Travel Mode Choice Based on Perceived Quality of Bus Service

Perceived quality of bus services has great effects on passengers’ choice behavior among different travel modes. In this research, both qualitative indicators, like comfort, safety and convenience, and quantitative ones, such as travel time and travel expenses, were introduced into a Multi-Nominal model, to show their effects on passengers’ mode choice behavior. A questionnaire of bus passenger’s travel aspiration was designed and the investigation is conducted in Zibo City, China. By analyzing the survey data, it concludes that different factors of perceived service quality of bus service have different influences on four traffic modes, including bus, private car, taxi and moped. Among these four factors, convenience has greater effects on traffic mode choice than others. According to the research results, some suggestions are made to improve bus service quality and to increase the proportion of bus transit mode.