Human Geographies – Journal of Studies and Research in Human Geography Vol. 14, No. 2, November 2020 | www.humangeographies.org.ro ISSN–print: 1843–6587 | ISSN–online: 2067–2284 Public perceptions: an important determinant of transport users’ travel behaviour Anil Minhans *1 , Amit Chatterjee 2 , Saurabh Popli 2 1 United States Department of Defense, Germany 2 School of Planning and Architecture, India The public perception towards the existing public transport in Malaysia has constantly been declining over the years. Perceptions are instruments to indicate existing service quality and expected quality from the passenger’s point of view. The primary objectives of this study were to assess the needs and perceptions of passengers towards effective public transport and to evaluate the passenger and travel characteristics of public transport in the city of Johor Bahru in Malaysia. The main results formed clear consensuses that Lower Income Group (LIG) are largely captive bus users. Despite being captive bus users, the bus service is highly marginalised in quality terms for their travel, and there is a vast potential for improvement. Similarly, Higher Income Group (HIG) reflected car dominance not only due to poor service quality of buses but also due to other socioeconomic factors. The present research provides many clues for the policymakers to understand public perceptions towards promoting sustainable transport modes, and that can support the implementation of the ambitious Malaysian National Transport Policy (2019-2030). Key Words: passenger characteristics, public perceptions, travel behaviour, trip characteristics, Johar Bahru, Malaysia Article Info: Received: December 7, 2018; Revised: August 24, 2019; Accepted: September 22, 2020; Online: November 30, 2020. * Corresponding author Address: Hochschule für Technik Stuttgart, Schellingstr. 24, 70174 Stuttgart, Postfach 101452, 70013 Stuttgart Phone: (++49) 711 8926 2607| Email: 72mian1mpg@hft-stuttgart.de ©2020 Human Geographies; The authors This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. DOI:10.5719/hgeo.2020.142.1