Abstract
In many countries, dial-a-ride services are provided by public authorities to elderly and handicapped people who cannot use regular transit. Cost minimization is key to running these services, but one can observe a growing interest in quality measurement and improvement. A first step in improving quality is to define a quality measurement scale specific to dial-a-ride services. A second step is to incorporate quality measurements in mathematical models that serve as a basis for optimization algorithms. To this end, an extensive survey of dial-a-ride users was conducted in Longueuil, the largest suburb of Montreal, Canada. This paper describes the steps of the survey and presents its main conclusions: (1) 56 attributes were identified based on interviews, (2) the questionnaire developed has proved to be reliable and valid, (3) an exploratory factor analysis allowed us to determine 13 dimensions of quality in dial-a-ride services, (4) the most important criteria for users were identified, and (5) population segmenting variables by which subgroups of users can be categorized were also determined. Managerial implications of our results are also discussed.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council under grants 227837-09 and 39682-10. This support is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also due to the referees for their valuable comments.
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Appendix: Questionnaire
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Paquette, J., Bellavance, F., Cordeau, JF. et al. Measuring quality of service in dial-a-ride operations: the case of a Canadian city. Transportation 39, 539–564 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-011-9375-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-011-9375-4