Service providers must understand that they have to provide customer-perceived value, if they want to stay in business. One of the best ways to determine customer-perceived value is to encourage customer complaint. This will make it easier to identify areas of the service process which the consumer believes must be improved. The ultimate goal of our thesis is to identify and establish the patterns of customer complaint behaviour in public transportation which is a part of the service sector. If patterns are identified, it will be much easier to encourage and predict customers‘ abilities and willingness to complain during a service process. Hence, service providers will be able to create an environment that can encourage and facilitate customer complaint processes. In this regard, service providers will obtain more information that will enable them to improve the quality of their services in order provide customer-perceived value. In addition, due to the fact that services are offered at the same time when the customer is there, this increases chances of customers seeing failures. Therefore, it is vital to make it easier for customers to be able to complain as soon as they perceive these failures so that they leave the service environment satisfied. Thus, understanding the pattern of customer complaint behaviour will make this process easier. By pattern, we mean sequence and therefore, there must be factors that influence this sequence. Our thesis shall focus on three main factors; cost, contextual resources and customer‘s competence, that influence the ability, willingness and the extent to which customers will engage in a complain process. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the following: What is the pattern of customer complaint behaviour in public transportation and how do cost, contextual resources and customer‘s competence impact this pattern?However, we shall also mention other external factors that may influence the pattern of customer complaint behaviour like market structure and service characteristics. It is imperative to understand customer complaint behaviour in service because through customer complaint, customers‘ quality expectations can be determined and met. Studies reveal that, although complaint channels may exist, some customers still do not complaint. In our survey, only 21.6% of respondents who encountered a service failure actually complained implying that 78.4% of the respondents who encountered an unfavourable service experience did not complain. What could be the reasons that customers who encounter problems do not complaint, although they would want to complain?2Above all, if there is something to be learnt from customer complaint behaviour, we think that it should be the patterns of customer complaint behaviour. This is because if patterns can be identified, then the right channels can be put in place by service providers in order to encourage and facilitate the complaint process. This will enable much information to be obtained from the customers and then used to make improvements in the service offerings and processes. In this regard service quality and customer satisfaction can be increased. This will lead to customer retention and higher profits for the company as well as prevent negative word-of-mouth.In this thesis, we identified patterns of customer complaint behaviour in service with a focus in public transportation by using data from the passengers of the public bus companies of Karlstad city and the intercity bus company (SWEBUS) as bases of our research. In our questionnaire we asked customers to indicate the strength of preference for a complaint channel they would use in order to make a complaint to the bus company in the event of a negative service experience. The results were ranked in order to determine the pattern of customer complaint behaviour in public transportation. We approached this topic by revealing the importance of understanding customer complaint behaviour and using this knowledge to improve service development. We proceeded by emphasising on the importance of viewing customer complaint behaviour from the perspective of service dominant logic. / The Service and Market Oriented Transport Research Group

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The present thesis is devoted to an application of the ideas of complex networks theory for analysing, modelling, and, finally, optimising different processes that occur in transportation networks.

Better understanding of urban travelers is necessary, as sustainable development is becoming an integral part of transportation policy and practice. A volume of research shows people’s expressed willingness to adopt more sustainable urban travel behaviours, but a general sense of resistance to change is often encountered. Current methods in transportation research are not able to fully grasp on individual motivations such as discontent with public transport. This gap of knowledge in qualitative transportation research calls for the development of new methods. James Scott’s concept of the hidden transcript allows for the assumption that there are expressions of dissatisfaction towards public transportation at grassroots level. In order to access hidden transcripts on public transportation in Stockholm there is a need for a new method, which is developed in this thesis. The proposed visual mixed method draws from principles of visual ethnography, virtual ethnography, nethnography and social media research. The methodology is then tested and assessed as a platform to give voice to hidden transcripts on public transportation. The choice of method for developing the method is meta-methodology. The discussion sheds light on the potential of the framework (1) to grant access to hidden transcripts; (2) to fill a knowledge gap in transportation qualitative research; (3) to assist planners towards sustainable development of urban transportation.

Since 2008, more than half of the world population lives in cities. To cope with this rapid urbanization in a sustainable manner, transit systems all around the world are likely to grow. By studying 33 networks in the world, this thesis identifies the properties and effects of metro network designs by using a graph theory approach. After the literature review, a new methodology was introduced to translate networks into graphs; it notably accounts for various transit specificities (e.g., presence of lines). Metro networks were then characterised according to their State, Form, and Structure; where State relates to the development phase of metros; Form investigates the link between metros and the built environment; Structure examines the intrinsic properties of metros, by notably looking at their connectivity. Subsequently, the complexity and robustness of metros were studied; metros were found to possess scale-free and small-world features although showing atypical topologies; robustness emphasizes on the presence of alternative paths. Three network design indicators (coverage, directness and connectivity) were then related to ridership (annual boardings per capita), and positive relations were observed, which suggests that network design plays an important role in their success. Finally, these concepts were applied to the Toronto metro plans announced by the Toronto regional transportation authority, Metrolinx; it was found that the grid-pattern nature of the plans could hinder the success of the metro; seven possible improvements were suggested. Overall, the topology of metro networks can play a key role in their success. The concepts presented here can particularly be useful to transit planners; they should also be used along with conventional planning techniques. New transit projects could benefit greatly from an analysis of their network designs, which in turn may play a relevant role in the global endeavour for sustainability.

