factors affecting road users’
TRANSCRIPT
FACTORS AFFECTING ROAD USERS’
SATISFACTION: A CASE STUDY OF MOTORWAY
ROUTE 7, THAILAND
BY
KASIDIS CHANKAO
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE
(ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY)
SIRINDHORN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY
ACADEMIC YEAR 2014
FACTORS AFFECTING ROAD USERS’
SATISFACTION: A CASE STUDY OF MOTORWAY
ROUTE7, THAILAND
BY
KASIDIS CHANKAO
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE
(ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY)
SIRINDHORN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY
ACADEMIC YEAR 2014
ii
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my thankful to my beloved institute “Sirindhorn
International Institute of Technology” (SIIT). Especially, the Transportation Research
Center (TREC) without this support the study may hardly be accomplished, also the
support from Inter City Motorway Divisions, Department of Highways. In addition, I
would like to express this thankful to my beloved advisor; Dr. Suthathip Suanmali for her
gentleness. She has been helping me out on everything and motivate me on new ideas.
Without her help this study would never be completed. Moreover, I would like to thank
you my external committee member; Dr. Supachet Chansarn for his kindness. He has been
guiding me on statistical part of this study.
In addition, without the help from T. Siriaramsakul, J. Rungruangmeesap, P.
Pornpratarnsuk, and W. Panupintu the data collection may not be able to achieve.
Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge Ms. Paphitchaya Korsanthia for her grateful.
We have been working on this study together. She is really hard work, any effort that I put
on she could always response. I wish you a good luck on your future life. I wish to deliver
this grateful to all my friends and colleagues in SIIT. They have been truly friends on every
day. Even though we may have different field of interest but we share the information,
which we think it is beneficial to support our study. I will remember the moments we spend
together and I will remember the stressful day that we have been through. I also would like
to thank every SIIT staffs for their supports. I do appreciate their service mind.
Lastly, I would like to thank my family and surroundings people for their
understandings and kindly supports. Without their loves it would not be me today.
iii
Abstract
Road transportation of Thailand is facing the growth in traffic demand due to the
expansions in both economics and population. In this research, a model to evaluate factors
affecting road users’ satisfaction level is developed. The emphasis is to gain insight
knowledge on key elements that are significant, and these can serve as a guideline for
highway authorities to improve their serviceability level. The survey questionnaire is
constructed on seven attributes: Sign/Traffic/Warnings & road marking, Comfort of travel,
Amenities, Value for time and money, Road conditions, Response rate of safety officers,
and Safety equipment & environment and administered randomly to 890 road users at the
rest areas of Motorway route 7. After that, several techniques are employed to analyze the
data; they are exploratory factor analysis, independent t-test and logistic multiple
regression. The results are indicated that all seven attributes are significant influencing the
satisfaction levels. Of those, the most significant factor affecting the satisfaction level is
“Convenience”. In addition, the overall satisfaction level found in this research is 3 out of
5 while the amenities are the attributes that are rated as “Dissatisfied” by typical road users.
Suggestion and policy recommendation for related highway authorities are discussed in
this research.
Keywords: logistic regression, t-test analysis, road users’ satisfaction level, motorway
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Table of Contents
Chapter Title Page
Signature Page i
Acknowledgement ii
Abstract iii
Table of Contents iv
List of Figures vi
List of Tables vii
1. Introduction 1
1.1 Problem Statement 2
1.2 Study Objectives 3
1.3 Expected Benefits 3
1.4 Overview 3
2. Literature Review 5
2.1 Importance of Road Users’ Satisfaction Assessment 5
2.2 The Implications of t-test Analysis 7
2.3 The implications of Logistic regression analysis 8
2.4 Background of Thai Motorway 9
3. Survey Study on Factors Affecting Road Users’ Satisfaction 12
3.1 Questionnaire 13
3.2 Planning Stage and Development Design 16
4. Implication of the findings 21
4.1 Descriptive Statistics 21
4.2 Data Analysis 23
v
4.3 The Road Users’ Perception Towards Road Directions 25
4.4 Identification of Factors Affecting Road Users’ Satisfaction 27
5. Conclusions, Recommendations, and Future Research 30
References 33
Appendices 34
Appendix A 35
Appendix B 38
vi
List of Figures
Figures Page
2.1 Map of Motorway route7 10
2.2 Summary of Daily Average Commuting Vehicles 11
3.1 Summary of Concerning Dimensions 12
3.2 The elements to road user satisfaction development 16
3.3 Demonstration of Data Groupings 17
3.4 Demonstrations of Variables Grouping 17
3.5 Analysis model of factors affecting road users’ satisfaction 19
3.6 The Binomial Response 19
5.1 The Appearance of Public Restrooms 31
vii
List of Tables
Tables Page
4.1 Respondents Profile 21
4.2 Overall satisfaction level 22
4.3 Factor Analysis 24
4.4 Result of t-test 25
4.5 Result of Logistic Regression 29
1
Chapter 1
Introduction
In modern world transportation has become fundamental to human beings. Due
to the advancement in transportation technology communication from place to place
has become more convenient and reliable. In modern countries transportation modes
could be clustered into four modes of Air, Marine, Rail, and Land. The importance of
transportation is to facilitate the activities of moving human and goods from place to
another. Therefore, the efficient transportation may deliver convenient, cost efficient,
and safety to stakeholders. Apart from economic and transportation benefits
transportation brings prosperity to community.
Thailand is one of the modern countries that covered with all four transportation
modes. These modes are interconnecting with each other generating advantages
especially, economics. Among the four modes road transportation may be one of the
most effective mode due to the abilities of interconnecting to other modes and area
coverage. Moreover, roads are one of the cost effective transportation modes.
Currently, the roads of Thailand are fully covered with highway networks along the
nation. In the near future the highway networks of Thailand will be serving the traffic
demand from both domestic and international. Based on the agreement of ASEAN
transportation plan of interconnecting the member nations together by the
establishment of transportation infrastructure especially, highway networks (ASEAN
Strategic Transportation Plan, 2011-2015).This may cause increasing in traffic demand.
Therefore, to support the expansion in traffic demand it may require well strategic
planning for highway authority. A number of studies mentioned that failure in traffic
demand planning may cause traffic congestions and unsafe communication, which may
leads to poor satisfaction level from road users.
The term satisfaction in transportation system may be the new term that
becomes popular. But, in service oriented industry customer satisfaction has been a
concerned for over time. Number of studies mentioned about the success in customer
satisfaction as the keys to: create long-term customers retention, eliminate word of
mouth, and the cost of retaining customers is cheaper than acquiring new customer. The
understanding and responding to customer needs may be the keys for creating customer
satisfaction. To understand of customer needs may involve of survey to collect how
customers feel towards the given concern. After the concern has been identified the
service provider should response to the concern. Similar to road transportation service,
road users shall be considering as customers of the road authority. Therefore, the road
authority should try their best to maintain their customers satisfied. Since, the road
authority is part of a government authority the derivation of customers’ satisfaction may
be not on earning highest revenue. But the purpose of this should target to deliver
highest safety and convenient to the road users. In addition, Department of highways is
the government authority that responsible for maintenance and develop the highway in
Thailand. One of their missions is to construct and develop the highways that derive
satisfaction by creating of safety and convenient to road users (Motorway.go.th).
As a result, this study will focus on Motorway route 7 (M.7) Thailand, the major
highway network. The importance of this highway is that it is one of the national
2
economic roads connecting Bangkok and Chonburi province; a major industrial and
tourism province. Furthermore, M.7 also interconnects Suvarnabhumi International
Airport the major airport of Thailand and Laemchabang deep seaport the world-class
seaport. Over the time the traffic demand on M.7 has significantly increase from the
expansion of economics and society growth. In addition, the number of commuting
vehicles is projected to increase from the integration of ASEAN borders (Bureau of
Highway Safety, Department of Highway, 2012). Therefore, the road will be serving
both domestic and international coming traffic. This may leads to an excessive traffic
demand, the current infrastructure and supportive facilities may unable to well support.
This may cause deteriorate in road service level, such as congestions, road damages,
and insufficiently serve the supportive facilities such as insufficient public restrooms.
Additionally, M.7 is the toll collection road that equipped with service area facilities
such as gas station, restaurants, and public restrooms. Thus, road users may demand for
high serviceability level.
Therefore, the development strategy from the authority is needed. However, the
authority strategic planning alone may be imprecise to needs of the road users. One of
the most precise methods is to gather the opinion from actual road users. This study
gathered the concern factors on road user satisfaction development from existed study.
The weakness and strengths of existed study has been gathered. Then, we developed
the questionnaire based on the factors that may concern to road users and adapt to the
characteristic of M.7; for example, the questions on M.7 road users satisfaction
assessment are not involves with pedestrians and motorcycles. Based on the study we
found that road users may concern on the factors that related to the road physical, such
as the lane width, road smoothness, and safety. Apart from road physical, the study
found that road users may also concern on the convenient of travelling such as
cleanliness of the public rest rooms and quality of restaurants.
In this study we object to discover the factors that affect the satisfaction level of
road users and determine how satisfy they are towards the given factors. The obtained
data will be interpreted through statistical analysis of Logistic regression and T-test
analysis. The obtained result will be turn into suggestions and recommendations for the
authority on development policy.
1.1 Problem Statement
It may be important for the road authority to implement an action plan that
supports the growth in traffic demand and elevate the standard level. M.7 is one of the
major highway networks of Thailand each day the number of commuting vehicles could
be as high as 160,000 vehicles and the number is projected to increase due to the
economic growth and the integration of ASEAN borders (Division of Highways, 2011).
The existed road facilities may be insufficient and may lack of safety standard. So, the
effective action plan is needed. Lastly, this study is conducted under the following
concerns:
1. The excessive number of commuting vehicles may lead to unsafe conditions and
poor road service level, such as road cracks and unclean public restrooms. This study
will help guiding the road authority to precisely focus on what should be developed to
3
satisfy the road users, and to be able to handle sustainable growth of traffic volume in
the future.
2. In many modern countries the road users’ satisfaction assessment has widely
done to point out weakness that may affect road’s serviceability level. Nevertheless, in
Thailand this type of study has rarely been done. This study will definitely help support
Thailand’s logistic management and provide proper guideline for highway authority to
focus on the right areas to raise their serviceability.
