Al Suleiman et al.

European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 European Transport Research

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12544-023-00616-y
Review

O R I G I N A L PA P E R Open Access

How to improve public transport usage in a

medium-sized city: key factors for a successful
bus system
Shireen Al Suleiman1* , Adriana Cortez1, Andrés Monzón2 and Antonio Lara3

Abstract
In recent years, the promotion and use of public transport (PT) has become key to overcoming the negative
impacts of mobility, such as traffic congestion, high pollution (GHG), and traffic accidents. Improving users’
satisfaction and increasing the attractiveness of buses play an essential role in increasing PT patronage. Whilst
most of the literature concentrates on large and complex bus systems, less attention has been paid to European
medium-sized cities, the region’s most common urban configuration, where public transport mainly depends on
bus services. To this end, a survey campaign was conducted on passengers of urban buses in Oviedo, Spain, a
representative medium-sized city. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to identify key user satisfaction
factors. In this case, three factors were the most important: comfort and information, service performance, and
integration. That was complemented by the overall satisfaction (OS) with services, which was used for ranking the
importance of the factors using an ordinal logistic regression model; comfort and information appear as the most
important. These findings can serve bus operators to identify service-related attributes that need more attention or
investment to increase users’ satisfaction and to make the service attractive to potential users.
Keywords Users’ satisfaction, Urban buses, European medium-sized cities.

1 Introduction challenges that must be faced by authorities, transport

Urban growth is a global phenomenon with several side planners, and public transport operators. Different poli-
effects. In 2018, 55.3% of the world’s population resided cies and measures are being deployed to overcome them.
in cities, expected to rise to 60.4% by 2030 [1]. Conse- Among these, increasing the use of public transport and
quently, negative impacts related to mobility, like traf- improving user satisfaction plays a fundamental role.
fic congestion, GHG emissions and pollutants, and Buses can be considered as the cornerstone of public
traffic accidents, are growing. All these represent the new transport since they are available in most cities. More-
over, buses are the most accessible and sustainable mode
of transportation for all types of citizens. Increasing bus
*Correspondence: use means reducing car dependency, therefore reducing
Shireen Al Suleiman urban traffic congestion. Since public transport, specifi-
Shireen.aalsuleiman@alumnos.upm.es
1
cally buses is a clear alternative to reduce mobility’s nega-
Transport Research Centre (TRANSyT), Universidad Politécnica de
Madrid, Madrid, Spain tive impacts, scholars and practitioners have focused
2
Dept. of Transport Engineering and Urban Planning, Universidad on assessing users´ satisfaction and its relationship with
Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
3
their loyalty.
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid,
Spain

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Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 2 of 13

