Assessment of differences in service quality of Tehran and Milan metro system services

(1)

i

POLITECNICO DI MILANO

Scuola di Ingegneria dei Sistemi POLO TERRITORIALE DI COMO

Master of Science in

Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering

Assessment of differences in service quality of Tehran and Milan metro system services

Supervisor: Prof. Alessandro Brun

Master Graduation Thesis by: Sheebhangi Biswas 778390, Mona Yoosefi 787193

(2)

ii

Acknowledgements

We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and appreciation to our Professor and Supervisor Mr. Alessandro Brun. It was never possible without his support to have cleared this thesis successfully. You were a great mentor and supporter, we thank you from our heart to the knowledge you shared and your guidance. We were at first very much in dilemma about the thesis as to which subject would be perfect but after discussing this topic and observing your interest in the topic made the ways clear for us to understand the depth of problems in Service quality in modern life.

We would also like to thank our family who were always there with us during the stress and tiresome of the research work. The support they have provided was beyond any words. Special thanks to Sudip Srakar for his supportive presence during this time.

We also like to thank POLITECNICO di MILANO, for giving this opportunity to be part of this prestigious University and sharing the awesome knowledge of professional studies. It was a great experience for us, we being International students could not have asked for more support than they have provided.

Also we would like to thank our friends who were always there during the research work, their support and confidence on us has always helped us to be positive throughout the research studies.

Great thanks go to Amirhossein Gharaati for his kindly support and help.

Italy, Como- April, 2015

(3)

iii

In every country the biggest medium of earning is done with the help of the transportation sector. It‟s important for tourism, emergencies, public service and also describes the city limits for any region. Every nation has their ancient resemblance on the transportation sector. There are different modes of transport which needs particular safety measures to make them secure for their passengers and also restricts the amount of accidents. Among all the transportation sectors, Metro services are the mostly used in any country. In Tehran which is a capital of Iran has the metro services which are highly developed, yet the government is still making moves to make it the best in the world.

Tehran metro services carries more than two million passengers per day making it a busiest medium of transport in the country. Similarly Milan metro is the busiest and mostly used medium of transport for the Fashion city of Italy.

A combination of modern art and traditional Persian art is prominent in every station of the Tehran Metro. At present the metro has eight lines which is not enough for the population and the limits of the city. On the contrary every station in Milan is designed with modern looks and has glimpse of traditions in Italy.

The passenger‟s safety, service promised and the expectation from the Metro is very important for understanding the amount of measures needed to be taken to improve the service quality of Tehran and Milan Metro services.

The Municipality of Tehran has proposed a plan to extend the metro services by upgrading the infrastructure and increasing the number of stations to the suburban links by 2025. Tehran Metro hosts three million daily journeys, but the potential capacity could be much more: upon successful completion of the metro expansion plan, capacity on the network will increase to over nine million trips per day. It is estimated that it will cut down about 2 billion liters of petrol and diesel per year.

The Earnings for this sector is from the passengers, hence Passengers should be made to feel that they are welcome, not a service which is just there for transporting or moving people from one place to another.

To improve the tourism, to increase the GDP of the country and to be a leader in this sector, the Level of quality service has to be increased.

The expectations of today‟s travelers are ever more demanding: urbanites are a mobile and hyper-connected community. With the evolution from conventional mobile phones to smart devices (phone, tablets, etc.), people expect uninterrupted and fast broadband connection wherever they are even when travelling in underground metros. Internet connectivity is thus becoming a subject of paramount importance for the attractiveness and competitiveness of metros.

To measure the service quality of the metro services, we decided to use the SERVQUAL method, as it is the most preferred standard in the service sector. We decided to make a

(7)

vii

questionnaire and publish it over the social media and the metro stations in Tehran and Milan. The questionnaire included first the satisfaction the travelers achieved in their country, following questions were the unsatisfied factors. Checking from all the people in the social media on international forum, we tried to reflect the differences Tehran and Milan metro services “DO have” and “Don‟t have”.

This study will reflect on the general services promised and the practical services provided. The SERVQUAL questionnaire collected some demographic information including gender, age, education, occupation status, income, the length of using metro and the frequency of using metro.

Respondents were asked to rank the service quality of both Tehran and Milan metro systems based on 5‐point Likert from Strongly Agree (5) to Strongly Disagree (1).

These questions were assessed on the basis of tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.

In the last chapter recommendations were offered for those managements that are in charge for the metro systems in Tehran and Milan in order to minimize the SERVQUAL gap that may results in improving the services offered to the passengers.

Keyword: Service quality, SERVQUAL model, Passenger‟s expectation and perception,

(8)

viii

List of Figures

Figure 2.1 Milan Metro, source Google Images………15

Figure 3.1 Technical and Functional Quality model (Groonroos,1984)…………...25

Figure 3.2 Gap Model (Parasuraman et.al 1985)………..26

Figure 3.3 Extended Model of Service Quality (Zeithamal et. al 1988)………..27

Figure 3.4 Synthesized Model of Service Quality(Brogowicz et.al 1990)………..28

Figure 3.5 Performance only Model (Dabholkar, 1996)………..30

Figure 3.6 Quality, Customer Value and Customer Satisfaction Model(Oh ,1999)…...31

Figure 3.7 Antecedents and Mediator Model (Dabholkar et al,2000)……….31

Figure 3.8 Continuum of Perceived Service Quality (Parasuraman, 1990)………..33

Figure 3.9 the Urban Public Transport Quality Loop,(Quattro,TCRP 2010)…………..38

Figure 3.10 Frameworks for Measuring Service Quality in Public Transportation……...47

Figure 5.1 SERVQUAL Scores……….73

Figure 5.2 SERVQUAL Gaps of Five Attributes……….76

Figure 5.3 Average Scores of Gender………78

Figure 5.4 Average Scores for Age………81

Figure 5.5 Average Scores for Education………..83

Figure 5.6 Average Scores for Jobs………86

Figure 5.7 Average Scores for Income………88

Figure 5.8 Average Scores of Use Time………..91

Figure 5.9 Average Score for Use Frequency……….93

Figure 5.10 Servqual Scores,M………103

Figure 5.11 Servqual Gap of Five Attributes,M………..105

Figure 5.12 Servqual Scores by difference between five Dimensions……….106

Figure 5.13 Average Scores of Gender,M………..108

(9)

ix

Figure 5.15 Average Scores of Employment,M……….111

Figure 5.16 Average scores of Income,M………..114

Figure 5.17 Average Scores of Education………...…117

Figure 5.18 Average scores of Using Metro………119

Figure 5.19 Average Scores of Frequency of Using Metro………....121

Figure 6.1 The Expectation and Perceptions of 22 Statements………..126

Figure 6.2 The Expectations and Perception Scores of 22 Statements, Milan……...132