1.2 Study Objectives
The number of commuting vehicles on M.7 is increasing over the time. The
existing road facilities may be insufficient and leads to an inconvenient commuting as
well as unsafe commuting. This may leads to poor satisfaction level; therefore, it is
crucial to create the satisfaction level. This study objects to identify the satisfaction
level of road users along M.7.
The study aims to the followings:
1. To investigate factors that can affect the overall road users’ satisfaction level,
while using the M7 network. In addition, to understand how road users value the factors
that affect their satisfaction level.
2. To provide significant factors affecting the overall satisfaction level.
3. To understand of road users’ attitude on the study factors
4. To compare satisfaction levels of road users in each factor between both in-bound
and out-bound directions.
1.3 Expected Benefits
This study is expected to be the medium of information to the road authority for the
profound understanding on the road users’ expectation in order to develop an
appropriate guideline or action plan for future development. Moreover, we expect this
study to show the importance of road management.
1.4 Overview
This thesis contains five chapters as followings:
Chapter 1 is an introduction of the research. This chapter introduces the
importance of transportation development, since the demand of transportation has
increasing from various factors, problem statement, study objective, and the overview
of the thesis.
Chapter 2 is the literature review in the following topics: The importance of
road user satisfaction assessment, Background of Thailand’s motorway network, and
Implications of the statistical regressions (T-test and Logistic regression).
Chapter 3 presents a study survey on factors affecting the M.7 road users’
satisfaction. This chapter will describes the data collection and demographic
information. Moreover, this chapter includes data analysis, and factor analysis of the
study.
4
Chapter 4 covers the research finding results. This chapter combines the
finding of t-test and logistic regression together.
Chapter 5 is the research conclusion. This chapter includes results, discussions,
recommendations, and future studies.
5
Chapter 2
Literature Review
This chapter presents a literature review on “The importance of road users’
satisfaction assessment”. This chapter also included background of regressions that
will be used.
2.1 Importance of Road Users’ Satisfaction Assessment
In service industry customers’ satisfaction may be the key of success. Similar,
to transportation service users shall be assumed as the customers because they
purchased the service from the authority they may demand for high service quality. The
fulfillment of service demand may derive an attitude of appreciation called
“satisfaction”. According to the study of Bezerra and Gomes, (2015) mentioned about
service quality as an experience that connects to customers’ satisfaction. If the customer
has a good experienced it may refers to high level of satisfaction. However, the
determination of service quality may be challenging to service provider. Number of
studies on customer satisfaction revealed that in order to determine the customers’
satisfaction level the service provider must: First, be able to identify the basic customer
requirements and response to the requirement; for example, road users may require the
road that has adequacy lane width. Second, after the basic requirement has been
responded the service provider should try to impress the customer by creating value
added functions such as, rest area that equipped with clean restrooms. Last, the service
performance should be periodically monitored to keep up the service improvement.
Brandt (1988) mentioned that to keep elevating the service level the service provider
should established customers’ satisfaction monitoring program to observe and collect
the opinions and feedbacks from the customers. The obtained information shall be used
to analyze and implement an improvement plan. Furthermore, the customers’
satisfaction care has now concern as standardized program compliance ISO 10002. The
standardized requires marketing department to keep record of complaints to evaluate
the performance index. The obtained result shall be used to improve the service
standard. In addition, ISO 10002 required public sectors to record the complaint and
disclose the information on the issue that has been solved to public. All in all, this
evidently shown that the customers’ satisfaction cares has become standardized for
good practice.
Since, customers’ satisfaction has raise the concern to service industries. The
satisfaction in transportation especially in road transportation should be the concern as
well. M. 7 was one of the Thailand most busiest roads the number of daily vehicle
commuting has been increased from under 80,000 vehicles in year 2010 to over 160,000
vehicles in year 2014 (Motorway.go.th), and this number is projected to incline from
the regulations of ASEAN transportation development; one of the regulations is to
integrate borders via connection of road networks (ASEAN Strategic Transportation
Plan, 2011-2015). Due to the expansion in traffic demand, the existed road facilities
may be lack of proficiency or the supportive functions may be insufficient. This may
lead to inconvenience, unsafe travelling, and traffic congestions. Thus, it is important
to assess the road serviceability level to cope with the demand expansion and to elevate
6
the road serviceability level. The benefits to road development may be direct and
indirect impacts to economics. For example, if the roads were safe, then the cost of
accident may be reduced.
The understanding of road service quality has been an interesting topic for many
countries because the development does not only refer to convenience of traveling.
Safety and sustainability were also part of the development goal. In many modern
countries transportation development has been concerned by nation law. In United
States, it is required by federal laws to create a regional entity that administrated
transportation planning and approved the transportation funding. Delaware Valley
Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) was one of the US. authorities that
administrate the transportation improvement program. The mission of DVRPC was to
orderly plan and develops the state transportation for the highest benefits, to serves, and
facilitates the users and stakeholders. Moreover, the DVRPC stated their largest agenda
was to “concerns the efficient transportation of people and goods”.
Furthermore, the study of Horak, Emery, and Agaienz (2001) mentioned about
Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA), one of the organizations that curated the road
infrastructure management, including pavement management. The main jobs of JRA
were to manage and plan & execute the plan. Performance checking was also part of
JRA job. The study employed the use of visual survey and Key Performance Index
(KPIs) as the methods of infrastructure performance evaluation based on the following
dimensions:
Performance:
The measurement of the road functional such as skid resistance
measurement, and roughness
Visual appearance:
The measurement of the road appearance such as amount of defects
Structural:
The calculation of equipment life span
The discovered of this study pointed out the use of KPI was one of the effective
tools of development direction guiding. Nevertheless, the implementation of KPI may
be more effective if we could gain involvement from the actual users. And we
discovered that the study does not cover on issue about condition of road assets, such
as the determination of road smoothness, speed of emergency staff, and users’
satisfaction.
Despite of JRA study, the study of Road users’ satisfaction on NR-203 and NR-
35 of Sagam, Japan by Wardhana, Ishibashi, and Kiyota (2011) the study object to
determine the factors affecting the road users’ satisfaction. The study categorized the
respondents into two groups; Short-distance and Long-distance road users.
Respondents were asked to indicate their satisfaction level based on five-point likert
scale upon the following concerns:
Government service level
Road amenities and rest area
Road surface smoothness
Safety equipment
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Traveling time consuming
As a result, the study discovered that Road conditions and Road facilities were
the factors that road users concerned most. While, other factors does not effectively
shown the signification on the satisfaction. This shown the implication of factors that
affect the satisfaction level of Japan road users. Therefore, we shall examine whether
road conditions and road facilities would also be the concern to road users on M.7.
The analyses of this study were based on two regressions of “Independent t-test”
to compare the perception towards the satisfaction level of road users between in-bound
and out-bound direction. Then, we employed “Logistic regression” to determine what
factors could potentially be a concern to the road users. At the end the obtained result
shall be used as a guideline for future development.
2.2 The Implications of t-test Analysis
According to Gravetter, and Wallnau (2009), the t-test statistics has been defined
as the statistical tool of hypothesis testing under the purpose to determine whether the
null hypothesis should be supported or the null hypothesis should be rejected.
Additionally, the t-test could be used as a tool of testing whether the two sets of data
are different from each other or not. The t-tests are widely used in various studies based
on the objective and preference, which listed as:
One-sample t-test:
The comparison of one group to hypothesis. This type of test is used when
we want to know whether the sample mean could reflect the population or not.
The test is used for testing the sample mean only. To illustrate, we want to know
whether the android fans have the same or different preference in choosing
android phone.
Independent or Unpaired t-test:
The comparison of two sample groups. In which two sample groups are
referred as independent to each other. For example, we want to know whether
road users from in-bound and out-bound directions have the same satisfaction
level or not.
Paired t-test:
The comparison of difference on the similar subject. Paired t-test typically
matched the pairs of sample. In other word, Paired t-test is the repeated test on
the particular subject to see whether there are changes or not. For example, we
want to know whether a college student GPA has improvement after a tutorial
class has been taken.
In this study the independent t-test is selected. Because the study has the purpose
to compares of two sample groups.
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2.3 The implications of Logistic regression analysis
Logistic regression was also known as logit model, logit regression, and probit.
It is a statistical tool that predicts the degree of relationship between categorical
dependent variable and the independent variable(s). Due to the properties of predicting
categorical dependent variable and ability to predict positive and negative number this
gave the outstanding properties of logistic regression over linear regression. The
Logistic regression were widely used in many fields of study especially biological,
medical, and social science. Moreover, Logistic regression is well suitable for
describing and testing hypothesis about relationships between a categorical outcome
variable and one or more categorical or continuous predictor variables (Peng, Lee, and
Ingersoll, 2002).
In accordance to Karp (2009) the term logistic regression has been described as
“Statistical models where the dependent, or outcome variable, is a categorical, rather
than continuous”. The logistic function changes the independent variables on the right-
hand side to increase or decrease in probability of the event model the change to the
value of dichotomous. Moreover, Karp (2009) has mentioned about the difference
between logistic regression and ordinary least square as “logistic regression the
predicted value of the dependent variable being generated by operations on the right-
hand side variables is a probability. However, in ordinary least square the population
mean value will be predicted the dependent variable at the given value (e.g. mean value)
of the independent variables in the model.”
Advantages of Logistic Regression
According to Karp (2009) the advantages of logistic regression has been
described as:
The logistic regression equation limits the value of between 0 and 1. Where
other regression may take on value of less than zero or greater than one,
which are substantively irrelevant and have no “interpretative” value.
A simple transformation of the logistic regression model’s parameters leads
to an easily interpretable and explainable quantity.
A number of useful tests for assessing model adequacy and fit are available
for logistic regression models. These include measures similar to the
“coefficient of determination”.
Parameter estimates generated from a logistic regression model could be
applied in a simple data.