According to Allen and Allen [2] and Lierop and El- impact of these factors on the Overall Satisfaction (OS) is
Geneidy [3], satisfied PT users intend to continue using evaluated by conducting an Ordinal Logistic Regression
and recommending the service, showing their emotional Model [17]. The results rank the factors with the highest
and behavioural loyalty towards the service. On the other impact on users´ satisfaction through new indicators and
hand, Oliver [4], Minser and Webb [5], and Lai and Chen outputs, providing bus operators with useful insights on
[6] affirm that customer satisfaction has a significant where to allocate resources. Focusing on a medium-sized
impact on loyalty rather than being part of the construct. European city makes these results easily transferable to
Zhao et al. [7] propose a vision, defining customer loy- other cities with similar characteristics.
alty as the combination of two aspects at the same time: This paper is organised as follows. Section 2 presents
the behaviour to continue using a product/service and the scientific literature relevant to this study. Section 3
customers´ attitude towards the service. Additionally, describes the case study. The survey conducted and the
de Oña et al. [8] have demonstrated that satisfaction and methodology adopted are presented in Sect. 4. Section 5
perceived quality are the most common determinants describes the results, while Sect. 6 discusses the main
of customer loyalty, supporting the need to assess bus findings. Finally, Sect. 7 presents the main conclusions
users´ satisfaction with the service. and proposes future research.
Medium-sized European cities, typically home to
populations ranging from 200,000 to 500,000 people [1], 1.1 Factors affecting public transport users´ satisfaction
strike a balance between simplified transportation net- Several research focused on identifying service attributes
works and diverse industries. They attract approximately influencing user satisfaction with public transport. The
22% of the urban population in the Organisation for Eco- following sections present scientific literature relevant to
nomic Co-operation and Development (OECD) coun- our study related to different attributes grouped consid-
tries, with nations like Germany, Netherlands, and Spain ering: (1) comfort and service performance and (2) time-
hosting up to one-third of their residents [9], where bus related factors, cleanliness, and information availability.
services often serve as the primary and sometimes the
only public transportation option. Evaluating bus user 1.2 Comfort and service performance attributes
satisfaction is crucial for attracting and retaining passen- The importance of comfort and service performance on
gers and boosting ridership. While there is a substantial public transport users´ satisfaction was studied by Fel-
body of literature on assessing bus user satisfaction, most lesson and Friman [18] who evaluated the satisfaction
studies have centred around larger cities or complex of PT users in nine European cities concluding that it
bus systems like Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Minnesota, mainly depends on comfort, staff, and safety. Dell’Olio
United States [10], New York City [11], and Barran- et al. [19] also found that comfort together with waiting
quilla (Colombia) [12]. Relatively less attention has been time, and cleanliness are the most significant attributes
paid to understanding the unique features and require- for PT users in Santander (Spain), whereas bus occu-
ments of medium-sized European cities and their spe- pancy, trip duration, and driver behaviour were found to
cific transportation needs. These cities differ significantly be the less important ones. They also have observed that
from their larger counterparts regarding transportation the influence of these elements varies depending on the
infrastructure and traffic conditions, making it essential socio-economic characteristics of the users. According to
to tailor strategies and research to their particularities. Eboli and Mazzulla [20], customer satisfaction is affected
This paper aims to fill this gap by identifying the factors by four latent constructs: service planning and reliabil-
affecting urban bus user satisfaction, taking Oviedo as a ity, comfort and other factors, safety and cleanliness, and
case study. Oviedo is a good example of a medium-sized network design. These four variables are explained by 16
European city due to the high share of sustainable modes, service quality attributes measured throughout a survey.
like Karlsruhe (Germany), Bari (Italy), Nice (France), Nevertheless, the results cannot be generalised since the
and Malmö (Sweden) [13], which are characterized by survey was addressed only to University of Calabria, Italy
the combination of active modes with an attractive bus students. Charbatzadeh et al. [14] also conducted a study
system. The results provide interesting insights for devel- focused on university campuses to assess determinants
oping policy recommendations that could be applied of satisfaction with campus transportation services.
in any medium-sized city, with the added value of high According to the authors, there are four main factors
transferability. related to users´ overall satisfaction: driver, planning &
The objective of this paper is to identify implicitly reliability, service, and routes. de Oña et al. [8] developed
and not previously measured factors in a representa- a structural equation model (SEM) to assess bus riders’
tive medium-sized European city; this paper applies an satisfaction with service. They identified three latent vari-
Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), which is a widespread ables representing the main characteristics of the ser-
methodology in transport studies [14–16]. Then, the vice. The performance factor had the highest effect on
Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 3 of 13