Figure 6.3 Differences Between Five Dimensions in Milan………...140

Figure 6.4 Differences Between Five Dimensions in Tehran………...140

Figure 6.5 Distributions of Views in Tehran and Milan……….141

Figure 6.6 Comparisons of Servqual Scores in Milan and Tehran……….141

Figure 7.1 Relationships Between Customer and Satisfaction………...145

Figure 7.2 The Model………..146

Figure 7.3 Block Diagram ………..148

List of tables

Table 2.1 Iran Transportation Ranking………5

Table 2.2 Milan Metro Lines………..13

Table 2.3 Tehran and World Metro Systems………..18

Table 3.1 Different Dimensions Used in the Public Transport Sector………....35

Table 3.2 Eight Attributes of Service Quality as Defined by EN 13816………38

Table 3.3 Top Ten Service Quality Indicators Measured by Comet and Nova Metros..43

Table 3.4 Service Quality Measurement Areas by Comet and Nova Metros…………..45

(10)

x

Table 4.2 Total Variance Explained………56

Table 4.3 factor Correlation Matrix……….57

Table 4.4 Pattern Matrix……….….58

Table 4.5 Characteristics of Survey……….…59

Table 5.1 Demographic profile of Respondents(N=161)………64

Table 5.2 Descriptive Statistics Perceptions………...65

Table 5.3 Descriptive Statistics Expectations………...66

Table 5.4 Paired Sample Statistics………67

Table 5.5 Paired Sample Correlations………...67

Table 5.6 Paired Sample Test………....68

Table 5.7 Five Classes and their SERVQUAL Scores………...69

Table 5.8 Five Highest Expectations………..…..70

Table 5.9 Five Lowest Expectations………....71

Table 5.10 Five Highest Perceptions………71

Table 5.11 Five Lowest Perceptions………71

Table 5.12 Five Largest Differences………....72

Table 5.13 Five Smallest Differences………...72

Table 5.14 Paired Sample Statistics………..73

Table 5.15 Paired Sample Correlations……….74

Table 5.16 Paired Sample Test……….74

Table 5.17 Description of Gender………....76

Table 5.18 Anova of Gender………....77

Table 5.19 Description of Age………...79

Table 5.20 Anova of Age……….79

Table 5.21 Description of Education………....81

Table 5.22 Anova of Education………82

(11)

xi

Table 5.24 Anova of Jobs………..85

Table 5.25 Descriptive of Income……….86

Table 5.26 Anova of Income……….87

Table 5.27 Descriptive of Use time………...89

Table 5.28 Anova of Use time………...90

Table 5.29 Descriptive of Use Frequency………..92

Table 5.30 Anova of Use Frequency……….92

Table 5.31 Demographic Profile of Respondents,N=142,Milan………..95

Table 5.32 Statistics of Perceptions of the Passengers,N=142………...96

Table 5.33 Describing statistics of Expectations 142 respondents………97

Table 5.34 paired Sample Statistics,M………..98

Table 5.35 Paired Sample Correlations,M……….98

Table 5.36 paired Sample Test,M………..…98

Table 5.37 five Classes and their Servqual Scores,M………...99

Table 5.38 Five Highest Expectations, M……….101

Table 5.39 Five Lowest Expectations………..….101

Table 5.40 Five Highest Perceptions,M………...101

Table 5.41 Five Lowest Perceptions,M………...101

Table 5.42 Five Largest Differences,M………..102

Table 5.43 Five Lowest Differences,M………..102

Table 5.44 Paired Sample Statistics,M………...….103

Table 5.45 Paired Sample Correlations,M………..104

Table 5.46 Paired Sample Test,M………...104

Table 5.47 Descriptive of Gender,M………..107

Table 5.48 Anova test on Gender,M………..107

Table 5.49 Descriptive of age……….109

(12)

xii

Table 5.51 Descriptive of Employments Status,M………..112

Table 5.52 Anova test on Employment Status,M………113

Table 5.53 Descriptive of Income Status,M………115

Table 5.54 Anova test for Income Status,M………..……..116

Table 5.55 Descriptive of Education,M………..117

Table 5.56 Anova test for Education,M……….….118

Table 5.57 Descriptive of Using Metro………120

Table 5.58 Anova test on Using Metro,M………..121

Table 5.59 Descriptive of Frequency of Using Metro……….122

Table 5.60 Anova test on Frequency of Using Metro……….…123

Table 6.1 Various General Factors Noticed………142

Table 7.1 Structural Equations Model………147

Table 7.2 Second Order Factor Model……….…..147

Table 9.1 Various Features Recognized as Necessary in two Systems………..152

(13)

1

Chapter 1 Introduction

Rapid urbanization and motorization around the world presents innumerable challenges to different citizens from around the world. The increased level of using private vehicle instead of public transportation has serious impact on environment, congestion and pollution. However the concern in the western world focuses on the battle with automobiles, the developing countries in the Gulf, such as Qatar, Tehran, Doha, Abu Dhabi face the dilemma of serving tremendous growth in the travel demand constrained by limited land and inferior infrastructure.

Metro towns in Iran especially the old ones are facing acute traffic and transportation problems that leads to face with gigantic problem which may disable them to cope with. The population in towns is regularly increasing but the road area especially in the existing part of the cities making the situation still difficult by increasing the congestion in central and the other important part of cities. . In Europe according to (Molle, 1994) [1], the Member countries in interest of their own economy in the transport sector, delayed to make a common Transport policy for a long time. After which Treaty of Rome was laid down. There were also predictions that the transport of goods will expand by 20% within the period 2000-2020,with road transport holding big share(Commission, 2006) [2] . According to (Sitran, 2007) [3] Organization CORTE controls the enforcement practices within EU/non-EU members in regards to the implementation of new technologies in the work of enforcement officers throughout Europe.The level of crisis is having a great take on every industry including Transportation in Milan. Milan metro is the safest way to travel but the unexpected frequent strikes makes it more annoying. This does not only affects the people but also the financial growth of Italian transportation system. In Tehran, Mass transportation systems are generally neglected or do not provide regular, punctual and desired quality of services there by people using private vehicles, which leads to extreme congestion, environment problems and wasting time. In metro cities there are about 15% car users and as 75% of the transport budget is used for broadening roads, which benefits private vehicle and not the mass transportation system.