The case study of Logistic Regression in customer satisfaction assessment
The study of Josephat (2012) in customers’ satisfaction evaluation was one of
the studies that used logistic regression to evaluate airline customer satisfaction. The
study developed from 272 passengers in Tanzania. Due to fact that the competition in
airline services has become greater knowing how customers satisfied were crucial to
create customers’ retention. The study employed logistic regression to identified factors
that influence customer satisfaction. Respondents were asked to show their satisfaction
level towards: on time performance, aircraft safety, schedule integrity, on board service,
and customer service. After the survey was conducted Chi-square test was used to test
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how well the logistic regression model fits the data. Then, the regression coefficients
were employed to estimate the likelihood rational model. The results were shown that:
on time performance, aircraft safety, schedule integrity, and on board service were rated
excellence satisfaction level; however, a customer service was rated at the negative
side. This indicated how the airline should improve their performance.
Lawson and Montgomery (2006) in the study of continuous improvement
program focusing on customer satisfaction using logistic regression to model the
process performance. The study interested in knowing whether customers will be
repurchase from the same seller again. The study consisted of 85 samples. The study
has categorized the samples into binary variables of “Repeated customer” and “New
customer”; moreover, the repeated customer will be recorded the amount spending by
using binary variables of “Small for any account below $100,000” and “Large for any
account above $100,000”. The proposed study was using logistic regression to
determine the significant relationship between the customer demographic variables and
the response variables; for example, the customer with income over $10,000 are tends
to return the firm and purchase a goods over $50,000. Last, the logistic regression was
employed to estimate the probabilities of each condition. Apart from the logistic
regression the study employed: odds ratio, goodness of fit, and ordinary- logistic
regression to confirm the hypothesis correctness and the prediction accuracy.
2.4 Background of Thai Motorway
The highway networks of Thailand have spans over 60,000 kilometres across
the nation. The coverage of highway may significantly benefits to the logistic system
and the prosperity of socioeconomic. However, the highways may be designed under
the philosophy of interconnecting most of the area. Junctions and traffic lights were the
tools of connecting the road to local community. The motorway has been built in order
to increase the traffic speed. By physical, motorway was a dual carriage road designed
for high-speed traffic flow. Avoiding slowing down traffic flow, traffic lights and
intersections has been eliminated. U-turn and intersection were designed to use bridges
and diversions. Furthermore, this highway was an access control road; it restricted for
vehicles with over four-wheels. For these reasons the Motorway has been
distinguishing to the highways as a higher standard road. Recently, the motorway
network of Thailand has spanned over 140 kilometres from the two major routes of
Route 7 and Route 9.
Motorway route 7 was the first built motorway of Thailand stretches 82
kilometres. This motorway may be one of the most important networks to Thailand
economic. It lies from Sri-Nakharin road, Bangkok to Pattaya city as shown in Figure
2.1. M.7 passes economics and tourism landmarks listed:
Suvarnabhumi airport:
The major international airport of Thailand ranked in the world’s 16th
busiest airport. In year 2013 the airport has welcomed over 26 million travellers,
which increased by over 18% from year 2012.
LaemChabang port:
The world’s class deep seaport. This port has the ability to support super-
post panamax ship. The size of super-post panama ship is equivalent to 3.5 times
10
larger than international soccer field size. This port has the capacity of 7.7
million TEU/ yr. Currently, the port is on the expansion plan.
Chonburi province:
The major industrial province of Thailand. It is the main production for
electronics and automotive parts.
Pattaya city:
The well-known travel destination in beaches and night life, ranked in the
17th out of 100 world’s famous travel destinations. In year 2013 the city
welcomed over 9 million travellers, which increased by 4.5% from year 2012.
Figure 2.1 Map of Motorway Route 7
11
Moreover, to the convenient and relaxation of road users Motorway Route 7 has
equipped with rest area facility at the Km.49-51 on in-bound and out-bound directions.
The equipped facility is listed:
Gas station
Grocery and Souvenir store
Restaurant
Public rest rooms
Each day the traffic volume on M.7 could be as high as 160,000 vehicles. In
which the number has been significantly increase from earlier year and it is projected
to increase from the integration of ASEAN nations. The summary of traffic volume is
shown on Figure 2.2.
Figure2.2 Summary of daily average commuting vehicles
Apart from M.7, Motorway Route 9 (M.9) was the second operating motorway
network of Thailand stretches 64 kilometer. It lies from Bang Pa-In to Rama II highway
and interconnect with Motor Route 7 at Bang Na-Trat road. This road interconnect
North East region of Thailand to East and South region of Thailand. Recently, the M.9
has no rest area facility.
In the future, the motorway network of Thailand is expected to span over 4,000
kilometers fully covered the nation. Therefore, the assessment of M.7 should be done
in order to be the guideline for the future road construction.
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Chapter 3
Survey Study on Factors Affecting Road Users’ Satisfaction
Over the time service quality has significantly become important issue to
service providers. To deliver highest service quality may be desirable to create
customers’ satisfaction. Nevertheless, the service provider needs to understand their
service quality position. One of the effective ways to determine the service quality is to
conduct a survey from actual clients. Number of studies mentioned about the survey as
a tools of understanding clients’ idea towards the existing products or services on how
they like or dislike. Therefore, survey is the tool that helps the service provider to gather
the feedback from client for the improvement of service. In this study we gathered the
information from existed study about road development and the study has taken the
research gap of existed study, then we developed to be matched with the M.7
characteristics. The summary of existed study concerned is summarized in Figure 3.1.
Main Factors
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1 Respondent
Profiles
2 Value for Time &
Money
3 Comfort
4 Safety
5 Amenities
6 Distance Sign and
Road Markers
7 Conditions
Figure 3.1 The summary of concerning dimensions
13
3.1 Questionnaire
The questionnaire consisted of two main parts asking respondents to indicate
their satisfaction level toward the given questions.
The first part is the respondents demographic variables consisted of nine
questions. Respondents will be asked to fill their general information.
The questions were as followings:
Gender
Male
Female
Age
18-27 years old
28-37 years old
38-47 years old
48-57 years old
58 years old and above
Education Level
High school or Vocational certificate
Associate’s Degree of Vocational Diploma
Bachelor’s Degree
Master’s Degree
Above Master’s Degree
Occupation
Student
Teacher/professor
Government Officer
State Enterprise Employee
Office Worker
House husband/ Housewife
Driver
Private Business
Other (Please specify)
The Average Income per Month
Less than 20,000 Baht
20,000 – 50,000 Baht
50,001 – 100,000 Baht
100,001 – 200,000 Baht
Over 200,000 Baht
14
Type of your Vehicle
Private Car
Cab (Taxi, Van, Bus)
Commercial Vehicle (Pickup Truck)
Six-wheeled Truck
Heavy Truck (10 wheels or more)
The Average Distance you Travel per Year
Less than 20,000 km.
20,001 – 40,000 km.
40,001 – 70,000 km.
70,001 – 100,000 km.
Over 100,001 km.
The Frequency of Traveling Motorway Route 7
Everyday
4-6 times/ week
2-3 times/ week
1 time/ week
1 time/ month
Less than 1 time/month
The Reason of Traveling via Motorway Route 7: (May select more than one)
To return to hometown
Holiday
Transaction / Transportation
To study
To work
Suitability of fees paid
The convenience of traveling
To save time for travel
Other (Please specify)
The second part was the main questions about factors affecting road users’
satisfaction consisted of 27 questions. Respondents are asked to indicate their
satisfaction level towards the given question. The answer are based on five-point likert
scale ranging from 5= ‘very satisfied’ to 1= ‘very dissatisfied’, and 0= ‘non applicable’.
15
The questions were as follows:
1. Value for Time and Money
1.1 The speed and accuracy in the collection of the toll fees by highway
officers.
1.2 Traveled time that is saved when using this road.
1.3 The fuel consumption rate when using this road.
1.4 The amount of toll fees paid when using this road.
2. Comfort of travel
2.1 The number of the collection of the toll fees in each tollgate.
2.2 The smoothness of the road surface.
2.3 The number of lanes for this road.
2.4 The width of each lane of this road.
2.5 The location of each interchange that is able to connect to the
destination.
3. Safety
3.1 The speed in managing the accidental area by officers.
3.2 The speed of emergency responses by officers.
3.3 Controlling in freight transportation of transportation vehicles.
3.4 The safety equipment of this road which is rail way, fences, and
guard rails
3.5 The lighting that assists drivers at night.
4. Amenities
4.1 The number of public toilets.
4.2 The cleanness of public toilets.
4.3 The convenience of reaching to the service area / fuel stations.
4.4 The safety while spending time at car park of service area likes no
theft.
5. Signs / Traffics / Warning and the Road Markers
5.1 The number of traffic signs that is facilitated when using this road.
5.2 The accuracy and clarity of traffic signs that is facilitated when using
this road such as guideposts and road sign.
5.3 The number of emergency telephone number signs.
5.4 The warning signs when the lanes are closed like diversion signs.
5.5 The visibility of road mark.
6. Conditions
6.1 The traffic volume of this road.
6.2 The cleanliness of road surface and the surrounding area.
6.3 The characteristics of the Motorway Route 7 such as fences, no
traffic lights, and no vehicle of less than 4 wheels.
6.4 The behavior of other drivers.
The last question asks respondents to rate their overall satisfaction level. This
question will be used as the dependent variable.
16
3.2 Planning Stage and Development Design
The main idea of this study was to determined factors affecting road users’
satisfaction by gathering the factor that potentially concerned to the M.7 road users.
The gathered information will be analyzed and develop an appropriate action to cope
the concerns. In addition, this study proposed to be the medium of information
exchange for road authority to understand of road users’ needs. The goal of this study
was to be the guideline of future road development. To help understating the study
concept has been summarized to the four main stages as shown in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.2 The elements to road user satisfaction development
After the data collection, we clustered the collected questionnaire by regarding
the overall satisfaction level (dependent variable). Respondents were based on two
groups: Satisfied and Dissatisfied road users. The road users that indicated “neither
satisfied nor dissatisfied” will be automatically grouped as “dissatisfied”, because the
study purposed to create satisfaction to all road users. Moreover, the indication of
neither satisfied nor dissatisfied may implied of hesitation toward the road service level.