overall service quality, while the other factors (comfort passengers. The results obtained by the authors suggest
and personnel) had a weaker effect. Hansson et al. [21] that improved time coverage may improve user satis-
have analysed different quality attributes of regional pub- faction in regional public transport. Eboli and Mazzulla
lic transport to assess their influence on modal choice, [27] studied passengers’ perceptions of railway services
demand, and customer satisfaction through a literature in northern Italy. They concluded that service charac-
review. The authors have observed that comfort is a pri- teristics like punctuality, regularity and frequency, and
ority for regional travellers and becomes more important cleanliness positively affect service quality. In a later
with longer travel periods. study, Eboli and Mazzulla [28] studied the relationship
Other studies have analysed users´ satisfaction under between rail passengers´ satisfaction and service quality.
specific and contextual conditions like economic cri- They found that information and service characteristics,
sis periods [15]. Lierop and El-Geneidy [3] used results like punctuality and frequency, have the highest positive
from three user satisfaction surveys conducted in Ath- effect on perceived quality. In addition, they built a Cus-
ens between 2008 and 2014. Three prevalent factors were tomer Satisfaction Index (CSI), which assesses the overall
identified through a Factor Analysis: quality of service, service quality by combining importance and satisfaction
service production & transfer quality, and ticket services. rates. de Oña et al. [29] also observed that regularity and
The impact of other specific conditions, like a major timeliness are some of the most important factors influ-
change in the network, was studied by Allen et al. [22]. encing users´ satisfaction among diverse groups of rail-
The authors evaluated the impact of a radical reform of way passengers in northern Italy.
Barcelona bus network on users´ satisfaction, reducing This paper introduces a novel perspective on public
travel time but increasing the number of transfers. Their transport user satisfaction by focusing on medium-sized
results showed that users value reliability over other European cities, exemplified by Oviedo. Unlike prior
latent constructs. studies primarily centred on larger urban areas or com-
plex transit systems, this research examines the dynam-
1.3 Time-information-related factors ics of medium-sized European cities, where bus services
Further research focused on other time-information- often play a pivotal role in sustainable mobility. One of
related factors like the availability of information, inte- the main advantages of the data collection methodol-
gration of services provided, and timelines. Friman et al. ogy was that face-to-face interviews were carried out
[23] studied satisfaction with public transport services in with an online connection that allowed the evolution of
Sweden. Results showed that attribute-specific satisfac- the responses to be seen in real-time. That allowed the
tion is related to treatment by employees, service reliabil- campaign to be readjusted to search for specific user
ity, and information simplicity. profiles on specific lines to ensure the sample’s repre-
Dell’Olio et al. [24] modelled user perception of bus sentativeness. Additionally, employing a well-known and
transit quality in Santander (Spain) and found that con- commonly used methodology in the transport field, it
sumer satisfaction was based mostly on service reliability conducts an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to unveil
and waiting time at the stop; moreover, the importance of implicit and previously unmeasured factors shaping user
these attributes reduced when passengers were asked to satisfaction. The results not only shed light on the specific
consider other service attributes like driver kindness. In attributes that drive passenger contentment but also offer
their research, Calvo and Ferrer [12] assessed the qual- high transferability to similar cities facing similar chal-
ity of the services offered by the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lenges. Combining EFA with an Ordinal Logistic Regres-
system in the city of Barranquilla (Colombia), finding sion Model, this study’s methodological rigour enhances
that information availability is one of the four most influ- our understanding of urban bus user satisfaction. In sum,
ential factors in user´s overall satisfaction. the paper’s singularity lies in its contextual focus, implicit
Romero [25] obtained some behavioural insights factor exploration, transferability of findings, and practi-
related to the perceived quality of PT information and cal policy implications learned from a successful bus sys-
service of metropolitan bus passengers within the Madrid tem, collectively contributing to a more comprehensive
– Alcobendas North corridor (Spain). He assessed the understanding of public transport user satisfaction in
value of real-time information attributes such as waiting medium-sized European cities.
time and total travel time-saving. He found that improv-
ing the information passengers receive through transit 2 Case study
apps could ease their trips and help materialise some This study focuses on Spanish urban bus services, specifi-
potential bus demand in metropolitan areas. cally in Oviedo. The municipality of Oviedo, with a popu-
Regarding regional public transport, Hansson et al. lation of 220,000 inhabitants [30], is the region’s capital
[26] studied the importance of peak and off-peak fre- of Asturias (1,022,800 inhabitants) and its second most
quencies, confirming the importance of frequency for populated city after Gijon. It is an inland city located
Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 4 of 13

in the geographical centre of Asturias, in the North of Oviedo’s urban bus network has fifteen daytime lines and
Spain. It functions as a regional service centre, providing one night-time line with a fleet of 67 buses to cover the
essential services and as a hub for its region’s economy, service. For analysis purposes, these sixteen lines were
culture, and administrative activities. Oviedo´s metro- classified into urban (see Fig. 1) and suburban lines (see
politan area comprises the city centre and other 14 par- Fig. 2), depending on their routes.
ishes located between 4 and 12 km. Sustainable mobility
modes account for almost 80% of total trips. 66.4% corre- 2.1 Methodology
spond to walking and cycling, and 8.5% to bus trips. Cars A four steps methodology (see Fig. 3) was applied to
and motorcycles represent 24.1% of trips [31]. Oviedo’s identify the key factors to improve bus user satisfaction
lower dependence on private cars and public transport in Oviedo as a medium-sized city: (1) Selection of lines,
matches the simpler transportation networks of medium- (2) Survey design and data collection, (3) Analysis and
sized cities. This emphasis on walking, cycling, and other Modelling, (4) Policy recommendations.
active transportation options suggests a city that priori-
tizes sustainable and active mobility. Such a focus aligns 2.2 Selection of lines
with contemporary urban planning goals and positions The sixteen lines were grouped into urban and suburban,
Oviedo as a forward-thinking city in terms of promoting as previously described in section 3. The urban lines´
healthier and more eco-friendly transportation choices. average ridership of 126,000 passengers/ is more than ten
Oviedo’s public transportation system primarily relies times higher than that of the suburban lines, 16,000 pas-
on its bus services, which offer convenient and accessi- sengers/month, as shown in Fig. 4. For this study, six rep-
ble options for commuters within the city. Furthermore, resentative urban lines were chosen (C-D-E-F-H-J) based
Oviedo has a regional rail network comprising six lines on their high ridership. Among suburban lines, two were
that efficiently connect the city with the surrounding selected (G and L) because of their long and transversal
parishes. There are three stations in the city, including itineraries covering many suburban boroughs. The selec-
the central one, well integrated with urban bus services. tion of surveyed bus lines aimed at resource efficiency
While public transportation is a key component of and was based on both ridership (representing nearly
the city’s mobility, the city does have two taxi coopera- 78.7% of total ridership of 12 million in 2019) [32] and
tives for those seeking more personalized travel. Oviedo potential impact. Focusing on heavily used lines allows
currently lacks other on-demand services like Uber or for quicker and broader improvements in urban mobil-
Cabify. ity, serving a larger population segment. This approach
This city was chosen as a case study due to its success- also aligns with public transport policies that priori-
ful bus system. The bus services in Oviedo are operated tize addressing the needs of most commuters, making
by TUA, a private company that belongs to ALSA Group.