This can be extended with the help of the Metro Train services in the countries and with efficient facilities to attract passengers and also tourism. A rail based metro has a high carrying capacity and is non–polluting. It uses about one-fifth energy per passenger-km compared to a road based system. Moreover, it is fast, reliable, safe and comfortable to commuters.

The Metro line must attract sufficient commuters especially those depending extensively on private cars, therefore the new service must be attractive with a reasonable level of service to attract large numbers of car users to switch to the new Metro, like in Moscow, the metro has a

(14)

2

virtual library where of Russian art and literature, commuters can download the famous Russian books for free in the train platforms (Katie Davis, Blog,2014) [4].

This is something that happened only if an obvious view of the user‟s needs and expectations. The phenomenal advancements in the fields of electronic & software systems have enabled metro signaling to develop modern train protection, controlling systems and signaling plays a major role in their ability to achieve these aims. Tehran Metro has taken care to introduce all the modern trends in Metro rail signaling, and accordingly has gone ahead with modern Communication Based Train Control signaling system, which is the first one of its kind in the Middle East.

The goal of this survey is providing a comprehensive overview that strives to identify and quantify the significant factors affecting commuters‟ perspectives, preferences and tendencies to use this new metro network for their daily trips in the future.

1.1 Aim of this study

The Aim of this Thesis is to understand the lacking perspectives of the services rendered in Tehran metro Vs. Milan metro. It does have the required facilities but to compete in the global world and to increase the satisfaction level of the passengers it’s important to focus on the Quality of service rendered to passengers in terms of not only punctuality, security but also sustainable good service, global picture of advancement in the subway services, and unexpected guidance to safe travelling directions to be included s in the metro As mentioned by(Low N, Gleeson B, 2003) [5] in most cases, the high priority needs to be given to customer orientation and localized needs while planning services to be offered.

1.2 The structure of the Thesis

As we go through the Thesis we will see that each chapter of thesis is having an objective to clear, which also refers to the reason we selected the comparison of Metro services between Milan and Tehran as a main subject. Each chapter is an approaching step to the ongoing questions on the service quality of the Subway services around Milan and Tehran.

Chapter 2 presents the description of the metro system around the world and also the comparison of Tehran and Milan metro services with the other countries. It gives an idea of what are the latest improvements different countries are trying to make in the Metro system to make it more efficient for the users.

Chapter 3 will explain the facts related to the Tehran and Milan Metro services. It will drive through the Literature review which will have the details of all the data, regarding the service

(15)

3

quality in Tehran and Milan Metro services. The gaps being an important factor will also be discussed in this chapter to signify the main reasons in the absence of the expected quality of service.

Chapter 4 will have the details of the Concept of Service quality, reason which makes SERVQUAL is important in study of service quality and data based on which the questionnaire is designed and also the methods obtained during the research.

Chapter 5 presents the results of the study, answers of the research and also analysis the whole concept.

Chapter 6 will be following the discussions made on the previous chapters.

Chapter 7 is about the model proposed based on the results of analysis of five dimensions of service quality.

Chapter 8 discusses about the point of concern and problems from the management of the Metro system and also positives and negative views of Passengers and management which will be accompanied by the individual interactions.

Chapter 9 contains the conclusion of the thesis and also the recommendations of the future thesis work on this concept. It will guide the future researcher on the betterment of the services in the Subway to create a best and effective Transportation system.

(16)

4

Chapter 2 Transportation services in Iran and Italy

2.1 Historical debates about Iran and Italy transportation

Iran:

The transportation sector of Iran is briefly discussed in this chapter to explain the different modes and the facilities provided by each one of them. It also explains the role of Government in the development of the transportation and laws which can upgrade them. Transportation issues in Iran have always been an unsolved issue. The Location of Iran is a connection of Orient and Occident, and provides tremendous opportunities to traders and also increases the economic and socio-cultural interaction. The Silk Road which passes from the Iranian territory is one of the famous routes for ancient traders.

Studies carried out by Roman Girshman (famous archeologist); show that there have been three major trade routes under Ashkanian kings:  

 A road running from Estakhr to Kerman, Kermania and Sistan, which continued on to India;

 A road starting on the shores of the Persian Gulf, which reached Solukiyeh along the banks of Tigris River and continued to Dora, a trade hub in Syria, before reaching the coasts in Lebanon. From there, freighters carried goods to Greece. In this way, there was a continuous trade route from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea;  

 The Solukiyeh Road (Tisfun) which crossed Ekabatan and Damghan (Sad Darvazeh) before reaching Marv in Turkistan and moving on to China.

In 1922 a military air transport office was built.

In 1935 a department of port and state rail roads were established. In 1949 the General Department of civil aviation was built. In 1960 Iran Air was established.

As the time passed Iran continued to develop all its modes of transport and then came the establishment of Metro services. In the year 1975 the law of Tehran Urban & Suburban

(17)

5

Railway Company (Metro) establishment was ratified. Finally in the year 1976 Metro construction studies and executive jobs were begun.

Table 2-1 Iran Transportation Ranking

(Source: www.wikipedia.org, Last Access: Jan. 2015.)

Name Rank Out

of Source Notes Year

Merchant

marine capacity 31 148

CIA World

Factbook

Iran owns a total of 188 ships of which 73 are Iranian flagged ships & 115 ships sail with foreign flags plus one additional foreign (UAE) owned ship sailing with Iranian flag; More info: Iran Shipping Lines; Iran also has a fleet of 46 marine tankers consisting of 28 VLCC, 9 Suezmax, 5 Aframax, 3 chemical vessels and a single LPG tanker; The total number of tankers is to be increased to 74 by 2013 and to more than 80 by 2015.; National Iranian Tanker Company was the world's fifth largest tanker operator with 43 ships in 2010 & is expected to become the world's third largest tanker company with 74 ships in 2013 2008 Rail transport network size 21 151 International Union of Railways

Total rail network length of 11,106 km; More info: Iran railways 2008 Road network size 29 191 CIA World Factbook

Total road network length of

172,927 km 2006

Total length of

pipelines 8 120

CIA World

Factbook

Total pipeline length of 36,509 km; condensate 7 km; condensate/gas 397 km; gas 19,161 km; liquid petroleum

(18)