The summary of group clustering process is summarized in Figure 3.3
Stage I
•Problem detection : Data collection
Stage II
•Data clustering: Groupping Satisfied
/Dissatisfied
Stage III
•Evaluating stage: Identify factors affecting the
satisfaction
Stage IV
•Development planning
17
Figure 3.3 Demonstration of data grouping
The determination of factors affecting road users’ satisfaction could not be
accomplished without the observation of “how respondent to percept to the level of
satisfaction on given questions”. The idea of this part was to group the study variables
into factors then the data will be analyzed based on the factors. The conceptual
framework of data grouping is summarized in Figure 3.4.
Figure 3.4 Demonstration of variables grouping
To the determination of factors affecting road users’ satisfaction the study
employed two different methods under the different proposed with the single objective
to “Fluently understanding in road users’ satisfaction”.
Very Satisfied
Satisfied
Neither nor
Dis-satisfied
Very dis-satisfied
Satisfied
Dis-satisfied
X11
X1.222
X1.3
X2.1
111 X2.2
X2.3
X7.1
X7.2
�̅� of Sign, Traffic warning,& Road marking
�̅� of Safety equipment & Environment
X7.3
�̅� of Convenience
18
The first step, we compared the satisfaction level of road users between
directions. The comparison purposed to understand how road users percepts to the
satisfaction level on each direction and to determine whether the respondents percept
the same satisfaction or not. The obtained result helps drawn suggestion on direction
that needed to be prioritized on. The comparison has been done by the employment of
independent t-test.
The model of t-test is drawn as:
𝑡 = �̅�1−�̅�2
√𝑠12+𝑠2
2
𝑛
Where,
𝑡 = Significance value
�̅�𝑛 = Sample mean value of group n
𝑠𝑛2 = Sample variance of group n
The comparison of t-test is given the study hypothesis as:
𝐻0= Respondents on both directions percept the equal attitude of satisfaction
𝐻1= Respondents on both directions percept the different attitude of satisfaction
Since, road users are considered as customers, who use the commuting service
from road authority; therefore, service development shall be an important duty for the
authority to elevate their service quality. Periodical service quality evaluation is needed
to keep the customer satisfied. In addition, routine maintenance shall be another
concern to maintain the road in good conditions and convenient. Despite of strategic
planning from the road authority to elevate the road service quality the involvement of
actual road users is needed to identify how they percept to the road service and what do
they need. This may be the efficient way for precise development direction. Therefore,
the second step analyzed the categorical variables that may impact the satisfaction level
of the road users. In this stage we employed “Binary logistic regression (logit)”
statistical technique to predict the variables that may potentially affect the satisfaction
of road. The study has divided the findings into two aspects of control variables and the
seven concerning factors. The model of this study is summarized on Figure 3.5. The
obtained result will be used as a medium of information to road authority for future
service quality development.
19
Figure 3.5 Analysis model of factors affecting road users’ satisfaction
The model of logistic regression is drawn as:
𝑃𝑦 =𝑒𝑏0+𝑏1𝑥1+⋯+𝑏𝑛𝑥𝑛
1 + 𝑒𝑏0+𝑏1𝑥1+⋯+𝑏𝑛𝑥𝑛
Where,
𝑃𝑦 = Probability of 𝑦 occurring (Satisfaction level)
𝑒 = Natural logarithm base
𝑏0 = Interception at 𝑦-axis
𝑏1 = Line gradient
𝑏𝑛 = Regression coefficient of 𝑥𝑛
𝑥1 = Predictor variable (Predicts the probability of y)
In order to employ the logit function we must meet the requirement. One of the
requirements was the binomial response of dependent variable (y), called
“dichotomous” variable. To meet the requirement the data were simplified data into
two groups based on the respondent preference of overall satisfaction level; Very
satisfied, and Satisfied will be categorized as “satisfied”. Very dissatisfied, and
Dissatisfied will be categorized as “dissatisfied”. Moreover, respondents with “neither
satisfied nor dissatisfied” will be categorized as “dissatisfied” due to the uncertainty
and this study object to create satisfaction to all road users. The transformation of
binomial response is shown on Figure 3.6. Furthermore, the study employed testing
Control variables
Respondent Demographic:
Gender
Age
Education
Traveling information:
Vehicle type
Travel day
Travel time
Travel frequency
Traveling direction
Factors affecting road users’ satisfaction
Sign/ Traffic/ Warnings & road marking
Comfort of travel
Amenities
Value for time and money
Road conditions
Response rate of safety officer
Safety equipment & environment
Determination of
factors affecting
M.7 road users’
satisfaction
20
tools such as, goodness-of-fit, parameter estimator and correlation to confirm the
accuracy and correctness of the study.
𝑦𝑖 = {0=𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑1=𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑
Figure 3.6 The binomial response
Additionally, the study hypothesis set up at the significant value (P-value) of 95%
(α = 0.05), the hypothesis is formulated as:
𝐻0 = The satisfaction of M.7 road users does not affected by the study variables.
𝐻1 = The satisfaction of M.7 road users does affected by the study variables.
3.3 Survey Method and Data Collection
The data was collected from the distribution of the questionnaire at the rest area
of M.7 on both in-bound (Chonburi – Bkk.) and out-bound (Bkk. - Chonburi)
directions. The data was distributed during October – December 2013. Respondents
were randomly selected regardless of drivers or passengers; however, the respondents
must be at the age of over 18. The study gathered 1,331 samples in total. Nevertheless,
some of the collected questionnaires were not passed the filtering process, due to
incompleteness and respondents were indicated the same satisfaction level through all
questions. After the filtration process the total numbers of 890 samples were passed the
process and able to proceed to the analysis process.
21
Chapter 4
Implication of the findings
4.1 Descriptive Statistics
The study has consisted of 890 respondents who commute on M.7. The
information of respondents is summarized as follow: 31.80% of the respondents were
travel during 9.01-11.00 a.m. The majority of the respondents (74.83%) were traveling
from Bangkok to Chonburi, on the vehicle type the majority (56.29%) were using
private vehicles. Most of the respondents traveling via this route often travel one time
per month (28.76%). The profile of respondents is summarized on Table 4.1. In
addition, the number of satisfied and dissatisfied road users is summarized on Table
4.2.
Table 4.1 Respondents profiles (Demographics information)
Determinant
Motorway Route 7 users
Total Percentage
(n=890) (%)
Period of Traveling
7:01-9:00 am 62 6.97
9:01-11:00 am 283 31.80
11:0-1:00 pm 220 24.72
1:01-3:00 pm 185 20.79
3:01-5:00 pm 121 13.60
5.01-7.00 pm 19 2.13
Direction
In Bound 224 25.17
Out Bound 666 74.83
Gender
Male 449 50.45
Female 441 49.55
Age
18 - 27 years 331 37.19
28 - 37 years 302 33.93
38 - 47 years 152 17.08
48 - 57 years 79 8.88
58 years or above 26 2.92
Education Level
High school or Vocational certificate 197 22.13
Associate's Degree or Vocational Diploma 153 17.19
Bachelor's Degree 464 52.13
Master's Degree 66 7.42
Above Master's Degree 10 1.12
22
Determinant
Motorway Route 7 users
Total Percentage
(n=890) (%)
Occupation
Student 201 22.58
Teacher/Professor 45 5.06
Government officer 52 5.84
State enterprise employee 50 5.62
Office worker 333 37.42
House husband/Housewife 37 4.16
Driver 48 5.39
Private Business 110 12.36
Other 14 1.57
Average Income per Month
Less than 20,000 Baht 541 60.79
20,001 - 50,000 Baht 280 31.46
50,001 - 100,000 Baht 46 5.17
100,001 - 200,000 Baht 14 1.57
Over 200,001 Baht 9 1.01
Type of Vehicle
Private car 501 56.29
Cab (taxi, van, coach bus) 289 32.47
Commercial vehicle (Pickup truck) 74 8.31
Six-wheeled truck 18 2.02
Heavy truck (10 wheels or more) 8 0.90
Average Distance Travelled per Year
Less than 20,000 km. 430 48.31
20,001 - 40,000 km. 306 34.38
40,001 - 70,000 km. 80 8.99
70,001 - 100,000 km. 56 6.29
Over 100,001 km. 18 2.02
Frequency of Traveling on M. 7
Everyday 92 10.34
1 time/week 98 11.01
2-3times/week 155 17.42
4-6 times/week 70 7.87
1 time/month 256 28.76
Less than 1 time/month 219 24.61
Table 4.2 Overall satisfaction level
Determinant Total
(n= 890)
Percentage (%)
Satisfied 602 67.6
Dissatisfied 288 32.4
23
The determinations of factors affecting road users’ satisfaction are based in two
stages. The first stage compares the satisfaction level of road users based on travel
directions. The second stage is the factors determining the satisfaction level of road
users. However, before the determination of factors affecting road users’ satisfaction
we employed data analysis to check if any variables could be reduced or the variables
could be regrouped for better appropriation.
4.2 Data Analysis
The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was conducted from 27 determinants
(based on the questionnaire) with orthogonal rotation (varimax) in order to identify the
structure of determinants related to road user satisfaction. The value of Kaiser-Meyer-
Olkin (KMO) value was 0.948 out of 1; this indicated that samples were appropriate to
proceed on factor analysis. On the Bartlett’s test of Sphericity, the approximation of
Chi-square and the significance was 13,704.147 from 351 df, and 0.000; respectively,
these indicated that correlations between items are sufficiently large for the PCA. The
result from factor analysis is summarized on Table 4.3. The result of factor analysis has
regrouped the variables as followings:
Distance signs and Road markers:
The factor concerns on traffic signs, accuracy and clarity of traffic signs,
number of emergency telephone number signs, warning signs when the lanes
are closed, and visibility of road markers.
Convenience:
The factor concerns on number of tollgates, smoothness of road surface,
number of lanes, lane width, and location of each interchange.
Amenities:
The factor concerns on number of public toilets, cleanliness of public
toilets, convenience to service area, and safety in service area.
Value for time and money:
The factor concerns on speed and accuracy of toll keep collector staff, travel
time savings, fuel consumption rate, and amount of toll paid.
Road conditions:
The factor concerns on traffic congestion and cleanliness of road
environment.
