1.1 Introduction
The urban bus transit system has made it more difficult for people to travel freely and to access goods and services. Due to a lack of proper transportation infrastructure, most developing nations, including Nigeria, import reasonably priced used cars to meet demand for travel. The amenities, comfort, and accessibility of a station are described using metrics specific to public passenger transit terminals, which vary from station to station. The path segment signals relate to the path's comfort, accessibility, and convenience of use in a particular portion, or they could represent a collection of concurrent services serving comparable starting and ending points.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.
1.2 Background of Study
In the past three decades, the city of Enugu has been seeing tremendous population growth and environmental expansion due to a migration wave from rural areas. Alongside the boom, the city's borders were significantly expanded, and industrial, economic, and social activity levels significantly increased. As a result, low-income unplanned settlements have grown farther out on the outskirts of cities (Aribigbola, 2008), and the workers from these regions are putting more strain on the public transit systems, which are already woefully inadequate. Due to ineffective mass transit systems, particularly the bus system, residential-to-work transportation is becoming a challenge in the city of Enugu due to the high cost of car ownership and maintenance in Nigeria as a result of the current economic downturn, the suburbanization of the country, and the conversion of villages into dormitory settlements (Ezema, 2004).
The urban public transportation system needs to implement planning policies in order to function. It is imperative that the city government prepare for the development of mass transit, such as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), as an alternative to private vehicles and limited public transportation options when it comes to addressing transportation issues in urban areas. The goal behind the development of mass transit is to make public transportation more appealing by providing service priority to its users. Highway traffic and congestion can be decreased by lowering the usage of private transportation.
According to Loo and Chow (2006), the density of population and the socioeconomic activities of that population are related to the urban transportation system (Loo and Chow, 2006). The social dimensions of welfare and justice for individuals are impacted by urban transportation networks (Ahmed et al., 2008; Kenyon et al., 2002).
IEA (2008) asserted that, urban expansion shapes global energy consumption patterns and has an effect on the urban transportation system. In order to facilitate population mobility, urban regions require transportation infrastructure. According to Hall and Pfeiffer (2000), the transportation systems of developing nations' cities will encounter numerous issues that will affect traffic congestion and accidents. Urban transportation systems face a number of issues, including uncomfortable, hazardous, and inadequate service levels (Pucher et al., 2005).
The bus system has the potential to be utilized as a tool for policy to lessen traffic congestion in cities by reducing the number of cars on urban roadways. Additionally, it might make transportation services more accessible to a larger group of city dwellers who lack own vehicles and are unable to pay regular taxi prices (Andeleeb et al., 2007). Urban transport systems in Nigeria are impacted by various traffic issues, including traffic jams, increasing trip demands, lax traffic laws, the prevalence of private automobiles, inconsistent land-use planning, improper use of certain roads, poor public transportation, inaccessible routes, lengthy travel times, uncomfortable and unsafe conditions, and high fares.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to assess the Urban Bus Services in Enugu State.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that urban transportation systems face difficulties in formulating policies that balance regional potential with the needs of the current and future generations, with a focus on environmental preservation, economic growth, and prosperity (Zietsman and Rilett, 2001). Redesigning the urban transportation system is the top priority, with special attention paid to the effectiveness of public transportation services since they will affect the urban environment and provide a means for the community to raise its standard of living (Holden and Norland, 2005).
Urban transportation system planning necessitates the integration of population social economics and environmental factors. It also demands the appropriate approach to enhance the transportation system, specifically in relation to security, comfort, and land use planning (Schileer et al., 2010).
Furthermore, there have been indications of the Agency's subpar performance, but they need to be verified and explained. This means that the agency's service schedules don't seem to be followed very often, fleet utilization rates are dropping, waiting times are excessive, and there's a lack of responsiveness when it comes to the increasing competition from commercial and transit operators. Concern over the fact that buses are only insufficient for meeting people's daily transit demands has also grown. Hence, it is against the backdrop of this research that, this study tends to assess the urban bus services in Enugu State.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to assess the Urban Bus Services in Enugu State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To assess the quality of urban bus services that are provided by government agencies and private bus operators in the city of Enugu as perceived by bus commuters;
- To examine the indicators and approaches to the performance measurement of transport service Agencies;
- To assess the performance and operational characteristics of the study area;
- To determine whether new technologies are providing a more attractive bus service and a better operation system; and
- To evaluate the impacts of new technologies on bus services performance and how Real Time Passenger Information systems could improve the perceived quality of services from customer's point of view.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- What is the quality of urban bus services that are provided by government agencies and private bus operators in the city of Enugu as perceived by bus commuters?
- What are the indicators and approaches to the performance measurement of transport service Agencies?
- What is the performance and operational characteristics of the study area?
- What are the new technologies providing more attractive bus service and better operation system?
- What are the impacts of new technologies on bus services performance and how Real Time Passenger Information systems could improve the perceived quality of services?
1.6 Significance of Study
This study will be of immense benefit to urban residents and other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.7 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Assessment of Urban Bus Services using Enugu State as a case study.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, there were some problems encountered which stood as limitations to the research work. Some of the limitations include:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research Material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
- Initial Cooperation Delay from Respondents: A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.