Fig. 1 Oviedo´s urban lines

Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 5 of 13

Fig. 2 Oviedo´s suburban lines

service attributes from the survey of 2018 were included

in the new survey to evaluate their performance over
the years. Additionally, complementary questions were
included to evaluate new service attributes that were
not previously measured. Furthermore, the impact of
COVID-19 on users’ perception of security was also
included.
As a second input, findings from previous studies like
the ones of Dell’Olio et al. [19], Eboli and Mazzulla [33],
de Oña et al. [8] and de Oña et al. [16] were taken into
account for the design of the survey. The combination
of both is derived by selecting the thirteen attributes
presented in Table 1. The content of the survey and its
questions were validated on a pilot test carried out on
different lines and stops on 16 June 2021.
The questionnaire had a total of 21 questions grouped
into three sections with the following objectives (see
Tables 2 and 1):
•  Section 1 - Socioeconomic characteristics. This
section aimed to identify the sociodemographic
profile of bus users. It also included travel-related
variables such as car/motorcycle ownership, car
availability for frequent personal use, possession of a
Fig. 3 Methodology Outline
driving license, and public transport pass.
•  Section 2 - Trip characteristics. This section
research outcomes highly relevant to decision-makers addressed passengers’ mobility patterns, including
and urban planners. frequency of bus use, trip purpose, the line used, trip
duration, and the type of ticket used.
2.3 Survey design and data collection •  Section 3 - Satisfaction with different service-related
The survey design was based on two inputs, a previous attributes such as service availability, accessibility,
survey conducted in 2018 by the operator ALSA and the information, time, comfort, and safety. In this
review of previous studies with a similar scope. All the section, users were asked to rate 13 different service-
Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 6 of 13

Fig. 4 Average monthly ridership in Oviedo 2019

Table 1 User´s satisfaction with the 13 service attributes 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. Passengers were interviewed
Items Mean SD. inside the buses and at certain bus stops by surveyors
I-1. Information on schedules and frequencies at the 4.04 0.902 using tablets with an internet connection to the online
stops
questionnaire. SurveyMonkey software was used to col-
I-2. Information inside the bus 3.96 0.943
lect the responses. The answers recorded by the tool were
I-3. Connection with other modes and between lines 3.40 1.501
directly exported to an Excel database, avoiding any input
I-4. Extent of the bus network 3.79 1.142
errors and illegible responses.
I-5. Ticket Price 3.24 1.173
I-6. Ease of purchasing passes/cards 3.74 1.257
2.4 Analysis and modelling
I-7. Travel comfort (bus occupation) 3.84 0.911
The analysis of the survey outputs comprised three steps:
I-8. Smooth driving (curving, braking) 3.78 0.985
I-9. Frequency and schedule on working days 3.87 0.962
(i) a descriptive analysis of the data collected through the
I-10. Frequency and schedule on holidays and 2.81 1.226
survey, (ii) an exploratory factor analysis to identify key
weekends factors on user satisfaction, and (iii) the application of an
I-11. Compliance with schedules and frequencies 3.73 1.136 ordered logistic regression model (Ologit).
I-12. Service start/end time on business days 3.31 1.439 (i) The descriptive analysis of the satisfaction level with
I-13. Service start/end time on holidays 2.68 1.388 the thirteen service-related attributes (Table 1) was
(Source: Authors) done to identify the best and worst-rated ones.
(ii) Methods based on component analysis, such as
related attributes on a Likert scale from 1 to 5 (1= Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), are commonly
“totally dissatisfied” and 5= “totally satisfied”). used to analyse user satisfaction since they serve
Additionally, they were asked to rate their overall to identify the latent constructs underlying a
satisfaction with the service. set of measured variables in a situation without
The survey campaign was conducted between 15th and prior hypotheses. Factor analysis finds the
19th November 2021. This period was chosen since interrelationships between several variables
no alterations were caused by external factors such as and explains them in their common underlying
holidays or others. Additionally, there were no mobil- dimensions [36].
ity restrictions during that period due to COVID-19. (iii) Finally, an ordinal logistic regression was used
The face-to-face interview method was used since it was to assess to what extent each identified factor
considered the most adequate method for reaching a contributes to explaining users ‘overall satisfaction
relatively high response rate in a short period, following (OS). Ordinal logistic regression is a statistical model
the experience of previous studies [16, 34, 35]. As sur- used for analysing and modelling relationships
veyors conducted face-to-face surveys, they had to wear between one or more independent variables
face masks, maintain a safe distance, and exhibit utmost (predictors) and an ordinal dependent variable
respect, especially for older individuals. (outcome), which has more than two ordered
Eight surveyors worked in pairs for 3.5 h during the categories or levels. In ordinal logistic regression, the
five days of the campaign. Data was collected between goal is to understand how the independent variables
Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 7 of 13

