Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
CASE STUDIES ON TRANSPORT POLICY, cilt.9, sa.2, ss.974-982, 2021 (ESCI)
Mass transportation is one of the leading factors determining the quality of a city. It is known that improvements in mass transportation services affect customer satisfaction and societal quality of life. Also passengers' perception about transportation quality impress on satisfaction and loyalty of customers. It is thus of vital importance that people living in a city encounter no problems related to transportation in their lives, and that they are able to travel comfortably to their places of work and education. The present study evaluates user satisfaction in the light rail transit (LRT) services through the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The factors included in the study model are Customer Expectations (EXP), Perceived Quality (PQ), Perceived Value (PV), Customer Satisfaction (SAT), Customer Complaints (COM) and Customer Loyalty (LOY). First, a data collection instrument was developed to measure the quality of the light rail transit (LRT) service based on the factors in the ACSI model, with a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach used to test the ACSI. Data for the study was collected using the data collection instrument, which was applied to 360 passengers who were waiting for their trams at nine stations in May 2019. The model fit was evaluated using various fit measurement instruments and was accepted. Analyses revealed that the path coefficient from customer expectations to perceived quality was 0.66, and that from satisfaction to loyalty was 0.61. Moreover, the customer expectations variable was found to act as full mediator variable between image and loyalty.