Rail-based public transportation service quality and customer satisfaction: a decade of insights and advances

Sanusi Ibrahim (), Yinggui Zhang and Abdulaziz Ahmad
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Sanusi Ibrahim: Central South University
Yinggui Zhang: Central South University
Abdulaziz Ahmad: Ahmadu Bello University

Public Transport, 2025, vol. 17, issue 1, No 2, 45-69

Abstract: Abstract Over the past decade, there has been a notable increase in interest among researchers, managers, and other stakeholders in the public transportation sector regarding service quality (SQ) and customer satisfaction (CS) in the domain of railway transportation. Like for all other sectors and industries, quality of service is also of great importance to rail transportation organizations, as it influences customers’ satisfaction, passengers’ demand, investment decisions, and revenues. Given the complexity of railway SQ and its effects on CS and ridership, it is crucial to have a thorough grasp of the underlying causes, analysis methods, and improvement strategies. Therefore, this literature review provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of research on rail-based public transportation SQ, identifies the important factors influencing the SQ from articles published between 2012 and 2022, and then classifies the articles within the review period based on regional context, year of publication, sample size, the studied type of rail transport, and empirical findings. Additionally, the progress of technology and the accessibility of computer software packages have streamlined the extraction of valuable insights from passengers’ perceptions obtained through CS surveys and other data mining methods. Therefore, this review also provides insights and advances into the methodological approaches and modeling techniques adopted to analyze and evaluate SQ and CS.

Keywords: Rail-based transportation; Service quality; Customer satisfaction; Literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s12469-024-00382-7

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