Table 2 Distribution of the complete sample (n = 970) scale. Therefore, using this statistical model is most
Survey Category Variable % appropriate in our case.
Section 1 Gender Male 40 Ordered Logit models (Ologit) are based on the following
Socioeconomic Female 60 specification of a latent regression:
characteristics Age < 21 19
22–30 20 qi ∗ = β Xi + i , i = 1 . . . n. (1)
31–45 22
46–65 27
In which the latent continuous preference variable qi * is
> 65 12
only observed in discrete form qi through a censoring
Employment Student 33
situation
mechanism:
Employee 34
Self-employed worker 8
qi = 0 if qi*  µ0
Unemployed 9
Pensioner 15 qi = 1 if µ0 < qi *  µ1
(2)
Other 1 ...
Level of studies Primary 6 qi = J if µj−1 < qi *  µj
completed Secondary school 15
Sixth form/professional 46
education Where qi * represents the non-observable overall satis-
University degree 32 faction with the service, while qi is the observable over-
Other 1 all satisfaction obtained from the rating question of the
Section 2 Availability of Driving license 58 survey.
Characteristics Own car 40 J represents the 5-point Likert scale options of the rat-
of the trip Own motorcycle 7 ing. The dependent variable assumed for the model is the
Own bicycle 18 overall satisfaction with the service (OS), while the inde-
Public Transport Card 73 pendent variables are the factors identified in the EFA.
None of them 7 The model was obtained using the software STATA.
Trip purpose Work 36
Study 29 2.5 Policy recommendation
Leisure 30 The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the survey
Other 5 provides a better understanding of bus users´ percep-
Frequency of Daily 51 tions of different service attributes [27]. Moreover, identi-
use 3 or 4 times a week 18 fying latent variables and the causal relationship between
1 or 2 times a week 16 them and the overall satisfaction (OS) is of great interest
A few times a month 8 for both the operator and transport planners to identify
Occasionally 7 certain attributes to which special attention should be
Type of ticket Single-trip ticket 27 paid to achieve higher satisfaction levels and ensure users
10-trip ticket 16
‘fidelity.
Monthly Pass 33
The model results allow us to identify the importance
Young Pass 19
of each of these factors for bus services, guiding opera-
Disabilities bonuses 0
tors to design effective strategies and investment plans to
Pensioner Pass 4
meet users´ expectations. These results are expected to
Other 1
serve as insights to develop adequate policy recommen-
(Source: Authors)
dations to increase public transport usage in medium-
sized cities with similar characteristics.
are associated with the likelihood of an outcome
falling into one of several ordered categories. The 3 Results
dependent variable is categorical and ordered; it 3.1 Sample characteristics
could represent responses on a Likert scale where A total of 384 valid responses were needed to ensure a
the categories are ordered from “totally dissatisfied representative sample with a 95% confidence level. Addi-
" to “totally satisfied “. That is consistent with this tionally, the number of responses required for each line
study, where service attributes are the independent according to gender and age range was calculated using
variables, and overall satisfaction is the dependent the population pyramid of the municipality of Oviedo in
variable, which is categorical and ordered on a Likert 2019 [37]. During the data collection campaign, the rep-
resentativity of each line was checked at the end of every
Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 8 of 13

