows the components of quality service is not stable, depending on the area of research, the measurement of latent variables (components of quality services) with many observed variables will increase the value and reliability of measurement The different services have different features, so editing a number of concepts in scale to suit the type of service is essential studying Figure 12 Research Model 3.4 Subject of Investigation and Interview With the methods of in tervestigation used questionnaires, the questionnaire was sent to the equine industry is sure is that people often take a bus as students, employyees, for other future … 3.5 Data Collection Within the scope of this thesis, the authors apply the method of non-probability sampling, specifically convenience sampling method Based on information gathered from the Department of Transport in Ho Chi Minh City area of operation of buses, bus routes, the 29 bus stop, the authors conducted site selection survey Samples were investigated in a convenient way willing to provide personal information However, the investigation is still paying attention to the distribution of buses in the area Therefore, the sample is convenient sample, but taking into consideration the distribution of the whole And based on the sample size by Krejcie picker & Morgan (1970) publication (see appendix), while according to city Department of Transportation of passengers by bus in Ho Chi Minh City in 2009 was 481 million, so the topics chosen sample size is 384 samples.To ensure the number of samples analyzed above, the topic has surveyed 400 people and then remove the invalid surveys due to lack of information or incorrect information Besides the primary data obtained from the contents of the surveys and interviews, research projects also use secondary data related to general information about the situation of public passenger transport, security traffic safety, attitude of service of employees Secondary data sources include newspapers, industry journals, statistics, websites, databases and archives of individual HCM City Department of Transportation 3.6 The Accuracy and Reliability of Data The quantitative data collected from the survey result of 384 replies bring objectivity and reliability because the respondents have been interviewed to try and test the overall Cronbach's Alpha scale questions Liket measured with levels 3.7 Analytical Methods Analysis method was conducted as follows: From the results of the survey, subjects the data to conduct the investigation and handling of raw data through software such as Microsoft Excel 2003's reasonableness test data, test data (missing data) Data processing in SPSS to analysis the overall changes observed, subjects carried out the statistical analysis described through indicators such as: Minimum, Maximum, Mean, Std.Deviation, Skewness Next conducting factor analysis and regression analysis to find factors affecting the satisfaction of customers using the public bus service as well as the influence of factors this 30 ... quality in Ho Chi Minh City The satisfaction of passengers using public bus system in Ho Chi Minh City To propose solutions for maintaining and developing passengers of public buses in Ho Chi Minh, ... 40 VII Solutions for Developing and Maintaining Public Bus Passengers in Ho Chi Minh City Chapter Introduction 1.1 Background and Motivation Ho Chi Minh City has an area of 2095 km2 and a population... results I Solutions for Developing and Maintaining Public Bus Passengers in Ho Chi Minh City ABSTRACT A key element in achieving sustainability’s triple-bottom-line goals is a good public transport