Efficient public transportation provides economic and social opportunities that increase accessibility to markets and employment as well as providing investment benefits. Key challenges to the U.S. public transportation industry include developing modes and increasing the availability of public transportation in a manner that meets the needs of individual users in a cost effective manner. A problem facing public transportation officials is the need to understand the factors that influence consumer decision-making and consumer attitudes toward public transportation. Feedback regarding experiences as well as expectations from commuters provides information for developing and improving public transportation. Thus, decision-making factors of end-users are keys to improving supply, growth, and understanding utilization of public transportation. Public transportation officials seek to improve the public transportation experience for commuters by increasing modes and benefits of the systems. The decision-making factors of the end-users require identification and examination in order to provide a high quality and efficient experience for commuters. The research questions of interest in the current dissertation are: (1) What are the decision-making factors affecting commuters’ attitudes toward public transportation? and (2) How do the end-user decision-making factors affect the supply of public transportation? The purpose of this research is to extend the current body of knowledge about decision-making factors by developing and testing a new theoretical model to measure the attitudes of public transportation end-users. This study has its theoretical foundation in the theory of planned behavior, theory of reasoned action, and rational choice theory. To understand how public transportation is affected by decision-making factors, it is necessary to analyze the relationships among the decision factors and attitudes. The findings of this study contribute by building theory and having implications for practice. This study employs a mixed methodology of qualitative and quantitative research. More specifically, the development of a framework and testing of that framework via collection of data using a survey instrument, semi-structured interviews, and data scraping of customer comments underpin the methodology employed in this study. To this end, Essay 1 develops a conceptual framework of decision-making factors that affect the supply of public transportation based on the extant literature. The integrated framework developed is operationalized using a survey to test a model that depicts the framework within the context to which the study was situated. The results of the structural model using PLS provide insights for the development of public transportation. Essay 2 involves two phases in the methodology. First, the study develops a causal loop that depicts the operationalized conceptual framework from Essay 1. Second, discussion panels were conducted to confirm the system dynamic causal loop visualization that was developed to fit the model. Finally, Essay 3 examines the conceptual framework developed and tested in the prior essays by analyzing electronic word of mouth (eWOM) of online comments. The third essay examines eWOM of current public transportation users that is available online. This eWOM data was examined using text mining and the resulting quantitative output was compared to the operationalized theoretical framework from the prior works. The results also illustrate the functionality of text analytics for confirmatory model assessment.

Supplying of public services in transit districts The purpose of my thesis is study of public transportation as a public service, which is provided in transit districts. The thesis is composed of eight chapters and introduction. It introduces in with brief story to the subject of thesis and defines key terms for this thesis. First chapter does not focus on public transportation, but it looks at public service generally. It mentions important kinds of public service in western culture and deals with some of examples in the Czech republic. Second chapter presents key terms. In first sub chapter term is public transportation. It includes historical development of public transportation and its current situation. Second sub chapter contains development of transit districts around the world and in the Czech republic. Transport district is also known as a passenger transport executive. In Czech name "Integrovaný dopravní systém" is used, which stands for Integrated transportation system. Last sub chapter is about such system in Prague, capital of the Czech republic, which is called Prague transportation system (PIT). It not only describes PIT, but also illustrates history of public transportation Prague. Third chapter is about law 194/2010 on public passenger transport services. This law was prepared in...

Relevant path planning using public transport is limited by reliability of the transportation network. In some cases it turns out that we can plan paths with respect to expected delays and hereby improve the reliability of the resulting path. This study focuses on prediction of the delays in public transport systems using data from vehicle tracking systems -- known as the AVL data. These data are typically collected by the transit operators. Various algorithms are compared using real data from Prague trams tracking system. The study also includes a discussion about a possible utilization of the information gained from the used methods in passenger information systems. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Tim Keane / Climate change and declining ecological health of urban environments are global issues of growing concern. In order to mitigate these issues we must reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions and increase green infrastructure solutions. One way of doing this is through improving public transportation and decreasing parking areas. In this study, Manhattan, Kansas was used to illustrate how improvements to public transportation can reduce parking demand and to show how excess parking can be transformed into green space to improve the ecological health of the city. First a review of literature and case studies related to increasing ridership of public transportation, reducing parking demand, and calculating ecologic and economic benefits was done. Then ArcGIS was used to analyze the existing public transportation in Manhattan, Kansas. Improvements to the existing transit system were developed and potential increase in ridership was calculated. ArcGIS was then used to analyze existing parking in Manhattan, Kansas. Excess Parking was determined based on current parking demand and predicted transit ridership. A suitability study was then done in ArcGIS to determine which parking areas should be converted into green space. The suitability map assisted in choosing four specific parking areas to redesign in detail to incorporate additional green space and tree cover. It was estimated that improving Manhattan’s bus system could double its ridership. It was also estimated that with improved public transit and parking planning, 30% of Manhattan’s parking could be eliminated. Converting 30% of Manhattan’s parking into green space would decrease runoff and pollutants from parking lots. Ecological valuation methods were used to calculate the benefits of converting parking into green space. It was found that integrating green space into parking lots would decrease stormwater runoff, mitigate the heat island effect, store carbon, improve air quality and may have social benefits as well.

The aim of this thesis is to perform Stategic analysis on the STUDENT Agency company.The analysis is one of the tools which help to create a succesfull strategic plan of the company.The first part is theoretical and it is focused on describing methods applied in the second part. Analysis in the second part is contains macro environment analysis and analysis of the micro environment, analysis of internal resources and capabilities.