shift to restructure the data collection plan if needed to overall satisfaction has a rate of 3.99 with a standard
ensure the sample’s representativeness. 982 responses deviation of 0.657.
were obtained, of which 970 were valid, representing a Table 1 shows that most service attributes have a good
global representativeness of 97% for all the system. More- average satisfaction rate, considering that users are suffi-
over, the representativity of lines was also assessed sepa- ciently satisfied if they score between 3.5 and 5 using the
rately, with all of them being over 80%. Likert scale. Eight of the thirteen attributes assessed have
The general characteristics of the collected sample are an average score greater than 3.5. Moreover, the highest-
shown in Table 2. There is a higher percentage of women rated attributes are the ones with lower standard devia-
(60%) than men (40%). Most respondents were aged tion. On the other hand, attributes (I-10) and (I-13) have
46–65 (27%), and the following groups were 31–45 (22%) an average satisfaction rate lower than 3, and their high
and 22–30 (20%). People younger than 21 represent (19%) deviation shows the dispersion of perceptions. Both attri-
of the sample, while passengers older than 65 are (12%). butes are related to the service start/end time on holidays
Regarding the employment situation, employees account (I-13) and frequency and schedule on holidays and week-
for around (34%) of the sample, and a considerable part ends (I-10), with rates of 2.68 and 2.81, respectively.
are students (33%). About (8%) of the respondents were
self-employed workers, while (9%) were unemployed, 3.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)
(15%) were pensioners, and only 1% had “other” employ- An EFA was used to see if and how the thirteen observ-
ment situations, such as housewives. able variables (service-related attributes) are connected
For the level of studies completed, around (46%) of to unobservable ones. The methodological approach is
the respondents have finished sixth form/professional based on a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) cover-
education, about (32%) obtained a university degree, ing the 13 items collected through the survey. The step-
(15%) from secondary school, only (6%) from primary by-step procedure by Hernandez and Monzon [38] was
school, and (1%) from others. It is interesting to see the followed to ensure the appropriate use of this statistical
high percentage of passengers with a public transport technique.
card (73%). Almost two-thirds of the users have a driv- As a first step, the Spearman correlation matrix shows
ing license (58%), (40%) own a car, (18%) own a bicycle, the existence of correlations without multi-collinearity,
and only (7%) own a motorcycle. Most users travel daily which was also verified through the determinant of the
(51%), while (18%) travel 3–4 times per week, and (16%) matrix. Bartlett’s test for sphericity rejected the null
travel 1–2 times per week. Only (8%) of the respondents hypothesis of an identical correlation matrix. The items
travel a few times each week, while (7%) use the bus only assessed in the survey demonstrated good internal con-
occasionally. sistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.8 > 0.7) and good sam-
The main reasons for travelling are work (36%), leisure pling adequacy according to the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test
(30%), and studies (29%). Finally, most of the respondents (KMO = 0.75 > 0.6). These results showed that data met
(33%) purchase a monthly ticket, followed by users who the necessary preliminary conditions for conducting fac-
purchase a single-trip ticket (27%), and (16%) of them tor analysis and obtaining meaningful results [39].
use a 10-trip ticket. Around (19%) of the passengers use a In the second step, an EFA was applied to extract the
young pass, and only (4%) use the pensioner pass, as seen existing latent constructs among the different declared
in Table 2. variables measured in the questionnaire using the SPSS
software. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used
3.2 User satisfaction with different service-related to obtain the initial solutions with an orthogonal “vari-
attributes max” rotation [40] to ensure that the latent factors are
This research focuses on evaluating user satisfaction with uncorrelated. Based on the convergence of the Scree plot
the 13 service-related attributes presented in Table 1. As [41] and Kaiser´s criterion [42], three principal compo-
mentioned in section 4.2, these attributes were chosen nents were revealed. Table 3 presents the loadings of each
based on previous surveys conducted by the operator and observed item.
on the review of previous studies with similar scope. Item I-4 was deleted following Hair et al. [43] recom-
A five-level Likert scale was used to rate users’ sat- mendations because it has a low loading (≤ 0.5). The rest
isfaction with each item from 1(totally dissatisfied) to of the items have considerably good loads (|> 0.5).
5(totally satisfied), as shown in Fig. 5. The rates for all Information at stops and inside the bus and smooth
the attributes considered and for the overall service, as driving and travel comfort have a similar impact (homo-
well as their standard deviation, are shown in Table 1. geneous loading) on the ´comfort and information` exog-
From a preliminary analysis of the responses, users have enous latent variable with weights between 0.634 and
good overall satisfaction with TUA services. The average 0.703. In factor 2, service start and end time on weekends
(0.881) and working days (0.821) are the attributes that
Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 9 of 13

