Sustainability of Public Transportation: An Examination of User Behavior to Real-Time GPS Tracking Application

TLDR

Public transportation offers cost‑saving and environmental benefits, yet ridership in Malaysia—especially in Sarawak—is low due to user dissatisfaction and unreliable schedule information. The study aimed to develop the UniBus mobile app to increase public transport ridership in Sarawak. The authors collected data from Kuching users of the UniBus app and evaluated changes in accessibility, reliability, comfort, safety, and security before and after app use. Using the real‑time GPS tracking app increased ridership and improved accessibility, reliability, comfort, safety, and security. Future research should examine additional factors such as service quality, availability, perceived value, and extend studies to other Malaysian states.

Abstract

Public transportation is an effective method of mobility that promotes cost-saving and is environmentally friendly. Poor public transport ridership in Malaysia is due to the unsatisfactory attitude of public transport users and inaccurate information on departure and arrivals. Sarawak, a state of Malaysia, is especially poor in ridership of public transport. A real-time Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking application (app) was found to be an effective tool to increase the ridership of public transport. Hence, a mobile app named UniBus was developed to enhance the ridership of public transport in Sarawak. The determinants that affect satisfaction and customer loyalty such as accessibility, reliability, comfort, safety, and security were all examined before and after the use of real-time GPS tracking app. The data was collected in Kuching, and targeted public transport users who used the UniBus app. The result indicated that all the mentioned variables were improved after using a real-time GPS tracking app. It is suggested that future studies can consider other factors such as service quality, availability, and perceived value as well as cover other states of Malaysia.