Speed of safety staff:
The factor concerns on speed limit management and speed of emergency
response.
Safety equipment and environment:
The factors concerns on vehicles controlling, safety equipment, and
availability of street light.
24
Table 4.3 Factor Analysis
Factorsa Mean SD Factor
Loading
Variance
Explained
(%)
FACTOR 1: Signs/traffic/warning and road marking (0.886)b 13.060
Number of traffic signs 3.357 0.778 0.694
Accuracy and clarity of traffic signs 3.395 0.779 0.720
Number of emergency telephone
number signs 3.228 0.804 0.730
Warning signs when the lanes are
closed 3.254 0.835 0.731
Visibility of road markers 3.281 0.832 0.637
FACTOR 2: Convenience (0.887)b 12.531
Number of tollgates 3.337 0.847 0.650
Smoothness of road surface 3.303 0.894 0.598
Number of lanes 3.426 0.849 0.734
Lane width 3.477 0.812 0.726
Location of each interchange 3.319 0.806 0.566
FACTOR 3: Amenities (0.894)b 10.636
Number of public toilets 2.890 0.998 0.702
Cleanliness of public toilets 2.603 1.030 0.830
Convenience to service area 2.963 0.988 0.737
Safety in service area 3.103 0.910 0.615
FACTOR 4: Value for Time & Money (0.893)b 10.576
Speed and accuracy of highway
officers 3.452 0.729 0.707
Traveled time 3.571 0.754 0.717
Fuel consumption 3.416 0.777 0.673
Amount of toll fees 3.243 0.806 0.723
FACTOR 5: Conditions (0.891)b 9.909
Traffic volume 3.182 0.811 0.798
Cleanliness of road surface 3.360 0.846 0.686
Characteristics of Motorway Route 7 3.486 0.865 0.562
Legality of other drivers 3.191 0.813 0.685
FACTOR 6: Speed of Safety Staff (0.898)b 7.355
Speed limit management 3.222 0.760 0.778
Speed of emergency responses 3.236 0.763 0.771
FACTOR 7: Safety Equipment & Environment (0.885)b 6.237
Controlling of transportation vehicles 3.164 0.861 0.511
Safety equipment 3.441 0.834 0.526
Light at night 3.252 0.871 0.639
Total Variance Explained 70.323 a Principal component factors with iterations: Varimax rotation.
b Reliability score (Cronbach’s α) for each factor grouping is shown in parentheses.
25
4.3 The Road Users’ Perception Towards Road Directions
The study employed independent t-test to compare if there is any significant
difference in the mean satisfaction level between inbound and outbound road users or
not. The comparison was purposed to understand how road users between direction
percepts to the satisfaction level. The result of this study is expected to be a guideline
in road development. This will help guiding the directions that need be prioritizing on
development.
The result of t-test is summarized in Table 4.4. In addition, we applied Levene’s
test to determine the homogeneity of variances whether they are assumed equal or non-
equal.
Table4.4 Result of t-test
Factors Mean
in-bound
Mean
out-bound
t-value
FACTOR 1: Signs/Traffic/ Warnings and Road marking (0.887)a
1.1 Number of traffic signs 3.1830 3.3970 -3.643***
1.2 Accuracy and clarity of traffic signs 3.2098b 3.4367b -3.817***
1.3 Number of emergency telephone number
signs
3.0807b 3.2322b -2.613***
1.4 Warning signs when the lanes are closed 3.0402b 3.2644b -3.624***
1.5 Visibility of road markers 3.0536b 3.3228b -4.506***
FACTOR 2: Convenience (0.857)a
2.1 Number of tollbooths at each tollgate 2.2232b 3.3609b -2.190**
2.2 Smoothness of road surface 3.2188b 3.3113b -1.410
2.3 Number of lanes 3.3527b 3.4548b -1.651
2.4 Lane width 3.2960b 3.5285b -3.814***
2.5 Location of each interchange 3.2152b 3.3509b -2.278**
FACTOR 3: Amenities (0.874)a
3.1 Number of public toilets 2.6667b 2.9408b -3.518***
3.2 Cleanliness of public toilets 2.4570b 2.6343b -2.203**
3.3 Convenience to reach service area 2.7783b 3.0061b -2.955***
3.4 Safety in service area 2.9058b 3.1570b -3.657***
FACTOR 4: Value for Time and Money (0.833)a
4.1 Speed and accuracy of toll fees officers 3.4144b 3.4488b -0.593*
4.2 Travelled time 4.4866 3.6033 -2.004**
4.3 Fuel consumption 3.2646b 3.4438b -3.066***
4.4 Amount of toll fees 3.1205 3.2816 -2.508***
FACTOR 5: Conditions (0.833)a
5.1 Traffic volume 3.0446b 3.2127b -2.643***
5.2 Cleanliness of road surface 3.1607b 3.4148b -4.098***
5.3 Characteristics of M.7 3.3632b 3.5204b -2.488**
5.4 Legality of other drivers 3.0897b 3.2021b -1.887*
FACTOR 6: Speed of Safety Staff (0.814)a
6.1 Speed in managing the accidental area by
officers
3.0507b 3.2524b -3.535***
6.2 Speed of emergency responses 3.0963b 3.2480b -2.529**
26
a Reliability score (Cronbach’s α) for each factor grouping is shown in parentheses b The variance of satisfaction between direction is not equally assumed
* p<0.10, **p<0.05, and ***p<0.01
According to Table 4.4 it clearly shown that the mean value was about 3 on
most variables. This may implies the satisfaction level of road users was in the middle
level. Since, the sample size was large, so this brings down the average satisfaction
level. Respondents were indicating their satisfaction level at the level of 3 and 4 on
most questions. And the number of dissatisfied road users was at the rate of 32.4% as
shown on Table 4.4. Moreover, the result were also shown that road users between
direction has different perception toward the road service level on most variables. The
difference in perception level is summarized as:
Highly difference (p<0.01):
Refer to extremely difference in perception attitude. Based on Table 4.1 this
group of variable is referred to ***.
Medium difference (p<0.05):
Refer to medium difference in perception attitude. Based on Table 4.1 this
group of variable is referred to **.
Least difference (p<0.10):
Refer to least difference in perception attitude. Based on Table 4.1 this
group of variable is referred to *.
However, Smoothness of road surface and Number of lanes were the only two
variables that road user has no significantly different in service perception, this may
implies that the road users on both directions percepts to the same ideology of the road
service. These two attributes were relatively has the same mean on both directions.
Smoothness of road surface is controlled to be with in the acceptable standard of
“Satisfied”. Thereby, smoothness of the road surface may not be critically concerned
to road users. However, other variables, related to road users’ satisfaction, were
significance level less than 0.1. Therefore, the mean satisfaction levels in those items
were different between inbound and outbound users.
Based on the result we can clearly see that the mean satisfaction level of inbound
direction was lower than the outbound in all variables. In order to make road users on
both directions equally happy, we suggest prioritizing the development on inbound
direction (Chonburi - Bangkok). In addition, the mean value on Amenities factor has
been pointed as “Dissatisfied” on both directions. However, the mean value on
outbound direction was slightly higher than the inbound but the still ranked as
dissatisfied. This implied that the amenities factor was the weak point of M.7.
Moreover, the result of t-value at all variables was over the significance level of 0.05.
Factors Mean
in-bound
Mean
out-bound
t-value
FACTOR 7: Safety Equipment & Environment (0.721)a
7.1 Controlling of transportation vehicles 3.0045b 3.1762b -2.596***
7.2 Safety equipment 3.3036b 3.4615b -2.550**
7.3 Light at night 3.0982b 3.2674b -2.566**
27
This refers to the homogeneity of variance. It implies constancy of the study model,
which the distribution does not greatly different.
4.4 Identification of Factors Affecting Road Users’ Satisfaction
The determination of factors affecting road users’ satisfaction is classified of
two aspects:
Aspect one, control variables this aspect analyzed whether the satisfactions of
road users’ are affected by the eight factors concerning on factors related to
respondents background such as age, gender, travelling day, travelling vehicle,
and frequency of travel.
Aspect two, analyzed factors that may be a concern to road users. The study
variables consisted of seven factors; Signs/traffic/warning and road marking,
Convenience, Amenities, Value for time & money, Conditions, Speed of safety
staff, and Safety equipment & environment.
The study result is summarized in Table 4.2. The explanation of the findings
will be divided into two aspects.
The first aspect refers to “Control variables” we tend to understand whether the
demographic information of road users could have effect on the satisfaction level of
road users’ or not. This aspect involves of factors that related to road user information
consisting of Gender, Age, Education, Vehicle type, Time of traveling, Day of traveling,
Traveling frequency, and Traveling direction. In addition, we employed dummy
variables to simplify the respondents into subgroup to further clarify the information of
the control variables. For example, the results on table 4.2 shown that gender was one
of the variables that determine the road users’ satisfaction; in addition, male
respondents were less likely satisfied to road service than female respondents. In this
case, it may implies that male respondents may not be as compromised to the road
service. Moreover, in logistic regression dummy variables was the tool of increasing
the model stability (Garavaglia, and Sharma, 1998).
According to the result of odd ratio the result of this aspect could be summarized
as the followings:
The odd ratio of less than 1 implied the opportunity that The satisfaction levels
of road users may not be affect by the following variables:
o Gender
o Education
o Direction of traveling on M.7
o Time of traveling on M.7
28
The odd ratio of more than 1 implied the opportunity that The satisfaction levels
of road users may be affect by the following variables:
o Age:
In deeper analysis, we found that Young adult (age less than 38 yrs. old)
were having more attitude towards the road service level. While Middle
adult (age above 38 yrs. old) may slightly have less satisfaction. This may
implied the Middle adult might demand more on road serviceability.
o Vehicle type:
In deeper analysis, we found that respondents with personal vehicle were
having more attitudes towards the road service level, while respondents
with commercial may demand less.
o Day of traveling on M.7:
In deeper analysis, we found that the travelling on weekday (Monday -
Friday) percept to more attitudes towards the road service level than travel
during holidays.
o Frequency of traveling on M.7:
In deeper analysis we found that the frequent M.7 traveler percepts more
attitude towards the road service level satisfaction than the non-frequent
M.7 traveler.