Table 3 Service-related factors that influence users´ satisfaction to mention that the five possible responses included
FACTORS ITEMS F1 F2 F3 in the questionnaire were grouped together due to the
F1. Com- I-1. Information on sched- 0.703 0.069 0.173 low number of responses obtained in some of them. We
fort and ules and frequencies at the
considered three categories for the dependent variable
information stops
I-8. Smooth driving (brak- 0.698 0.103 -0.012
(“overall satisfaction with the service”): Low satisfac-
ing, cornering) tion = 1 (merging rates 1 and 2 from the questionnaire),
I-2. Information inside the 0.665 0.051 0.141 Moderate satisfaction = 2 (3 from the questionnaire), and
bus High satisfaction = 3 (merging 4 and 5 responses).
I-7. Travel comfort (bus 0.634 0.041 0.281 The modelling results of an Ologit model are presented
occupation) in Table 4. All the signs of the regression coefficients in
I-9. Frequency and sched- 0.524 0.393 0.182 the model and their statistical significance show that
ule on working days
higher satisfaction in each latent factor means higher
F2. Service I-13. Service start/end time -0.039 0.881 0.160
overall satisfaction. We can see that the coefficient of
Performance on weekends
“F1. comfort and information factor” (1.35) is the most
I-12. Service start/end time 0.198 0.821 -0.026
on working days important, with a considerable difference from the other
I-10. Frequency and 0.050 0.660 0.300 two factors. Factors “F2. Service performance” and “F3.
schedule on weekends and Integration” have similar importance (0.487 and 0.515)
holidays on users´ overall satisfaction with the service.
I-11. Compliance with 0.472 0.589 0.024
schedules and frequencies 4 Discussion
F3. Integration I-6. Ease of purchasing 0.112 0.039 0.754 This work aimed to identify key parameters to improve
passes/cards
PT usage mainly focused on urban buses in medium-
I-5. Ticket Price 0,062 0.159 0.721
sized cities. Results showed that women use buses more
I-3. Connection with other 0.216 0.069 0.545
modes (RENFE, FEVE, inter- than men. Around 70% of bus users are between 22 and
urban bus…) and between 64 years old, with a uniform distribution between the
lines three ranges considered in this research (see Table 2).
I-4. Extent of the bus 0.364 0.234 0.379 Moreover, around 65% is either a student or worker,
network which means commuter trips, as reflected in the high
(Source: Authors)
percentage of daily usage, 51%. Regarding mobility
trends, 58% of the passengers have a driving licence,
Table 4 Ordinal Logistic Regression Model results while only 40% own a car. Finally, 73% of the passengers
Factors Coeff (β) Std. P 95% Conf. Interval have a public transport card using either monthly, includ-
Error
ing young or pensioner passes. That means that bus ser-
F1. Comfort and 1.346905 0.0867 0.000 1.177042 1.516769
information
vices are attractive and good value for money. Figure 5
F2. Service 0.487227 0.0721 0.000 0.3456888 0.6287659
presents users´ satisfaction rates with the service and its
performance different attributes.
F3. Integration 0.515476 0.0730 0.000 0.3723748 0.6585791 Figure 5 shows that EFA grouped items in 3 Factors
Log-likelihood -707.12 with similar satisfaction rates, with only one exception,
Chi-squared 383.32 ´Compliance with schedules and frequencies`. Fac-
Pseudo 0.2132 tor 1 has the best-rated items, Factor 2 the worst-rated
R-squared ones, while Factor 3 includes the average-rated service
(Source: Authors) attributes.
The first factor (F1), called “Comfort and informa-
have a major impact on it. For factor 3, ´integration`, tion”, is aligned with previous studies [8, 19, 20] that
there is a clear difference in the weight of ticket-related identified comfort as one of the most important factors
factors (ease of purchasing (0.754) and price (0.721)) influencing users ‘satisfaction. Moreover, it is interesting
compared to connection with other modes and lines to see how information appears as a significant attribute
(0.545). of this factor. That could be attributed to the fact that
access to information plays a fundamental role in mak-
3.4 Ordinal logistic regression model ing the trip easy and reducing anxiety, which is related
After preliminary data analysis, we applied an ordinal to ´comfort` according to Hill and Garner [45] and Sim-
logistic regression model to assess the influence of the mons [46]. Moreover, Simmon’s [46] definition of com-
identified latent factors on users´ overall satisfaction with fort as “feeling at ease” also explains why ´frequency and
the service, recording Echaniz et al. [44]. It is important schedule on working days` belong to F1 since the daily
Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 10 of 13

Fig. 5 Satisfaction rates with the different service attributes

usage of buses makes passengers perceive it as a comfort- services provided, like the ease of purchasing tickets/
related attribute rather than a ´service performance` cards and their convenience price. All the items included
one. The F1 merges the five best-rated attributes. It can in this factor are rated higher than 3.5.
be explained by the comfortable occupation of the buses, As mentioned in section 5.3, the item (I-4) ´extent of
the smooth driving, and the availability of service infor- the bus network` was deleted following Hair et al. [47]
mation in stations and on the buses, accessible through recommendations because its load is lower than 0.50 on
different sources like the webpage and the mobile appli- all common factors.
cation of the operator (TUA). The model outputs show that F1 “Comfort and infor-
The second factor (F2), called “Service performance”, mation” is the factor that has a major effect on OS, while
was also previously identified as important by Char- F3“integration” and F2“Service performance” present
batzadeh et al. [14], who called it “routes service” since lower and similar contributions.
it included the same items as our factor plus routes and
location. In our case, the factor groups the worst-rated 5 Conclusions and policy recommendations
items (with an average grade < 3.5) with exception of The user-centric approach has gained importance as
´compliance with schedules and frequencies´. It is linked an urban mobility paradigm. Therefore, understanding
to time-related services like start/end time, frequency, users´ perceptions needs and identifying the different
and compliance with schedules. There is a clear dissatis- target groups is key to ensuring the success of any pol-
faction with service on weekends and holidays, explained icy measure that aims to promote behavioural change
by the reduction in the number of services compared to toward sustainable mobility.
weekdays. In this frame, the research assessed the key factors of
The third factor (F3), called “Integration”, merges urban bus users´ satisfaction in a medium-sized city
items such as the connection of the bus with different (Oviedo-Spain) where public transport mainly relies on
transport means, such as interurban buses and subur- bus services, together with the successful performance
ban railways, with items related to the integration of the of the system, make it an interesting case study whose
Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 11 of 13