6

gas 570 km; oil 8,438 km; refined products 7,936 km; Iran ranks 4th worldwide by natural gas pipeline length having 32,000 km of gas pipelines in 2010 Iran plans to have 70,000 km of natural gas pipelines by 2025 Length of Liquid Petroleum Gas Pipelines 6 17 CIA World Factbook 570 km of LPG pipelines 2006 Length of Oil Pipelines 6 97 CIA World

Factbook 8,256 km of oil pipelines 2006

Rapid transit systems 20 53 Total rapid transit systems statistics by country 120.1 km of rapid transit

network length with 64 stations 2002

Vehicles per capita 56 144 List of countries by vehicles per capita 175 automobiles per 1000 people in addition to 110 motorbikes per 1000 people; More info: Automotive industry in Iran & List of international vehicle registration codes 2010 Waterways length 70 109 CIA World Factbook 850 km of waterways 2008 Air transport,

freight 59 176 World Bank

98.22 million tonnes-km/Year airlifted 2005 Air transport, passengers carried 26 177 World Bank 12,708,350 Air

passengers/Year; More info: Countries with the most fatal civil airliner accidents

2005

Number of

airports 26 251

CIA World

Factbook 331 Operational airports 2007 Number of 14 World CIA World 19 Operational heliports 2010

(19)

7 heliports Factbook Rail usage by Annual Passenger-Km Per Capita 26 32 International Union of Railways

Ranked among countries with more than 5 billion km/year; Iran: 180 passenger-km Per Capita/Year 2006 Rail usage by annual Billion Tonne-Kilometers/Year 20 32 International Union of Railways

Ranked among countries with more than 10 billion tonne-kilometers; Iran: 20.5 billion tonne-kilometers 2006 Metro systems by annual passenger rides 18 145 Tehran Metro

622.2 million passenger rides in 2010; Tehran Metro is the largest and busiest metro system in South Asia and the second largest and busiest in middle east 2010 Total number of Airports with paved runways 20 227 CIA World Factbook

129 Operational airports with

paved runways 2007 Number of airports with paved runways, length: over 3047 meters 4 161 CIA World Factbook

40 Airport runways with length

of over 3047 m 2007 Gasoline (Petrol) consumption by transport sector 10 194 United Nations

Annual gasoline (petrol) consumption of 17,854,000 tonnes by vehicles

2005

Jet fuel bunker

capacity 21 158 United Nations

National jet fuel bunker

capacity of 850,000 tonnes 2005 Traffic related deaths per capita 11 World List of countries by traffic-related death rate / Speed‟s law / Epidemiology of motor vehicle collisions / Traffic injuries in 35.8 people per 100,000 of population die in traffic accidents yearly; Total annual deaths of 22,918 and 685,000 injured according to WHO report 2009; Leading cause of premature death & disability in Iran; 1.3 million potential life-years lost annually; Male to

(20)

8

Iran female death ratio of 5 to 1; Most common causes: not wearing seat belt, tailgating, over-speeding, wrong overtakes, not wearing helmets, rapid changing of lanes, not signaling; Property damages worth more than $18 billion per year due to vehicle collisions; More info: Car accidents in Iran, Graph comparisons of Iran & Rapid motorization & traffic injuries in Iran & Statistical comparison of travel safety

Number of Natural Gas Vehicles by Country 1 World Worldwide NGV Statistics

Iran has the world's largest fleet of vehicles running on CNG at 2.86 million NGVs and 1,800 fueling stations by the end of 2011; Iran is also the world's fastest growing NGV market By end of 2011, Iran's refueling stations had a total of 10,656 gas dispensers with installed cumulative capacity of 1.93 million cubic meters per hour & supplying more than 17 million cubic meters of gas per day to NGV's; The number of fueling stations is to increase to 2,500 by the end of 2012 and to more than 3,000 in 2013

2011

Italy:

Travelling in Europe is blissful. It‟s very different from Asia, like travelling between countries in Europe is not different from travelling in same country. In Europe there are different regulations and research been done on the transportation policies, the two authors(Boylaud, Nicoletti. G , 2001)[6], explain the different regulatory approaches in the industry and the competition inside the sector and performance of road haulage. The

(21)

9

Travelers can enjoy the beautiful scenarios without a hitch, thanks to the great transportation medium they handle.

In Europe all the major cities have good connections through Trains. Passengers are expected to have all the prior info about the exact stops they need and the types of trains which actually effects the time of travel. It advisable to book tickets in advance and for overnight trains requires reserving couchettes, sleeping cabins or reclining seats. The conditions for the rail pass holders are different as they exempted from the automatic reservation, they have to reserve the seats by extra payment. The real advantage of the discounts can be enjoyed if tickets booked couple of months ago. The tickets go fairly cheap but need to be very attentive to understand the exact stops of the trains. The language always stands a very good criteria, as most of the information in the stations like different routes of trains, the specialty, always reminds of the patriotism of that countrymen. However some information like Departure/Arrival times, destinations etc. are translated in English. All the facilities can be enjoyed with one thing to be remembered to always check the new sites while travelling, since changes are made in most cities depending upon the season.

Considering Milan as the next biggest Business hub after Rome in Italy, it consists of different reliable modes of transport for people. Its connectivity to the neighboring cities with the best modes of transport like Bus, Train makes it easier for foreigners to visit the historical and most popular Fashion city in world. It has wide range of public transport network internally like Metro, The tram, the suburban railways, Taxi, Bus and innovative style like CAR and BIKE sharing.

The transportation services in Milan started in the year 1801 with Horse carriages as the first public transport.

In the year 1805 international services were started following the growing needs of trade and passengers.

The bus line opened in the year 1827 and the First train was to Monza in1840.

Today Transportation services in Milan consists of Metro, Trams, buses and Suburban Rail making it very easy for all the passengers to reach any part of the city in short time. All the information will be readily available in ATM website with English and Italian language.

2.2 Different modes of transport

The transportation in Iran is inexpensive because of the subsidization in the gasoline price. In 2008 there were tremendous job opportunities created in the transportation sector which marked 9% of GDP.

(22)

10

According to some leading websites like Hotel club.com the only best transport services are served by 7 countries that is Montreal, Canada; Melbourne, Australia; Seoul, South Korea; London, UK, Paris, France; Amsterdam, Netherlands Hong Kong, China.

This explains that Iran has to expand its services for the betterment of its passengers.

2.2.1 Different Transportation in Iran

As Iran has many forms of reaching the city limits and the country limits. Over the years it has created a great system for its people to travel easily.

