Local governments and public transit agencies have made an effort to provide public transit users with high level of user-oriented service and then expect to increase the number of public transit user. Bus Information Service on BIS(Bus Information Sy...
Local governments and public transit agencies have made an effort to provide public transit users with high level of user-oriented service and then expect to increase the number of public transit user. Bus Information Service on BIS(Bus Information System), which provides bus users with various bus-related information such as the expected time of bus arrival and a timetable at the bus stop, has satisfied bus users and expedite the revitalization of public transit usage.
In general, bus users have obtained several basic information through traditional signposts and a map of bus at bus stop. In addition, more complicated information can be provided by BIT(Bus Information Terminal) and personal cellular phone to bus users in BIS environment and the BIS service areas have been expanding nationwide. However, in respect of operation and management of BIS, there are hardly any study on user satisfaction, user demand and the estimation of quantitative value for the bus information.
Therefore, this study aims to analyze the difference of relative service level between bus information service and other services equally provided at bus stop, and to verify the relative service level among each bus information service. User satisfaction and user demand for bus information service in case of providing bus information to bus user through personal communication device such as cellular phone are also examined. Furthermore, estimation of quantitative value for the bus information service providing through BIT at bus stop is performed in this study.
The results of this study are as follows:
First of all, according to service level analysis of 31 service items providing at bus stop by using GAP(Gap Model of Service Quality) and IPA(Importance-Performance Analysis), bus information-related services are more importantly to be improved. In the case of analysis among 22 bus information-related service items, it is shown that more various information is required than existing information service items providing through BIT at bus stop. And according to the evaluation of bus information service performed by Structural Equation Model, it is shown that the more bus information service is unsatisfied, the more information requires. Therefore, it is obviously recommended that bus information facility such as BIT should be expanded and improved to provide better quality of information service to bus user.
Secondly, according to analysis of the preference of bus information services and user demand by using Conjoint Analysis, Logit Analysis and Ordered Probit Analysis, the service item of information and the communication device for the service are to be expanded and improved as well. And for the evaluation from the economical point of view, 2.03 call/week for usage frequency, 77.40 won/call for willingness to pay for information usage, and 3.34~13.75 billion won/year for the possible amount of annual earnings from information usage are estimated.
It is also found that the type and price of bus information have a great influence on the preference and usage rate for the bus information service. Therefore, it is necessary to find out how to diversify the type of bus information and how to lower the price of information usage through further study. When such a optimized information service is available for BIS, each operational organization can promote and pursue the service user-focused BIS policy. Also, private sector can consider the possible amount of annual earnings from information usage as a significant factor for the feasibility study of the information-related business.
Thirdly, this study regards bus information provided by BIT as one of the public goods, then the value of information is evaluated by CVM(Contingent Valuation Method) using Survival Analysis. From the evaluation, it is found that the information is worth 25.90 won/time and 21.81 billion won/year for bus users, and 4.21 won/time and 76.37 billion won/year for the other transport modal users.
Finally, as the bus information service can be provided by not only governmental organizations but also private companies, all the sectors should be considered for the evaluation of bus information service in total. Hence, the total quantitative value of bus information service can be estimated about 101.52~ 111.93 billion won/year, which consists of the annual earnings from information usage by personal communication devices and the willingness to pay for BIT facilities per annum.
In terms of evaluation methodology of this study, estimating the total value of bus information service by considering the willingness to pay not only of bus users but also of the other transport modal users can be considered as a meaningful approach for this kind of study. In addition, finding that the willingness to pay for BIT facility of the other transport modal users is much higher than that of bus users can be the another fruit of this study.
Most of recent ITS(Intelligent Transport Systems) projects are based on installing system which collects traffic data and provides traffic information made of the data to demander. Collecting traffic data is almost performed by governmental organization, however, traffic information can be provided by not only governmental but private organization. In particular, private sector is rather capable of providing user-focused service than public sector. Therefore, quantitative estimation method for the value of bus information in this study can be used to estimate both individual value and total value for the case of providing information service by private and public sector together.