TRANSPORT ISSN 1648-4142 / eISSN 1648-3480 Special Issue on Travel Demand Management / 2014 Volume 29(3): 285–295 doi:10.3846/16484142.2014.951685 Corresponding author: Jadranka Jović E-mail: j.jovic@sf.bg.ac.rs Copyright © 2014 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) Press http://www.tandfonline.com/TRAN CUSTOMER PERCEPTION OF SERVICE QUALITY IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT Dragana Grujičić, Ivan Ivanović, Jadranka Jović, Vladimir Đorić Faculty of Transport and Trafc Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia Submitted 4 July 2013; resubmitted 29 August 2013; accepted 18 October 2013 Abstract. Tis paper presents the research and analysis process showing that transport system customers have a spe- cifc perception of service quality, as an indicator of transport system. Determining satisfactory level of service quality implies knowledge of travel demand and travel behaviour. Tere are a lot of elements that defne the transport system quality. Te goal of this paper is to identify the public transport system’s service quality elements that should be primar- ily acted on, in order to increase the level of service quality from transport system users’ (public transport users’ and non-users’) point of view, with minimal investment. Te paper describes a specifcally defned research methodology for determining service quality elements that should be primarily acted on, from the transport system users’ point of view. Methodology involves the use of Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) which is upgraded with the state pref- erences analysis. Presented methodology, which is used to determine user perception of service quality, can be consid- ered to be universal. Tis methodology can be applied in other cities, with additional research that must precede its use. Te methodology was tested on transport system users in Belgrade. Keywords: travel behaviour; service quality; public transport; customer satisfaction; mode choice. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Grujičić, D.; Ivanović, I.; Jović, J.; Đorić, V. 2014. Customer percep- tion of service quality in public transport, Transport 29(3): 285–295. http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/16484142.2014.951685 Introduction Knowledge of customer behaviour when choosing trans- port mode is a signifcant subject of studies by trans- port experts. Te answer to the question what custom- ers consider as a quality of transport system and what indicators can be used to represent it varies for diferent level of society development, diferent socioeconomic population categories and the transport system itself. From a historic perspective, the oldest, and in some un- developed society still the most signifcant indicator of transport system quality, is the existence of capacities (infrastructure, public transport lines, railway, etc.) i.e. the capacity to satisfy transport demand within the re- quired period of time, in a given direction. Other signif- cant parameters include travel time, reliability, comfort, safety, economy, environmental impact, accessibility, etc. (Jović 1992). Tere are a large number of factors that infuence customers, when choosing mode of transport. One of the factors that infuence a choice of transport mode is, for example, user’s travel expenses. Tis paper focuses on the research of customer perception of public transport service quality. Quality of service is the overall measured or perceived performance of transport system service from the passenger’s point of view (TRB 2003). Service quality elements can be classifed into several groups: vehicle elements, transport system elements and human factor elements. Customers perceive each of the service quality el- ements in a diferent way. Te same quality of service element can be judged diferently by diferent customers in terms of level of satisfaction and importance. Analys- ing the satisfaction level and importance level of service quality elements from the customers’ point of view, ser- vice quality elements with a high level of importance and a low level of satisfaction can be identifed. With the aim of improving the quality of the transport sys- tem from the customers’ point of view, those elements should be acted on. If transport system customers are highly satisfed with certain service quality elements, in time the qual- ity level of the given element starts to be implied and customers start to be highly sensitive to the changes in it. For example, if a public transport line is introduced to a non-serviced part of the city, for the local resident cus- tomer perception of transport system, the service quality