Electric Commuter Train Or Commuter Rail Tourism Essay

Electric Commuter Train Or Commuter Rail Tourism EssayElectric commuter train produce or commuter rail is a passenger rail transport service amongst a city center and commuter towns that draw prominent numbers of people who travel on a daily basis. Commuter trains are usually optimized for maximum passenger volume, in most cases without sacrificing too overmuch comfort and luggage space, though they seldom have all the amenities of long-distance trains. This service provided by the government in order to spread out more convenience towards people for urban and rural fields to move (White, 2002). The service is able to meets the requirement and desire through the perception of Malaysian citizen towards the service grapheme of commuter train by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB). The service whole step in the commuter train underside be measured by SERVQUAL dimension which is focuses in term of tangibles, reliability and responsiveness (Parasuraman et. al., 1985). Accordin g to Wiki, SERVQUAL was originally measured on 10 aspects ofservice shade reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding thecustomerand tangibles. It measures the gap between customer mentalitys and experience.The service bore of the commuter train becomes central issue in order to have better and comfortable environment. The service quality of the overt transport in that area seems unsatisfied and average level, which are physical facilities in term of cleanliness and comfortableness, promptness, frequencies and responsiveness of the driver and conductor of the general transports. Is it the run quality of the commuter train is in reality implemented strong in this coun see whether in urban or rural areas? This is because more allocation provided to reconstruct the quality of exoteric transport. in that locationfore these researches try to investigate the perception of the Malaysian citizen towards the servi ce qualities of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB).Background of the studyIn Malaysia, KTM commuter is the one of the electrified commuter train service that operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB). It was first introduced in 1995 to cater people especially in Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding suburban areas and it is a popular mode of transport for people who are working in Kuala Lumpur as they provide travel to the city without being caught in traffic congestion. KTM commuter is currently the most profitable passenger service offered by KTMB, contributing RM84.63 zillion to group revenue in 2006, higher than KTM Intercitys profit of RM70.94 million in the same year (Nathan and Darshini, 2007). KTM commuter has attracted a significant number of passengers in the transferee market. According to the Ministry of Transport Malaysia 2008 Statistics the annual ridership for KTM commuter was 36,557 millions of passengers (MOT, 2008).This study is important for KTMB generall y and KTM commuter specifically to emend their services especially trains services. Having the information gathered from this study, they can look for efficacious ways in overcoming these chores and be more competitive in their services since the respondents for this study are KTM commuter customers themselves. From the findings of this study, the management can be made aware of the problems that they are facing everyday and the come up with proactive actions to provide better services to the customers. In return, the customers exit enjoy a better quality of services in the future. look for objectivesThe objectives of the study areTo assess the service quality perceived by passengers of Malaysian citizen who ride the KTM commuterTo examine factors influencing the good services provided by KTM commuter.Problem statementThe current issues and problems regards in the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) public transports is the time arrival and time travel delaying. M whatever custo mers or passengers when went and employ that service they was not satisfied with the service quality provided by this KTM B after used the KTM commuter service in term of promptitude and frequencies of train arrive. This issue showed even the public expatriation is modernized and in the urban areas but service quality is still lacking and not well implemented. This bequeath lead to negative perception and not satisfy the consumer using the public transports (Karen Thompson, Peter Schofield 2002). The problem of time arrival delaying was related with the other problem which is the space in the KTM commuter. This is because insufficient space to hunt more passengers and others whereby the congestion occurred. Nowadays people out there mostly using a public transport like commuter as their transport so, the chance of increase passengers are higher than before. So when the space of KTM commuter limited and crowded it will become worse to passengers to use and went it.Significant of the studyToday the need for an efficient and effective public transportation service like KTM commuter is proper more importance in order to overcome these problems especially in the Klang Valley. Besides that, legion(predicate) transportation companies are competing with each other to attract as many customers and gain more profit. It is imperative that KTM commuter needs to become more progressive and aggressive to compete with the competitors because nowadays, customers are becoming more demanding with the quality of the service. The want value for money that is they expect the service quality that they received from the service providers equals or exceeds what they had paid for (Mitra Lagerstrom, 2002). Reliability is focusing on frequencies and punctuality of the public transport arrives on time and able to meet the perception expectation of the user. Reliability means the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately (Parasuraman, et. al., 1988). The mea surement arrival of the public transport at the destination on time is of limited usefulness and will give positive impact towards the public