RAILWAYS:

Some 33 million tons of goods and 29 million passengers are transported annually by the rail transportation network, accounting for 9 percent and 11 percent of the whole transportations in Iran (2011). In 2009, According to the Ministry of Road and Transportation of Iran, €17 billion in foreign investment in rail industry have been secured

International links to many countries:  Links to Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan

 Link to Turkey, and International Standard Gauge route to Europe  Link to Pakistan

ROADWAYS:

The area of roadways in Iran is 172,927 kms. The roadways of Iran is well connected to other nearby countries for the trade reason and also has good reasons to believe for the tourists. It has been developed so far to be the best among the Arabs, but still the number of accidents are not coped well with reference to other countries.

WATERWAYS:

It‟s having a range of 850 kms. This not so developed part as it‟s not been important for the government as an issue.

(23)

11 AIRWAYS:

Iran implements a unique air taxi service in the country. The helicopter taxis only work via the Tabriz- Aras economic zone, and in the future it is planned to implement the service in Iran‟s capital Tehran as well. Iranian Revolution in February 1979, Iran Air began to reorganize its international operations, discontinuing service to a range of foreign destinations due to the new political policies.

2.2.2 Different Range of Transportation in Italy

Italy is a historical Place in Europe, which makes it difficult to acquire permission for demolishing any building and also needs attention towards creating new roads and building renovations. In spite of narrow roads and mountains, it has succeeded in connecting the cities with good modes of transport.

RAILWAYS:

The railway system in Italy is reliable, with good range of different trains. The prices differ for different ranges. The length of Italian railway is 19,394km which is been divided to Electrified 11,322kma and the rest 18,071km is standard gauge. The company Ferrovie dello Stato is the major owner of the Italian road network. The Trenitalia is the passenger train which connects Italy to other countries like Austria, France etc. According to (Andr ́e Platzer, Jan-David Quesel, 2009) [7] ETCS with different configurations does safety control for trains in Europe, but it‟s safe only for some conditions externally.

There are different types of trains like:

Alta Velocita: It‟s the fastest and Expensive train and passengers need to buy the tickets in advance always.

Eurostar: It connects various cities of Italy in no time but its next fastest train after Alta Velocita. It requires passengers to book tickets in advance and also have their seats reserved. Intercity: It runs between main cities in Italy, although it‟s not that fast as Alta Velocita and Eurostar yet it‟s good to make reservations during festivity.

Diretto, Regionale, and InterRegionale (IR): it‟s good for short journeys, they mainly run between small and big cities. They are inexpensive but includes many stops. The infrastructure is also not impressive.

ROADWAYS:

Italy is a member of European Union, hence it‟s well connected to other countries in Europe via Roadways. The Roads of Italy are very narrow, yet it has 6,700 km of motorways out of

(24)

12

paved roads ranging up to 487,700km. . According to ECR(Euro control Route), which takes care of the transportation of goods and people in Europe, Italy is a prominent member in the ECR (2009b) [8] and has to abide the EU legislation of road transport.

WATERWAYS:

One of the major attractions in Italy are the Beaches which has good boats and also Ferries which gives good tour of the Lakes.

AIRWAYS:

There are many airports in Italy, and has good services of Flights to other countries.

2.3 History of metro services

A subway service (Metro service) sometimes decides the flexibility of the countries transportation. The first Subway services were started in London in the year 1890.

There are many synonyms to the names of Subway service (Metro), like Tube in London, Heavy rail in North America. The biggest challenge to other transport system compared to Subway services is traffic.

According to the articles published in year 2013 from CNN Travel [9], Some metro systems are very unique compared to the other systems like:

 Copenhagen metro runs 24 hours a day but driverless. Following is small system from Sao Paulo Metro regardless of being 74 kms of track it carries more than 3.3 million passengers per day.

 On aspects of pollution Montreal has grabbed the best feature by having one of the lowest carbon footprints for metro networks in the world.

 Seoul is only Metro system with cell phone service and Wi-Fi and added service in every subway trains are outfitted with TV‟s and climate control.

 Singapore is the most Energy efficient and innovative Technology.

 Paris is owns one of the highest number of stations in Subway services with 245 stations on 14 lines.

 Madrid being the sixth largest metro system in the world, has huge space in the subway station the witness being Fitness festival hosted in year 2011.

(25)

13

2.4 Metro services in Iran and Italy

2.4.1 Iran metro services

The metro services in Iran are mainly functioning in two cities Tehran and Mashhad.

Tehran is the first metro services in the country which was constructed after lot of debates and discussion. Mashhad Metro is a light rail system operating in the holy city of Mashhad, in the Razavi Khorasan province of Iran. It‟s the second highly populated city in Iran. The first phase (line) of the metro has been exploited in 21 Feb 2011 with 19 km length and 22 stations and will be connected to Mashhad International Airport. Tehran metro is the prominent subway services in Iran. The construction of Tehran metro plan was initiated before the Iranian Revolution in 1970. A French company began the construction in the year 1978 but due to the Iranian revolution and Iran-Iraq war this construction was shelved for a while. Finally the construction began in the year1985.

2.4.2 Tehran metro services

The system consists of four operational metro lines (and a fifth regional rail line), with construction begun on a further two lines in 2007. According to Wikipedia, in 2010 more than 480 million trips were made on Tehran metro.

There is plan for further expansion which needs an investment of $2billion from china. Tehran initially planned to build 430 kms of metro line with 256 stations at a cost of $18billion. But as the sanctions began to bite only 261kms and 175 stations were approved. The third phase of the two lines about 102 km and 68 stations is due to be completed by 2015, if financing is secured.

Currently Tehran metro carries more than 3 million passengers per day. In Feb 2013, Tehran mayor Mohammad Qalibaf said the municipality plans to increase the number of passengers to 10 million per day by 2018.

2.4.3 Milan Metro services

Table 2.2 Milan Metro Lines

(Source: www.wikipedia.org, Last Access: Jan. 2015.)

(26)

14

M1 RhoFiera/Bisceglie- Sesto

Primo Maggio

1964 38

M2 Assago Milanofiori Forum / Abbiategrasso

-

Cologno Nord / Gessate

1969 35

M3 Comasina-San Donato 1990 21

M4 Porta Garibaldi-Bignami 2013 9

Milan is one of the important cities in Italy, its connections to the end of the cities are well maintained by the Metro system making it longest in Italy. Following other European countries first project of Subway started in the year 1914, which practically implemented in 1938 but it was effected by the crisis during WORLD WAR II. The company Metropolitana Milanese was founded in 1955 for the construction of the Subways. In the year 1964 first line opened between Lotto and Sesto Marelli. The lines increased as the time passed and it extended to different corners of the city. Today there are 5 lines which are named as M1,M2, M3, and M5 (Lilac ) all of them are differentiated with different colors and have intersections in main areas of the city like Duomo, Cadorna, Centrale, Zara, Loreto and Garibaldi.

