Assessing public perception and satisfaction within public transportation services in Penang

This research studied assessing public perception and satisfaction with public transportation services in Penang, Malaysia and uses the SERVQUAL model to assess service quality across multiple dimensions. Tangible, reliability, responsiveness, Assurance, empathy, and the other two variables added which are accessibility, safety, and security are all important considerations. Tangibles examine the physical components of transportation, such as the state of the facilities and vehicles. Reliability assesses the consistency and dependability of services, whereas responsiveness assesses staff willingness to serve passengers promptly. Assurance refers to employees' expertise, courtesy, and capacity to inspire trust, whereas empathy evaluates the provision of individualized attention. Accessibility refers to how easily passengers can use services, considering route availability, service frequency, and accommodations for those with disabilities. Safety and security assess the perceived and actual safety measures in place to protect passengers. This comprehensive method tries to identify strengths and problems in Penang's public transportation system by looking at quality, convenience, cost, comfort, and customer service criteria. To allow a meaningful interpretation of the results, the method used for this paper is to refer to primary data which is data collected through a questionnaire with 400 respondents, and secondary data such as government reports, journals, and academic resources. The result of this research will be useful both as a comparative and as an example of best practices for public transportation services to enhance reliability, upgrade facilities, improve customer service, increase safety measures, and expand service coverage, ultimately aiming to improve public perception and satisfaction of the public transportation services in Penang. The study suggested some recommendations that would help achieve the goal of an ideal public transportation system in Malaysia. Finally, our research results of the regression indicated that our research hypothesis supports the variables of Responsiveness, accessibility, safety, and security