Shifting gears: Exploring private car users’ perception of public transport ridership

Private car users’ transition to regular use of public transport can potentially contribute to reducing traffic congestion and environmental impact. However, public transport service quality and satisfaction research has predominantly focused on regular public transport users and often lumps private car users with motorcycles and other private transport users. This aggregation overlooks the distinct motivations, behaviors, and attitudes characterizing each group. Consequently, the specific perceptions and unique factors influencing the decision of private car users to use public transport remain underexplored. This study focuses exclusively on private car users who also use public transport in Ghana. It explores their perception of three key factors influencing public transport use: perceived service quality, satisfaction, and attitudes. These factors were measured using structural equation modeling. Additionally, perceived service quality was measured as a second-order construct, and the moderating effect of demographics on the association between satisfaction and perceived service quality was also explored. The findings demonstrate that perceived service quality significantly affects satisfaction, attitude and public transport usage. Furthermore, safety and security are the most crucial predictors of perceived service quality for car users. Gender plays a vital role in how improvements in perceived service quality affect satisfaction, with female car users being more sensitive to changes in perceived service quality. The study provides theoretical and practical insights for policymakers, transport authorities and operators, which can improve and encourage car users to consider regular use of public transport.