The lines of Metro run underground except the north line2 and Line 2 Assago. The lines of Milan Metro consists of 75 stations which is 80% of the city. The best part is all the metro services has good information centers about the connectivity of Bus lines, Trams and also Suburban rail.

(27)

15 Figure 2.1 Milan metro, Source: Google Images

2.5 Facilities in Tehran Metro and Milan Metro

2.5.1 Tehran

Every metro station has been designed with the combination of the modern and the traditional Persian art. To reduce the congestion during the rush-hour the Tehran Metro company have added 80 new wagons to the system in September 2012 to ease transportation. Iran is able to produce its need in wagons and trains independently. The Metro uses equipment manufactured by a wide range of international companies: Double-deck passenger cars for the Tehran-Karaj regional line are supplied by CRV (although some trains are from SEGC) via CNTIC and assembled by the Wagon Pars factory in Arak.

Security

The security of Tehran metro is equipped with the SCADA, centralized traffic control (CTC), and Automatic Train stop. The security personals are present on every station to make sure to grab the suspected culprits. There are many escalators and elevators made for the improvement in the safety of the personal and kids.

(28)

16 Ticket Service

The services are fast and the passenger can take a monthly ticket to travel in the metro. The validating machines are traditional and modern services. There are some machines where u can just scan the ticket (modern), also ticket can be inserted for any person not comfortable or in doubt with the scanning. This facility is available in all the stations.

Price

The ticket price for each journey is 1200 IRR, which is $0.10 irrespective to distance travelled. Special relaxation is provided to older people who can travel for free. This service can be extended to the teenagers.

Privileges

As mentioned above one of the privileges to the older passengers is of free travel. The other is on all the Metro of Tehran first and the half of the second and last and half of the next-to-last carriages are reserved for women who do not wish to ride with men in the same car. However women can still ride the other cars with any

Metro stations

The stations are many as the Metro consists of 8 line, out of which 5 of them are currently functioning.

Line comprises of 31 stations, Line 2 has 22 stations, Line 4 has 5 stations and Line 5 has 11 stations. All the stations are located near to the next mode of transport like BUS or Railways.

2.5.2 Milan

Tickets

The ticket services are provided in the Tabacchi stores and also in the train stations. The machines in the stations are user friendly, also equipped with the service of weekly, monthly subscriptions in different languages making it easier for Foreigners. It‟s advisable for foreigners to make Rail passes as they are cheaper and doesn‟t require to stay in queues for tickets.

(29)

17 Price

The Ticket services have different range:

Like 1.50€ for 90mints, 4.50€ for 24hrs, 8.25€ for 48 hrs. and 13.80€ for10 tickets of 90mins. Also there is a special discount for people aged above 60 and also for kids.

As Technology has its presence in every sector, Seasonal paper tickets have been replaced with Itinero smart card in 2007. The era of new card like (oyster card in London) started in 2010 which is rechargeable called RicaricaMi.

Information

All the stations have good information providers like LED screens with arrival time, waiting time and destinations mentioned. The trains are well equipped with the stations names and the connections provided above the doors. New trains also have LCD screens, and Announcements are not only in Italian but in English too. The strikes are also informed in priority. In case of emergencies the announcements are made clear to take the alternative mode of transport.

Security

All stations are equipped with the toll gates where a person without ticket cannot enter, cameras for vigilance. In Big stations there are police officers to control the suspected people, and unexpected incidents. At time of rush the Police Officers are attentive as many Illegal transactions are more likely to happen.

Safety

According to the Milan Metro firm [10], the safety measures are guaranteed with:

 The railway tracks are installed with the safety rail to control the unwanted derailment of the trains.

 The risk of fire is also management by the fire control system.

 The Human error possibilities exists in every service sector, this also been organized to be checked constantly by the automatic signaling system auto detect the speed of the trains, position and also safe operation.

 The central control system takes the charge of monitoring the operations room in the emergency of the whole metro line.

(30)

18 Hospitality

The stations are not only provided with enough seating arrangements but with ample of Bars and stores. The Vendor machines are controlled every day and the quality of food served is unquestionable. The fair amount of people travelling through Metro makes it clear it needs to be clean. The depression can be seen only in untidy Toilets and dirty subs.

2.6 Tehran and world metro system

There are certain measures taken by the Tehran metro to reach the standard of the world‟s best system with all the efforts focusing on Passengers satisfaction and the latest technology. Colors: white – best, orange- worst, Tehran is used for the color yellow.

Table 2.3 Tehran and World metro system

(Source: www.tehranmetro.com, Last Access: Jan. 2015.)

Rank City Country Network Length Index

1 Shanghai China 423

20 Tehran Iran 120

106 Valencia Venezuela 6.2

Rank City Country Number of Passengers per

day Index

1 Tokyo Japan 8,700,000

15 Tehran Iran 1,900,000

106 Cleveland America 13,700

Rank City Country Number of Passengers per

kilometers Index

1 Cairo Egypt 29300

26 Tehran Iran 15830

106 Cleveland America 441

(31)

19

1 New York America 468

33 Tehran Iran 70

106 Kazan Russia 7

Rank City Country Ticket Price Index (Euro)

1 Pyongyang North Korea 0.02

3 Tehran Iran 0.12

106 Yokohama japan 4.44

Summary

In this chapter we explained different types of transportations in Iran and Italy. Providing an overview of what facilities are different or similar in Tehran and Milan Metro system. The main service of Metro were same, but did have an impact of some positive prospects in Milan which did not stand good for Tehran. Also the description of Tehran with world metro system

(32)

20

CHAPTER 3 Literature Review

In this chapter, we review relevant literature related to our topic in order to have a better and clearer perspective of the subject. Concept of quality, service quality and their impact on customer satisfaction are the subjects which will discussed in this chapter. This theoretical framework will enable us build a conceptual model that will be the road map for our empirical observations.

3.1 Quality concept

According to (Hardie, N.,Walsh, P., 1994)[11]; (Sower, V., Fair, F., 2005)[12]; (Wicks, A. M., Roethlein, C. J., 2009)[13], quality has many different definitions and there is no universally acceptable definition of quality. They state it is due to the elusive nature of the concept from different perspectives and orientations and the measures applied in a particular context by the person defining it.