expectation and perceptions. The punctuality measured in term of time arrival and departure is important elements in reliability service quality of dimension.Theoretical framework besidesPunctualityService qualitySpaceFrequencySafetyReliabilityTrain operationDEPENDENT VARIABLESComfortINDEPENDENT VARIABLESResearch hypothesisThere are ternion hypothesis developed in this studyHypothesis 1 There is a significant difference between dimension of tangible and service quality of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB)Hypothesis 2 There is a significant difference between dimension of reliability and service quality of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB)Hypothesis 3 There is a significant difference between dimension of responsiveness and service quality of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB)Task 2 (LOC 3 AC 3)IntroductionLiterature revi ew is a documentation of a comprehensive review of the published and unpublished work from secondary sources of data in the areas of specific interest to the researcher. Past research on the phenomenon under investigation must play key role in the process of problem formulation.Literature reviewCustomer satisfactionAccording to our squad survey , most of the people satisfied with KTMB services meanwhile there are some services that KTMB are not doing well in their logical argument customer satisfaction are important because customer are judging by services based on pricing that KTMB create. KTMB excessively have to improve their services based on doing a survey, give a recommendation to customer itself, on other hand the customer likewise have to give their opinion on what there want or like.Customer loyaltyCustomer loyalty always follows satisfaction, which is determined from the service quality offered by the KTMB. It is also one of the most frequently used indicators to measu re the success of a marketing strategy.Research methodologyIntroductionThe word methodology is the method that any researcher used with appropriate steps, method, technique and tools to pass awayher with the approaches taken in the research process.Data collectionPrimary dataPrimary data is used for this research and the data is obtained using self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaire comprised of two instalments. The first section is designed to capture the respondents demographic. The questions asked in this section are related to the respondents gender, nationality, ethnicity, age, marital status, and occupation. The second section is designed to measure the customers perceptions towards various dimensions of services performance in KTM commuter service.The questionnaires are distributed among customers on board the train and those waiting for trains in the offices between 8 October to 10 October 2010. The sample for this study consists of 50 respondent in Batang Bena r station.Secondary dataAccording Kotler and Armstrong, secondary data can be delimit as information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose. It may be available from internal sources, or may have been collected and published by another organization. Secondary data usually can be obtained more quickly and at lower price than primary data as researchers can gain the needed data in form of government reports and statistics, company reports and accounts, articles or journals in internet and reports in newspapers. Besides, the data that has been collected can be used to get a new perspective on the current study, to compare the work from previous findings or to use as a root for future study. The table below shows the secondary sources that will be used in carrying out the research.SourcesExplanationBooksLiterary work by professionals that relates to the food and drunkenness industry, guides on conducting research projects, as well as information on d ata of previously conducted research.InternetThe internet offers unlimited sources of information that caters to all subject area areas.JournalsJournals are a good source of secondary data, as they may contain vital information of a certain period of time.Past ResearchData from previous research can be used to compare the statistics and other informationTask 3 (LOC 3 AC 4 and LOC 4 AC 1 and AC 2)Here are more ideas as to how to solve the problem on transportation. This research can understand for simplicity why KTMB designate their routes Seremban-Rawang and Sentul-Port Klang. But being so rigid about it can lead to adverse effects.Most people who take the KTM commuter are doing it to get in and out of the city (e.g. Subang Jaya-Sentral). Or users who just want to travel down the line (e.g. Seremban-Kajang). Although there must be people who use it to violate the Klang Valley (e.g. Seremban-Rawang), they are not in the majority. The way the service routes are designed, it seems silly why these trains have to make one full trip can and forth each branch for every run.Actual fact, delays at one part of the system can lead to other trains being delayed elsewhere, further down the line. For example, a Rawang-Seremban service might be delayed simply because somewhere in Kajang, there is a delay. In other words, researcher suggesting that the operations of these services should be made somewhat a bit more independent to each other.KTMB should consider introducing a variety of routes. Other than that, at not so busy hours, they should maintain their current service routes, as usual. But at peak hoursSeremban-Tasik Selatan Passengers take the Sri Petaling LRT or KLIA Transit to inhabit their journeys.Rawang-Bank Negara Passengers take the Sri Petaling and Ampang LRT to continue their southward journeys.Reduce service on the Sentul KTM branch passengers can hope off at Bank Negara to continue on the Sri Petaling and Ampang LRT.Introduce express services that bypass not-so busy stations.Introduce services that commencement and terminate at busy stations like Subang Jaya, Serdang etc.Construct a Komuter station at Abdullah Hukum to allow westerly passengers to bypass Sentral (and finally putting Abdullah Hukum to good use).Continue serving the usual full Rawang-Seremban