outputs could serve as insights for developing adequate Use users´ feedback to understand their needs. Regu-
and replicable policy measures for other cities with simi- lar surveys allow users to identify profiles, understand
lar characteristics. their mobility patterns, and receive feedback on their
Survey results showed a generally high overall satisfac- satisfaction with the service. In this case, user feedback
tion level with the service among users (3.99/5). Eight of showed the need to improve the attributes grouped in the
the thirteen service attributes evaluated have an average “F2- Service performance” by exploring the viability of
score > 3.5. The remaining five still need some improve- changing service starting and ending times and increas-
ments. The EFA applied allowed us to identify three ing frequency in some specific routes.
latent factors that were not directly measured from the Foster integration to ease the sustainable decision.
survey but influenced user satisfaction. Even though “F3- Integration” shows the importance of functional,
these factors were partially identified as important in technical, and physical integration in OS. Among the dif-
previous research works, the factors grouped in each of ferent integration solutions being studied, MaaS benefits
them present new and interesting findings. transport operators and users. The MaaS app provides
The combination of “Comfort and information” in the operators with new sales channels, improved payment
F1 factor has a major effect on OS, reflecting the growing processing, and dynamic demand data of potential users.
importance of information availability, as comfort was On the other hand, it helps customers to plan single
identified as an important attribute related to users’ sat- or multimodal journeys by simplifying booking and
isfaction in previous research. Including information in payment.
this factor supports the importance of deploying all the The study highlights the key role of comfort and infor-
efforts needed to provide users with the necessary infor- mation; however, contextual conditions must be acknowl-
mation to make the service attractive. edged as well. Future research might consider evaluating
Factor 3, “Integration”, reflects one of the main chal- bus users´ satisfaction in other medium-sized European
lenges of public transport identified by the European cities where the service is provided by the same operator
Metropolitan Transport Authorities (EMTA), which con- but with different contexts to assess if it influences users´
siders that a threefold integration should be achieved: perceptions. Based on the possible differences in the
functional, technical, and physical integration of services. results, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics
The integration should be applied to payment, travel might be included in the model proposed to analyse their
information, data access and sharing to create “a travel influence on overall satisfaction.
offer that makes for a seamless and comfortable jour-
ney” [48]. Moreover, F3 groups all attributes related to Supplementary Information
the MaaS approach, which, according to Schikofsky et al. The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.
org/10.1186/s12544-023-00616-y.
[49] and Hoerler et al. [50], is mostly associated with a
´user centricity paradigm`, ´intramodality/multimodal- Supplementary Material 1
ity support` and ´integration` and serves as a key lever
to reduce negative transportation effects like congestion Acknowledgements
and pollution. The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the
These findings allowed us to propose interesting policy Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation MCIN/AEI/https://doi.
org/10.13039/501100011033 as this research was possible thanks to data
recommendations that can be summarised as (1) focus collected in the project TrackBest-3 S RTC2019-007041-4. They also want to
on comfort and information, (2) use users´ feedback to acknowledge the bus operator ALSA for the data provided.
understand their needs, and (3) foster integration to ease
Authors’ contributions
the sustainable decision. Shireen Al Suleiman Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis,
Focus on the “F1- Comfort and information” as it has Investigation, Visualization, Writing - Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing.
been identified as the most influential factor in the OS. It Adriana Cortez Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Writing –
Review & Editing.
has been demonstrated that information and marketing Andres Monzón Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – Review & Editing.
campaigns are cost-effective to boost ridership [51, 52]. Antonio Lara Review & Editing.
The first one focuses on the individual benefits gained
Funding
from using PT (buses in this case), while the second one This manuscript is the result of the research work that was part of the
is focused on raising awareness among non-PT users in TrackBest-3 S project and received funds for the preparation from the Spanish
terms of tickets, timetables, transfers, and service char- Ministry of Science and Innovation.
acteristics. Special attention must be taken when choos- Data Availability
ing the channels to provide information. Although the The data of the study will be made available upon reasonable request.
popularity of APPs continues to grow, a considerable per-
centage of people still do not use them to plan their trips
(75.7% in Oviedo).
Al Suleiman et al. European Transport Research Review (2023) 15:47 Page 12 of 13

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