(Crosby, 1990)[14] defined Quality as consistency with fixed specifications and this agrees with definition of(Karim Newrian, K., Cowling, A., 1996)[15], who defined Quality as anything that accords with the characteristics of the product to meet the external clients' needs.

Some definitions of quality include:

“Quality is the degree or grade of excellence etc. possessed by a thing” – (Oxford English Dictionary)

“Quality is defined as the summation of the affective evaluations by each customer of each attitude object that creates customer satisfaction”. (Wicks, A. M., Roethlein, C. J., 2009)[16]. “Quality is the totality of features and characteristics in a product or service that bear upon its ability to satisfy needs”. (Haider, S., 2001) [17]

The variety of definitions of quality claim the fact that quality concept could be seen in different perspectives and results in different meaning.

These five expressions of quality are identified by (Garvin, 1988)[18] :

a. The transaction view of quality is synonymous with innate excellence: a mark of uncompromising standards and high achievement. This viewpoint is often applied to the performing and performing of visual arts. It is argued that people learn to recognize quality

(33)

21

only through the experience gained from repeated exposure and managers or customers will also know quality when they see it is not very helpful.

b. The product- based approach sees quality as a precise and measurable variable. Differences in quality reflect variety in the amount of an ingredient or attribute possessed by the product or service. Because this view is totally objective, it fails to account for differences in the tests, needs, and preferences of individual customers or even entire market segments.

c. User based definitions starts with the premise that quality lies in the eyes of the beholder. Explaining that equate quality with maximum satisfaction. This specific, demand oriented perspective recognizes that different customers have different wants and needs.

d. The manufacturing based approach is supply based and is concerned primarily with engineering and manufacturing practices, quality is also operation driven.

e. Value based definitions define quality in terms of value and price. By considering the tradeoff between perception and price, quality comes to be defined as “affordable”.

Quality has been considered as being an attribute of an entity (as in property and character), a peculiar and essential character of a product or a person (as in nature and capacity), a degree of excellence (as in grade) and as a social status (as in rank and aristocracy) and in order to control and improve its dimensions it must first be defined and measured (Ghylin, K.M., Green, B. D., Drury, C. G., Chen, J., Schultz ,J.L., Uggirala, A.,, 2006)[19].

Moreover since company managers believe that the power of quality guarantees high profits in business, companies try to understand how to keep the quality level high at every point within production, manufacturing, and even providing services. Thus, they see the product-based, user-based and manufacturing based approaches have been the most popular in reported research. We will apply the user based approach because we are interested in finding out what dimensions of service quality are customers satisfied with and how they perceive this service quality.

3.2 service quality

During the past few decades service quality has become a major area of attention to managers and researchers due to its bold impact on markets, balance costs, customer satisfaction, loyalty and profitability(Leonard, F.S., and Sasser, W.E., 1982) [20]; (Cronin, J.J., Taylor,

(34)

22

S.A., 1992)[21]; (Chang, T.Z., Chen, S.J., 1998)[22]; (Lasser, W.M., Manolis, C., Winsor, R.D., 2000)[23]; (Silvestro, R., Cross, S., 2000)[24].

Research on service quality has been done from various aspects, comprehensive studies has been done by (Berry, L., Zeithaml, V., Parasuraman, A., 1985)[25];(Brady, M., and Cronin, J., 2001)[26] in developing the service quality concept. All these models share a common feature: They propose a multidimensional service quality concept validation that it is inherently linked to the measurement of consumer quality perceptions.

Many researchers and service experts have studied consumers‟ cognitive and affective responses to the perception of service attributes in order to benefit by providing what consumers need in an effective and efficient manner.

Understanding service quality must involve acknowledging the characteristics of service which are intangibility, heterogeneity and inseparability,(Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L., 1985)[27]; (Ladhari, 2009)[28]. In that way, service quality would be easily measured.

In this study, service quality can be defined as the difference between customer‟s expectation for service performance prior to the service encounter and their perception of the service received. Customer‟s expectation serves as a foundation for evaluating service quality because, quality is acceptable while performance is higher than what is expected and quality is low when performance does not meet their expectation (Asubonteng, P., McCleary, K.J. & Swan, J.E., 1996)[29]. Expectation is viewed in service quality literature as what is desired from consumer, what they feel a service provider should offer rather than would offer(Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L., 1988)[30]. Perceived service is the outcome of the consumer‟s view of the service dimensions, which are both technical and functional in nature(Gronroos, 1982)[31].

The customer‟s total perception of a service is based on his/her perception of the outcome and the process; the outcome is either value added or quality and the process is the role undertaken by the customer (Edvardsson, 1998) [32].

(Negi, 2009) [33] suggests that customer-perceived service quality has been given increased attention in recent years, due to its specific contribution to business competitiveness and developing satisfied customers. This makes firms and managements consider service quality as a high important issue to understand by knowing how to measure it and making necessary improvements in its dimensions where appropriate especially in areas where gaps between expectations and perceptions are wide.

(Douglas, L.,Connor, R., 2003) [34], emphasis that the consumer who has developed heightened perception of quality has become more demanding and less tolerant of assumed shortfalls in service or product quality and identify the intangible elements (inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability) of a service as the critical determinants of service quality perceived by a customer. Therefore, service quality is not only assessed as the end results but

(35)

23

also on how it is delivered during service process and its ultimate effect on consumer‟s perceptions(Douglas, L.,Connor, R., 2003)[35].

3.2.1 Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is conceptualized has been transaction-specific meaning it is based on the customer‟s experience on a particular service encounter,(Cronin, J. J., Taylor, S. A., 1992)[36]. These highlight the fact that customer satisfaction is based on experience with service provider and also the outcome of service.

(Giese, J. L., Cote, J. A., 2002) [37] clearly state that there is not generic definition of customer satisfaction and after carrying a study on various definitions on satisfaction they came up with the following definition, “customer satisfaction is identified by a response(cognitive or affective) that pertains to a particular focus (i.e. a purchase experienceand/or the associated product) and occurs at a certain time (i.e. post-purchase, post consumption)”.

According to(Wicks, A. M.,Roethlein, C. J., 2009)[38],customer satisfaction can be formed through an affective evaluation process and this affective evaluation is done following the purchase experience by the consumer.