Note that: the purpose of this aspect was to understanding whether the control variables
could have effect on the road users’ satisfaction or not. Therefore, the analysis was
regardless on the p-value.
The second aspect, “Factors related to road users satisfaction”. The result
revealed that the satisfaction of road users were significantly determined by the seven
factors of Signs/traffic/warning and road marking, Convenience, Amenities, Value for
time & money, Conditions, Speed of safety staff, and safety equipment & environment.
The result of p-value at less than 0.05 this implied the positively relationship between
“the satisfaction of road users were determining by all of the factors related to road
users satisfaction”.
In addition, the result of “Signs/Traffic/Warning and road marking” factor
consisted of Number of traffic signs, Clarity of traffic signs, Availability of emergency
phone number signs, Warning signs, and Visibility of road marks. This factor indicated
the highest opportunity to have effect of satisfaction between satisfied and dissatisfied
road users’. This also implied that the satisfactions of road users were heavily relying
on Signs/Traffic/Warning and road marking factor. The development from road
authority should concern on this factor the most. What is more, the “convenience”
factor, which consisted of Number of tollgates, Smoothness of road surface, Number
of lanes, Lanes width, and Location of interchange were receiving the second highest
opportunity of the satisfaction. This factor may be another concern to road authority for
development plan.
On the other hand, “Speed of safety staff” consisted of speed of emergency
response. And “Safety equipment and environment” consisted of Availability of safety
equipment, Light at night, and Vehicles controlling access were the two factors that
received the least opportunity to have effect of satisfaction between satisfied and
29
dissatisfied road user. These factors may imply that road users were not giving much
importance on these two factors or the road users may not have experienced.
Additionally, the study conducted a confirmatory test to confirm the
appropriation of the model. Based on the Table 4.5 the significant values of Hosmer
and Lemesshow’s at 1.00 refer to the high level of model appropriateness and the model
correctness was strongly accepted. In further the pseudo R-square of 0.942, imply the
evidence of strong strength association between explanatory variables and the predictor
variables at the degree of 97 percent. If the value of Hosmer and Lemesshow’s was low
it may evidently imply the less reliability level.
Table 4.5 Results of Logistic Regression
Variables Odd Ratio Std. Error.
Control variable
Gender (1=Male, 0=Female) 0.661 0.523
Age (1=Young adult, 0=Middle adult)1 1.803 0.566
Education (1=Undergraduate and below,
0= Graduate and above)
0.496 0.921
Vehicle types (1=Private, 0=Commercial)2 1.169 0.518
Travel direction (1=In-bound, 0=Out-bound) 0.765 0.612
Travel day (1=Weekday, 0=Weekend) 2.613 0.914
Travel time (1=Morning, 0=Evening)3 0.837 0.561
Travel frequency (1=Frequent, 0=Non-frequent)4 1.922 0.533
Factors related to road users satisfaction
Signs/traffic/warning and road marking 11,194.098 1.475***
Convenience 11,903.735 1.453***
Amenities 2,069.576 1.237***
Value for Time & Money 3,146.506 1.264***
Conditions 4,185.473 1.265***
Speed of Safety Staff 277.919 0.930***
Safety Equipment & Environment 260.581 0.898***
Model correctness 97.00%
Hosmer and Lemesshow’s Chi Square = 0.670 Sig.= 1.00
Nagelkerke Pseudo R-squared = 0.942
-2Log Likelihood = 113.025
* p<0.10, **p<0.05, and ***p<0.01
Remark: 1 Age group: Young adult = 18-37 yrs. old , Middle adult = 37years old and above 2 Vehicle type: Private = Personal vehicles, Commercial = Taxi, Bus, and Vehicle
from 6 wheels 3 Travel time: Morning = 07.00-1300, Evening = 1300- 1900 4 Travel frequency: Frequent = Travel more than twice/ week, Non-frequent = Travel
less than twice/ week
30
Chapter 5
Conclusions, Recommendations, and Future Research
The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the factors that could
potentially concerns to road users. The study conducted a survey asking respondents to
indicate their satisfaction level towards the given questions about the road service. The
answers were based on five-point-likert scale ranging from Very satisfied to Very dis-
satisfied. Respondents were randomly picked at the rest area of Motorway Route 7,
Thailand and the survey was conducted on the inbound (Chonburi - Bkk.) and outbound
(Bkk. - Chonburi) direction. The analysis of this study was using independent t-test to
compares the level of road users’ satisfaction on each direction, and logistic regression
to determine factors that may concerns to road users.
The findings of this study aim to indicate factors that affecting the satisfaction level
of road users. To the findings we categorized the factors into two aspects of: Control
variables and Factor that regards of road physical condition.
On the first aspect, it seemed that the satisfaction level of road users might
not be affecting on the following factors: gender, education, travel direction, and travel
time. While age, vehicle type, travel day, and travel frequency may be the factors that
affect the satisfaction level. This may implied that some groups of respondents might
demand for higher road service standard. For example, Middle adults respondents
(Over 38 years old) may require more on smooth road surface, While younger
respondents may require less on smooth road surface.
The second aspect “factors that regards of road physical condition”. This
aspect was clearly shown that all of the seven factors (Signs/traffic/warning and road
marking, Convenience, Amenities, Value for time & money, Conditions, Speed of
safety staff, and safety equipment & environment) were affecting the satisfaction level.
In other word this mean all of the seven factors were important to the satisfaction level.
If the satisfaction on a single factor dropped this may dropped the overall satisfaction
level. Therefore, it is crucial to elevate the road service by concerning all the seven
factors. Additionally, the result of analysis shown that “Speed of safety staff, and Safety
equipment & environment” were received the least odds ratio value. This seemed that
road users may not experience the rescue of safety staff, and this may implied that road
users may not prioritized much on safety equipment & environment factors. While road
users may give more prioritized on “Signs/traffic/warning and road marking”.
Therefore, the road development authority should firstly focus on this factor. Then,
focus on other factors to satisfy the road users and to serve the road demand that may
increase from the integration of the ASEAN nations. Moreover, the authority goal
should be focusing on every factor that may impact the road users’ satisfaction to make
the communication safer and to comfort the journey.
Furthermore, the results were shown that the overall satisfaction level was
ranked in the neither satisfied nor dissatisfied level. Most of the variables were ranked
at the level of 3.00-3.50 this indicated that road users may not be much satisfied to the
current road service ability. However, we found that the Amenities factor were rated at
the “dissatisfied”. The factors were consisted of Number of public toilets, Cleanliness
of public toilets, Convenience to reach service area, and Safety in service area. In
31
harmony to the survey we observed that the physical condition of the public restrooms,
and found that the rest rooms were evidently out of service. The appearance of the rest
rooms is shown on Figure 5.1. This evidently shows the required effort by PTT Public
Company Limited as the organization that taking care of the service area facility.
Therefore, PTT should response to the issue.
One of the effective method is to reconstruct the public restrooms; good ventilation
system. We also suggest the public restrooms should be toll collected to be used as
maintenance fee. Moreover to the adequacy number of public restrooms, Sphere project
suggested the number of available restrooms should not exceed 20 people per unit.
Furthermore, the overall mean satisfaction level of outbound direction (from
BKK.) was slightly higher than the opposite direction. On most of the variables road
users has the different perception towards the road satisfaction. However, Smoothness
of road surface and Number of lanes were the only factors that road users has percept
to the same mean of satisfaction level. Since, road users’ percept the higher satisfaction
level on the outbound direction. Therefore, we suggest the road development should be
firstly focused on the inbound direction.
Figure 5.1 The appearance of public rest rooms
Last, this study clearly shown that the satisfaction level of the road users were
most ranked “Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied” this may be the hard work for road
authority to turn the satisfaction level into “Very satisfied” level. Moreover, M.7 is the
toll collection road, road users may demand for higher standard road that derives
convenience, and safety. The development is crucially needed; nevertheless, the
development may be time and budget consumes. To balance the development and
limited resource consumptions we suggest the development of three stages.
32
Short stage:
This stage is the developments on factors that consume least time and
budget. In this stage we suggest the improvement on public restrooms and
improvement of the rest area such as cleanliness.
Medium stage:
This stage is the development on factors that consume more time and
budget. In this stage we suggest the improvement on Visibility of traffic/
road signs and expand the toll booths.
Large stage:
This stage of development is largest resources consuming. This will be
longest stage that consume budget and time the planning of this
improvement stage should be thoroughly plan. In this stage we suggest the
improvement on road infrastructure, especially road cracks and road access
controlling system that support faster traffic flows.
The study of road users’ satisfaction could be continued for thoroughly
understanding. We suggest the employment of more advanced tools such as simulation
program to deeper understand the level of serviceability; for instance, determine the
rate of traffic flow per hour at the toll keeping. Moreover, the study shall be expanding
to other roads to compare and contrast the level of road serviceability. The result shall
be used to raise the road serviceability. Lastly, we suggest the data collection to be vary
in time and day to understand whether road users percept to the same satisfaction level
during the day with high traffic or low traffic day.
33
References
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Management from the View Points of Long-and Short-Distance Road User’s
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Frederick J., Gravetter, and Larry B. Wallnau., 2009. Statistics for the Behavioral
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George C., L. Bezerra, Carlos F., and Gomes. 2015. The effects of service quality
dimensions and passenger characteristics. Journal of Air Transport Management
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Intercity division Department of Highways. “Motorway Visions/Missions/ and
Objectives”, 2012. URL: motorway.go.th
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P. Josephat, and A. Ismail., 2012. A Logistic Regression Model of Customer
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facilities”. URL: spherehandbook.org
34
APPENDICES
35
Appendix A
Questionnaire
Road User’s Satisfaction Survey
Motorway route 7 (Bangkok - Chonburi)
Section:1 Please mark in for information that is true to you (Please select only one)
Gender:
Male Female
Age:
18 - 27 years 28 - 37 years 38 - 47 years
48 - 57 years 58 years or above
Education Level:
High school or Vocational certificate
Associate's Degree or Vocational Diploma
Bachelor's Degree Master's Degree Above Master's Degree
Occupation:
Student Teacher/Professor Government officer
State enterprise employee Office worker House husband/Housewife
Driver Private Business Other (please specify)…………
The Average Income per Month:
Less than 20,000 Baht 20,000 - 50,000 Baht 50,001 - 100,000 Baht
100,001 - 200,000 Baht Over 200,001 Baht
Type of Your Vehicle:
Private car Cab (taxi, van, coach bus) Commercial vehicle (Trucks)
Six-wheeled truck Heavy truck (10 wheels or more)
Staff only Date (dd/mm/yy):……/……/……
Time: 7.01-9.00am 9.01-11.00am
11.01am-1.00pm 1.01-3.00 pm
3.01-5.00 pm 5.01-7.00 pm
Direction: In bound (Travel to Bangkok)
Out bound (Travel to Chonburi)
36
The Average Distance You Travel per Year:
Less than 20,000 km. 20,000 - 40,000 km. 40,001 - 70,000 km.
