Public bus passenger demographic and travel characteristics a study of public bus passenger profile in Kota Bharu, Kelantan

Public transportation system in Malaysia is way below the standard of other developed countries; take Klang Valley for example, the modal share of public transport users in 2010 is only 17% compared to around 60% in Singapore and 89% in Hong Kong. If the public transport is optimally utilized, the users will realize that the service is cheaper, safer, faster, and generally better than driving personal cars. This paper is an extract from a case study research on assessing the reliability of public bus performance in Kota Bharu, Kelantan where on board surveys are conducted to evaluate the passengers´ demographics and travel characteristics. The return rate for the survey is 24% (180 respondents). The results confirmed that the passengers of city bus in Kota Bharu are not satisfied with the service provided, mainly due to lack of punctuality (60.5%) and low in frequency (67.7%). The findings will help improve the public bus quality of service in Kota Bharu, so that it will achieve desired standard.