SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN PUBLIC BUS OPERATIONS IN ZAMBIA

Public transportation systems are critical levers for sustainable urban development; hence, the need for empirical evidence to inform policies and interventions. Zambian transport policy 2019 shows that the transport sector is critical in facilitating economic and social activities. However, the absence of research in this area is one of the challenges highlighted in the transportation policy of 2019, and the advantageous location of Zambia remains unexploited. Given that Zambia is a landlocked nation, road transportation dominates. Moreover, about 46 per cent of the Zambian population lives in urban areas and depends on daily transit by road, mainly through inter-city buses. Therefore, the study investigates the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality factors (tangibility, reliability, assurance, empathy, and responsiveness) of public bus operations. A quantitative cross-section survey design was used. Primary data from 262 students at a Zambian Public University. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were conducted. Correlation analysis shows that students' satisfaction was highly correlated with all independent variables, tangibility, reliability, assurance, empathy and responsiveness. Furthermore, after accounting for the control variables, a two-stage hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyse the association between the set of independent variables and the dependent variable. The final model shows that reliability did not statistically significantly affect student satisfaction with transport services. Furthermore, assurance, empathy, tangibility and responsiveness were statistically significant. The findings reveal the key antecedents for influencing public transport users' satisfaction from students’ perceptions. The study also reveals critical elements of service quality that transport policymakers, and owners can leverage to improve service quality amidst heightened competition in the sector.