70,001 - 100,000 km. Over 100,001 km.
The Frequency of Traveling via Motorway Route 7:
Everyday 4-6 times/week 2-3times/week
1 time/week 1 time/month Less than 1 time/month
The Reasons of Traveling via Motorway Route 7: (May select more than one)
To return to hometown Holidays Transaction/Transportation
To study To work Suitability of fees paid
The convenience of traveling To save time for travel
Other (please specify)……………………………………………
Section2 Please mark in the "box" of your satisfaction level (Please select only one)
37
38
Appendix B
The Identification of Factors Affecting Road Users’ Satisfaction
(Employment of Multiple Regressions)
Songklanakarin J. Sci. Technol.
37 (2),, Mar. - Apr. 2015
Factors affecting road users’ satisfaction: the case of
Motorway Route 7
Suthathip Suanmali*, Kasidis Chankao, Paphitchaya Korbsanthia,
and Veeris Ammarapala
School of Management Technology, Sirindhorn
International Institute of Technology, Thammasat
University, Mueang, Pathum Thani, 12121 Thailand.
Received: 24 March 2014; Accepted: 5 June 2014
Abstract
This study proposes to evaluate and identify the significant factors affecting road users’
satisfaction level. This study mainly focuses on investigating the related factors that may contribute
to satisfaction level of all road users on Motorway Route 7. The questionnaires are developed and
separated into three main sections, which are respondent profiles, measure- ment of the level of
satisfaction toward each indicator, and the overall satisfaction of travelers on the Motorway Route 7.
Several statistical techniques are proposed, such as exploratory factor analysis and multiple
regression. Moreover, descrip- tive correlation analysis is c o n d u c t e d to show that the
dependent variables contribute to the independent variable. The study has shown that the highway
conditions are the most significant factor affecting road users’ satisfaction. The completed result of
this study is expected to serve as a guideline for highway authorities to improve their service ability
level along Motorway Route 7.
Keywords: correlation analysis, motorway, multiple regression, road users’ satisfaction level
1. Introduction
Land transportation is one of the most
important ways of transportation as it covers
most areas and modes. The Department of
Highways (2012) revealed that over
51,600 kilometers of highways in Thailand are
obligated by the Department of Highways,
Thailand. Among all, highways can be divided
into two main groups, national highways and
intercity motorway with 51,323.789 km and
289.419 km in length, respectively. The Department
of Highways is in charge of all highways in
Thailand. It collaborates with overseas operations
and academic administration and allows external
agencies involved to comment on the relevance of
highway use. In addition, the Inter City Motorway
Division works along with the Department of
39
Highways; it serves the motorway network to
link together all regions and to follow highway
standards and safety. It constructs, maintains,
and develops highway and safety systems. The
Inter City Motorway Division aims to
improve satisfaction of users and to build
competitive advantages (Inter City Motorway
Division, 2012). Their objective is to provide
good service- ability and convenient road
networks to Thai people. Other than improving
the infrastructure of the country’s logistics
systems, the Inter City Motorway Division has
been trying to maximize the efficiencies of road
networks in order to promote Thailand
tourisms. With better road networks, it believes
that visitors could gain access to many of
Thailand’s hidden attractions without much
difficulties. In addition, the Department of
Highways has an objective to accelerate the
development of road construction, and
motorway, to cover all regions. Furthermore,
the department aims to develop highways to
accommodate increased traffic and eliminate
traffic congestion problems (Department of
Highways, 2012).
Approaching the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN), Thailand has planned
to cope with logistics and transportation systems
to support the economic growth of the ASEAN
nations. In 2012, the total travelled distance on
highways was 177,341,178,014 vehicle-kilometers,
where 78,058,821,845 vehicle-kilometers of the
total travelled. Distance on highways is the total
freight transport. Further- more, the annual
average growth rate of travelling on highways
during 2008 to 2012 was 5.4% (Department of
Highways, 2012). Motorway Route 7 is known
as the route that stretches from Bangkok to
Chonburi and is connected to a variety of
important landmarks, which are Suvarnabhumi
Airport, Laemchabang Sea Port, and Pattaya
City. Suvarnabhumi Airport was ranked as the
20th
international airport in year 2010 for
transport. Moreover, Laemchabang Sea Port,
one of the major deep sea ports in Thailand, is
significant to the commerce of the country
(Office of Planning, Ministry of Transport,
2013). Pattaya City is a famous tourist
attraction generating almost 87,000 million baht
from tourists, which welcomed over 8 million
tourists in 2012 (Amnatcharoenrit, 2013)
* Corresponding author.
Email address: [email protected]
Motorways are roads that are designed to avoid city
towns and are concerned with safety and traffic
congestions by having full control of access with
fences along the road, as certain types of vehicle
such as motorcycles are prohibited to enter the
motorway. They are constructed to support high
speed traffic flow of 120 to 140 km/h without traffic
lights and junctions. Road users have to pay toll
fee of at least 30 Baht, and they do expect higher
standard of serviceability level than travelling on a
free public highway. The Inter City Motorway
Division receives a certain amount of annual budget
to operate routine maintenance on roads and their
assets along the roads. Those tasks are small
deterioration fixing on road surfaces, shoulder
maintenance, sidewalk maintenance, connection
road, median, and drainage system and bridge
maintenance. Like other government organizations,
normally, the budgets that it received do not match
with the budgets requested. Therefore, it has to
come up with an effective way to utilize their
limited and inadequate maintenance budget. One
way to achieve the goal, the Inter City Motorway
Division has to be able to identify which area that
needs to be improved first through the study of road
users’ satisfaction. The attitude assessment of road
users has rarely been done on highway networks in
Thailand. Road users’ satisfaction on toll-fee
motorways has never been done to identify the
factors affecting the overall satisfaction while using
a motorway. This may result of inaccurate
development directions, and lead to the users’
dissatisfaction and result in inappropriate used of
annual maintenance budget. The result of this
study is expected to assist the authorities to
understand what road users think towards the road
service- ability level, so they are able to respond to
the needs of road users appropriately. In addition,
this study has consisted of over 800 random
samples of road users that stopped at the rest area
of Motorway Route 7 (km49-51) on both in-bound
and out-bound directions. Multiple Regression is
used as statistical method to extract factors affecting
road users’ satisfaction. This study intends to use
the obtained information as guideline for both short
and long term strategic plans for the highway
authorities. Suggestions and recommendations are
also discussed in this study.
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40
2. Literature Review
2.1 Expectations and satisfactions
To be successful in responding to
customer needs is one of the keys to create a
long-term customers hip for service providers.
In this study road users are the customers who
use and pay toll fee for using motorways, and
highway authorities are the service providers
who provide the roads service. Therefore, the
customers should be able to set their expectation
to the service providers, and they should
response to make sure that it exceeds
customers’ expectation. This would lead to road
users’ satisfaction. Thus, it is important to
understand the nature of road users’
expectations in order to serve them at their
highest satisfactions (Walker and Baker, 2000).
In addition, the study of Cardozo
(1965) has stated that satisfaction is a level of
customer approval when com- paring a service’s
perceived performance with his or her
expectations. It is based on information from all
previous experiences with the service provider,
and can be viewed as a function of all previous
transactions. Satisfaction may be based on
many transactions or just a few, depending on
the number of times the road users have used a
particular provider. In addition, services tend to
be intangible, inseparable from their provider,
and inconsistent in their delivery, so road users
have a more difficult time to evaluate services
(Jones and Suh, 2000).
Since satisfaction is one of the customer
requirements to any entity, so we would to
like to understand further on how we can
identify the existing satisfaction level and which
factors affecting road users’ satisfaction on
Motorway Route 7. In addition, the study of
Roch and Poister (2006) stated that expectations
and satisfaction in road maintenance could
imitate happiness to stakeholder management.
Thus, questions related to road conditions are
included in this study.
2.2 Significant factors
Road users’ satisfaction is affected by several
significant factors; for instance, the value of
time and money, convenience, and safety
aspects. Based on (Himachal Pradesh Public
Works Department, 2007), the respondents
feel that parking facilities and public toilets
are the most important issues that can affect their
satisfaction. Another important factor was based
on the type of road. The Road Users’ Satisfaction
Index (RUSI) score or the ranking of road usage’s
satisfaction from HPPWD (Himachal Pradesh
Public Works Department) illustrated that the
highest satisfaction level was on national
highways, which was higher than for rural roads,
because of better development on road infra-
structure. Rural non-bituminous roads, such as
Kachha Sadak, received the least satisfaction
because it has narrow lanes, poor safety walls, and
lack of travel amenities. Similarly, the study of
Wardhana et al. (2011) reveals that road
infrastructure was a significant factor that affects
satisfaction of road usage. For Japan, the users’
satisfaction concluded that the purpose of
traveling for short-distance purpose is shopping
(58.4%) and the long-distance is business trips
(40.7%). The study of measuring Dutch car
drivers’ satisfaction with travel by Ettema et al.
(2013) indicated the influential factors are socio-
demographics, experience of road conditions,
travel purpose, trip frequency, and driving habits.
Increasing the capacity of congested roads causes
fatigue and annoyance, this has an impact on travel
satisfaction. In addition, design aspects, such as
ease of way-finding and presence of buildings and
billboards, can influence travel satisfaction. The
tests of Satisfaction with Travel Scale (STS),
Dutch (2013) mentioned that the design of
highways significantly affects driver‘s satisfaction.