Organizations that consistently satisfy their customers enjoy higher retention levels and greater profitability due to increased customers‟ loyalty,(Wicks, A. M., Roethlein, C. J., 2009)[39].This is why it is vital to keep consumers satisfied and this can be done in different ways and one way is by trying to know their expectations and perceptions of services offered by service providers. By doing this, service quality could be evaluated and as a result customer satisfaction.

In our study, we use customers to evaluate service quality by considering several important quality attributes and we think firms must take improvement actions on the attributes that have a lower satisfaction level.

This means customer satisfaction will be considered on specific dimensions of service quality in order to identify which aspects customers are satisfied with.

3.2.2 Relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction

(Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L., 1985)[40] suggested that when perceived service quality is high, then it will lead to increase in customer satisfaction. He supports that fact that service quality leads to customer satisfaction and this is in line with(Saravanan, R. & Rao, K. S. P., 2007)[41]and(Lee, H., Lee, Y., Yoo, D., 2000) [42] who acknowledge that customer satisfaction is based upon the level of service quality provided by the service provider.

(36)

24

According to(Negi, 2009)[43], the idea of linking service quality and customer satisfaction has existed for a long time. He made a survey to find the relevance of customer-perceived service quality in determining customer overall satisfaction in the context of mobile services (telecommunication) and he found out that reliability and network quality (an additional factor) are the key factors in evaluating overall service quality but also highlighted that tangibles, empathy and assurance should not be ignored when evaluating perceived service quality and customer satisfaction. This study was based only on a specific service industry (mobile service) and we think it is very important to identify and evaluate those factors which contribute significantly to determination of customer-perceived service quality and overall satisfaction.

(Fen, Y. S.,Meillian, K., 2005) [44] found that both service quality and customer satisfaction have a positive effect on customer‟s re-patronage intentions showing that both service quality and customer satisfaction have a crucial role to play in the success and survival of any business. This study admitted a fair bridge between service quality and customer satisfaction.

3.2.3 Service quality models

The subject of service quality is considered as an expanded issue in definitions, assessment and models. Several researchers explored the subjects with varying perspectives by using different methodologies. Some bold factors resulted suitable for comparative evaluations of the models such as the ability to improve service quality, comprehensive way for measuring customer satisfaction, being suitable enough for assessing the employee‟s needs, finding new ways for future needs regarding to facilities and needs and also introduce new tools for benchmarking.

Following, some of the models are presented with a brief discussion and their structure:

SQ1. Technical and functional quality model (Gronroos, 1984)

Managing perceived service quality means that the firm has to match the expected service and perceived service to each other so that consumer satisfaction is achieved.

The author identified three components of service quality, namely: technical quality; Functional quality; and image (see Figure 3.1):

(37)

25

Figure 3.1 Technical and functional quality model, Source: Gronroos(1984)

(1) Technical quality is the quality of what consumer actually receives as a result of his/her interaction with the service firm and is important to him/her and to his/her evaluation of the quality of service.

(2) Functional quality is how he/she gets the technical outcome. This is important to him and to his/her views of service he/she has received.

(3) Image is very important to service firms and this can be expected to build up mainly by technical and functional quality of service including the other factors (tradition, ideology, word of mouth, pricing and public relations).

SQ2: GAP model (Parasuraman et al., 1985)

(Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L., 1985)[45] proposed that service quality is a function of the differences between expectation and performance along the quality dimensions. They developed a service quality model (Figure 3.2) based on gap analysis. The various gaps visualized in the model are:

Gap 1: Difference between consumers‟ expectation and management‟s perceptions of those expectations, i.e. not knowing what consumers expect.

(38)

26

Gap 2: Difference between management‟s perceptions of consumer‟s expectations and service quality specifications, i.e. improper service-quality standards.

Gap 3: Difference between service quality specifications and service actually delivered i.e. the service performance gap.

Gap 4: Difference between service delivery and the communications to consumers about service delivery, i.e. whether promises match delivery?

Figure 3.2 GAP model, Source: Parasuraman et al. (1985)

Gap 5: Difference between consumer‟s expectation and perceived service. This gap depends on size and direction of the four gaps associated with the delivery of service quality on the marketer‟s side.

This exploratory research was refined with their subsequent scale named SERVQUAL for measuring customers‟ perceptions of service quality. (Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L., 1988)[46].The authors characterized and further delineated the four gaps identified in their research of 1985. This led to extended service quality model (Figure 3.3, Extended Model of Service Quality)

(39)

27

(40)

28

SQ3. Synthesized model of service quality (Brogowicz et al., 1990)

This model attempts to integrate traditional managerial framework, service design and operations and marketing activities. The purpose of this model is to identify the dimensions associated with service quality in a traditional managerial framework of planning, implementation and control. The synthesized model of service quality (Figure 3.4). Considers three factors, viz. company image, external influences and traditional marketing activities as the factors influencing technical and functional quality expectations.

(41)

29

SQ4. Performance only model (Cronin and Taylor, 1992)

The authors investigated the conceptualization and measurement of service quality and its relationship with consumer satisfaction and purchase intentions. They compared computed difference scores with perception to conclude that perceptions only are better predictor of service quality.

They argued on the framework of(Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L., 1985) [47], with respect to conceptualization and measurement of service quality and developed performance only measurement of service quality called SERVPERF by illustrating that service quality is a form of consumer attitude and the performance only measure of service quality is an enhanced means of measuring service quality.

Service quality is evaluated by perceptions only without expectations and without importance weights according to the formula:

(3.1) 𝑆𝑄 = 𝑘_{𝑗 =1}𝑃_𝑖𝑗

Where:

SQ = overall service quality; k = the number of attributes;

Pij = performance perception of stimulus i with respect to attribute j.

SQ5. Attribute and overall affect model (Dabholkar, 1996)

The author proposed two alternative models of service quality for technology-based self-service options. Self-self-service is becoming popular day by day owing to high cost of labor in service deliveries.

The attribute model (Figure 3.5(a)) is based on what consumers would expect from such option. It is based on cognitive approach to decision making, where consumers would use a compensatory process to evaluate attributes associated with the technology based self-service option in order to form expectations of service quality.

The overall affect model (Figure 3.5(b)) is based on the consumers‟ feeling towards the use of technology. It is based on an effective approach to decision making where consumers would use overall predispositions to form expectation self-service quality for a technology-based self-service option.

Assessment of differences in service quality of Tehran and Milan metro system services

Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of tables

Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 2

Transportation services in Iran and Italy

CHAPTER 3

Literature Review