and Sentul-Port Klang routes but at low frequencies.With the savings of bun stock, couple those together to serve busy routes.The delays experienced by KTM commuter users seem to be with regards to clashing intercity and freight trains, and usually this is most severe in KL, from the Jalan Bangsar Junction to Jalan Kuching. Naturally the most sensible thing would be to schedule all trains, and make sure they follow their schedules. But they dont, for reasons sometimes beyond KTMs control.There is the issue of different grades of service on different lines. KLIA Transit, being the most posh, followed by the LRTs and Monorail and the KTM commuter at the bottom. And with th is, also have different make loves for similar journeys.For example, for the journeyBandar Tasik Selatan to KL SentralKomuter RM1.00KLIA Transit RM4.20Sentul to Bandaraya/Bank Negara (although Sentul KTM and LRT are at different places)Komuter RM1.00LRT RM1.40It is also inevitable that KTM has toImprove on its scheduling and also further computerization with traffic control. emergence in capacity by acquiring more rolling stock to articulate the current trains and to have more train sets in service.Improve its station quality as well as integration with other rail lines.CUsersANNA HBCRDesktopKlktm.gifFindingTo find effectiveness of KTMB as a public transportationKTMB was an effective way to travel as a public transportation. KTMB was the respondents choice as a public transportation to travel around Rawang-Seremban, Sentul-Port Klang. Alternative public transportation that the respondents choose was bus.To identify the areas covered by KTMBKTMB covers the area that the responde nts were going therefore it showed that the respondent were happy and satisfied with the areas covered by KTMB. The areas that had been covered by KTMB was close to the respondent workplace and to Mid Valley which one of a top spot for tourist and people to shop and hang out.To compare the fare of KTMB with other public transportationThe researcher found out that the respondent were satisfied with the ticket price of KTMB compared with the price of other public transportation. The factor that many respondents were satisfied was the fare price is cheaper than taking other public transportation. KTMB was close to the place that many respondents were going therefore KTMB was the majority respondents choice of transportation.To analyze the relative frequency of travelers using KTMB transportationThe researcher found out that the travelling frequency for KTMB was adequate for respondents as many of the respondents used this service to travel around Rawang-Seremban, Sentul-Port Klang. a ll-important(a) factor would be that the respondents used this service because their workplace is situated in KL Central, Mid Valley and etc also to avoid traffic jams.Gantt Chart for Research thrust ProposalActivityStart DateDuration (days) remnant DateProposal14/9/2011317/9/2011Survey methodology14/9/2011115/9/2011Literature Review18/9/20111210/9/2011Authors18/9/2011725/9/2011Government Publications27/9/201174/10/2011Questionnaire Preparation5/10/201116/10/2011 reference and Survey6/10/201128/10/2011Tally and Analyze Survey Questionnaire8/10/201119/10/2011End Discussion and shutdown9/10/2011110/10/201114/9/20118/10/201125/10/20116/10/2011ProposalSurvey MethodologyLiterature ReviewAuthorsGovernment PublicationsQuestionnaire PreparationInterview and SurveyTally and Analyze SurveyEnd Discussion and ConclusionStart DateDuration (days)Task 4 (LOC 4 AC 3)Conclusion and recommendationFindings of this study have important practical to management of quality of the Malaysian rail servic es. This study demonstrates the usefulness as a measure of service quality. The measurement scale also serves to identify symptoms and the underlying problems that inhibit the effective provision of quality services in rail transport.Once the attributes of rail services from the customers perspective are more clearly known and understood, its service providers will be in a better position to anticipate consumer requirements rather than to react to consumer dissatisfaction. The attributes of reliability and tangibles have been identified by respondents to be the most important dimensions of service quality. These two dimensions were also found to have the highest gap (perception minus expectation), implying that customers expectation of reliability and tangibles dimensions of the railway services are not met by KTMB. Although these findings cannot be generalized to the overall passenger profile, KTMB should use it as an impetus to assess their services, particularly to study ways of improving on their reliability and tangibles dimensions.KTMB management could start by improving on staff training, especially to train their staff to be more professional and courteous when dealing with customers. The public confidence of KTMB has to be gained and the best way is for the management to look at improving on aspects such as reliability of services, improving physical facilities, training of staff and communicating precise information on train schedules.In view of the intense competition in the transport sector with the opening of the North-South Highway, it is imperative that the management of KTMB carry out more research to discover any shortfalls in service quality and to take necessary corrective measures in case of a shortfall. This could interpret that the service quality of KTMB provides the best to its consumers in order to compete effectively with other modes of transport. As the consumer plays a key role in the definition and valuation of the quality of rai l services offered, managers of KTMB should incorporate consumer expectations and perceptions in the formulation of effective long-term marketing strategy.KTM should improved the train service in terms of the punctuality and provide a suitable frequency (for example every 10 minutes) to reduce congestion at the stations especially during peak hours. This study also recommends that future researchers should come out with the focus groups to compare the opinion between KTMB users with other transportation mode users.