EVALUATING THE QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS) OF URBAN BUS PERFORMANCE IN THE CAPITAL STATE OF PERAK, MALAYSIA

Abstract

Global urbanisation results from demographic trends, such as population growth, migration from less urban to developed areas and international migration to developed countries. Rapid population growth has increased the number of vehicles. Moreover, ongoing infrastructure development has struggled to keep pace with the urban population growth. The objective of this study was to assess the quality of urban bus services in Perak, Malaysia. The data were collected from Terminal Bus Medan Kidd in Ipoh, Perak. To assess bus performance in this study, the transit capacity and quality of service manual (TCQSM, 2013) were selected as the main guidelines. Results showed that the average operational duration was 14 h and 4 min with daily rating of QOS C. The average service frequency recorded a headway of 76 min, a corresponding rating of QOS E. Punctuality assessment had an average on-time departure rate of 80.74%, a corresponding rating of QOS D. The overall QOS corresponded to an overall classification of QOS C (QOS score of 3.75). Bus services in Ipoh are operationally sufficient, but operational optimisation is required to achieve a more reliable and user-oriented bus service.