The Karnataka State Highway
Improvement Project (2004) conducted a survey,
asking respondents to indicate their extent of
satisfaction for different attributes on the basis of a
5-point Likert Scale. As a result the average score
of satisfaction was highest on quality of road
surface and road- side signs, and there was least
satisfaction on air and noise pollution. Some
factors, such as damaged roads, lack of signs,
potholes, and low quality of construction can
affect dissatisfaction of road users.
The UK Institution of Civil Engineers
(2011) mentioned that UK roads are satisfactory
for quality. A sharp rise in the number of pot holes
caused by periods of extreme weather is expected
to decrease satisfaction.
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41
Table 1. The comparison of Main Factors
In Malaysia, Parasuraman et al.
(1985) has shown that highway operators
need to focus on the pavement conditions,
especially on the safety of the roads by reducing
obstructions, ensuring the roads are in good
conditions, and road line markings are
maintained accordingly.
In summary, expectation is a criterion
that customer uses to evaluate service provider
or service quality. There- fore, it is important
to create a questionnaire in order to survey
road users’ satisfaction and to understand the
road users’ expectations. Moreover, good
service and more satis- faction can retain and
increase in the number of customers as road
users.
Studies of road users’ satisfaction on
Motorway route 7 have combined the
concerned dimensions from the previous
studies together with newly developed
question sets that fit the characteristics of the
Motorway route 7. Multiple regression is the
main method that is employed in this research.
Past studies, reviewed in this research, have
applied this method to successfully deliver
significant factors affecting the overall
satisfactions. Based on this study of the
characteristics of Motorway Route 7 and
previous research, there are following
categories which comprise all items that affect
road users’ satisfaction as shown in Table 1,
which are respondent profiles, value for time
and money, comfort, safety, amenities, distance
signs and road markers, and conditions.
Respondent profiles are categorized in gender,
age, vehicle-category, and respondent-category.
Value of time and money is consisted of traveling
time, fuel consumption, maintenance cost, and
accessibility to settlement. Road width, road
infrastructure, congestion are the components of
comfort. Safety consists of feeling safe, safety
designs, accident management, police posts, and
emergency phones. Amenities are comprised of
public toilets/bathrooms, foods/ drink, drinking
water, medical facilities, rain shelter/bus stops,
mechanics availability, and parking facilities.
Distance signs and road markers include
adequacy and visibilities. Conditions consist of
behavior of other drivers and the characteristics of
Motorway Route 7. Overall is the last factor for
evaluating the overall satisfaction.
The Inter City Motorway Division (2012)
cited that the vision of Motorway Route 7 is to
focus on road users’ satisfaction and to be an
important part of supporting logistics for making
economic security Thailand, and to advance
towards the top of the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN).
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42
3. Methodology
3.1 Method of approach and data collection
The study has employed two research
methods. First, it is documentary research
from journal articles and case- studies related
to road users’ satisfaction. The second method
is a survey study by distributing
questionnaires to collect data, asking
respondents to indicate their satisfaction level
on each of the items related to motorway. The
questions are answered based on a 5-point
Likert Scale ranging from “most satisfied” to
“most dissatisfied”. A summary of each item
is shown in Table 2. Questionnaires are
randomly distributed to road users who have
travelled on Motorway Route 7 on both in-
bound and out-bound directions. Data
were collected from October 19, 2013 until
December 18, 2013. In addition, the survey
focused on respondents who were either
drivers or passengers of at least 18 years in age.
3.2 Analysis of factors affecting the
satisfactions
In this study, factor analysis is used to
reduce the dimensions of related independent
variables. This technique has three main uses:
(1) to understand the structure of a set of
variables, (2) to construct a questionnaire to
measure an underlying variable, and (3) to
reduce a data set to a more manageable size
while retaining as much of the original
information as possible (Field, 2009).
After that, multiple regression is employed to
predict the outcome of factor affecting road
users’ satisfaction level; the correctness of
prediction has been proved from variety
methods. According to Field (2009),
regression analysis enables us to predict future
based on values of predictive variables. It is
also an efficient means of gathering data
without introducing threats to reliability that
can occur with other data collection means.
Generally, if the variance inflation factor (VIF)
values < 5 for a particular independent variable,
multicollinearity is not considered a problem
for that variable. VIF values > 5 implies that
the correlation between the independent
variables is too extreme and should be dealt
with by dropping variables from the models
(Groebner et al., 2011). The level of
significance is set at p < 0.05, as that is the
customary level used when working on
significance (Krathwohl, 2010). The correlation
coefficient squared (R2) is a measure of the
amount of variability in one variable that is
shared by the others. The adjusted R2
value
indicates the loss of predictive power, which tells
us how much variance in independent variable
would be accounted for if the model had been
derived from the population from which the
sample was taken (Field, 2009). In addition, the
study analyzed data from the examination of
predictive variables and the dependent variable.
The analysis model of factors affecting road
users’ satisfaction is described in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Analysis model of factors affecting road
users’ satisfaction.
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43
Table 2. Examples of the Questionnaire
Road User’s Satisfaction Survey
Motorway route 7 (Bangkok - Chonburi)
Section:1 Please mark in for information that is true to you (Please select only one)
Gender:
Male Female
Age:
18 - 27 years 28 - 37 years 38 - 47 years
48 - 57 years 58 years or above
Education Level:
High school or Vocational certificate
Associate's Degree or Vocational Diploma
Bachelor's Degree Master's Degree Above Master's Degree
Occupation:
Student Teacher/Professor Government officer
State enterprise employee Office worker House husband/Housewife
Driver Private Business Other (please specify)…………
The Average Income per Month:
Less than 20,000 Baht 20,000 - 50,000 Baht 50,001 - 100,000 Baht
100,001 - 200,000 Baht Over 200,001 Baht
Type of Your Vehicle:
Private car Cab (taxi, van, coach bus) Commercial vehicle (Trucks)
Six-wheeled truck Heavy truck (10 wheels or more)
The Average Distance You Travel per Year:
Less than 20,000 km. 20,000 - 40,000 km. 40,001 - 70,000 km.
70,001 - 100,000 km. Over 100,001 km.
The Frequency of Traveling via Motorway Route 7:
Everyday 4-6 times/week 2-3times/week
1 time/week 1 time/month Less than 1 time/month
The Reasons of Traveling via Motorway Route 7: (May select more than one)
To return to hometown Holidays Transaction/Transportation
To study To work Suitability of fees paid
The convenience of traveling To save time for travel
Other (please specify)……………………………………………
Staff only Date(dd/mm/yy):……/……/……
Time: 7.01-9.00am 9.01-11.00am
11.01am-1.00pm 1.01-3.00 pm
3.01-5.00 pm 5.01-7.00 pm
Direction: In bound (Travel to Bangkok)
Out bound (Travel to Chonburi)
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Section2 Please mark in the "box" of your satisfaction level (Please select only one)
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4. Results
4.1 Sample characteristics
Total samples that were collected are
1,331 samples. These samples consist of 890
useful samples and 441 non- useful samples.
The reason that determined that samples are
useful is that questionnaires have all questions
answered.
The duration of collecting the data is 20
days. The 890 useful samples can be classified
into ten determinants as indicated in Table 3.
The information is summarized as following,
the period of traveling time determinant
indicates that 31.80% of the respondents
traveled regularly via this motorway during
9.01-11.00 a.m. The majority of the
respondents (74.83%) traveled from Bangkok to
Chonburi more than from Chonburi to Bangkok
(25.17%). On the age determinant respondent’s
age is between 18 to 27 years old (37.19%) and
usually travels via this motorway. On the type of
vehicle term, the majority of the respondents always
use their private car for traveling (56.29%). Lastly,
most of the respondents traveling via this route often
travel one time per month (28.76%).
4.2 Factor analysis
Prior to multiple regression analysis, the Principal
Component Analysis was conducted from 27
determinants with orthogonal rotation (varimax)
in order to identify the structure of determinants
related to road user satisfaction. The value of Kaiser-
Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value is 0.948 out of 1, this
indicates that samples are appropriate to proceed
on
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Table 3. Respondent profiles (demographics).
Determinant
Motorway Route 7 users
Total
(n = 890) Percentage
(%)
Period of Traveling Time
7:01-9:00 am 62 6.97
9:01-11:00 am 283 31.80
11:01am-1:00 pm 220 24.72
1:01-3:00 pm 185 20.79
3:01-5:00 pm 121 13.60
5.01-7.00 pm 19 2.13
Direction
In Bound 224 25.17
Out Bound 666 74.83
Gender
Male 449 50.45
Female 441 49.55
Age
18 - 27 years 331 37.19
28 - 37 years 302 33.93
38 - 47 years 152 17.08
48 - 57 years 79 8.88
58 years or above 26 2.92
Education Level
High school or Vocational certificate 197 22.13
Associate’s Degree or Vocational Diploma 153 17.19
Bachelor ’s Degree 464 52.13
Master ’s Degree 66 7.42
Above Master ’s Degree 10 1.12
Occupation
Student 201 22.58
Teacher/Professor 45 5.06
Government officer 52 5.84
State enterprise employee 50 5.62
Office worker 333 37.42
House husband/Housewife 37 4.16
Driver 48 5.39
Private Business 110 12.36
Other 14 1.57
Average Income per Month
Less than 20,000 Baht 541 60.79
20,001 - 50,000 Baht 280 31.46
50,001 - 100,000 Baht 46 5.1
100,001 - 200,000 Baht 14 15
Over 200,001 Baht 9 1.01
Type of Vehicle
Private car 501 56.29
Cab (taxi, van, coach bus) 289 32.47
Commercial vehicle (Pickup truck) 74 8.3
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Six-wheeled truck 18 2.0
Heavy truck (10 wheels or more) 8 0.90
Average Distance Travelled per Year
Less than 20,000 km. 430 48.31
20,001 - 40,000 km. 306 34.38
40,001 - 70,000 km. 80 8.9
70,001 - 100,000 km. 56 6.2
Over 100,001 km. 18 2.02
Frequency of Traveling via Motorway Route 7
Everyday 92 10.34
1 time/week 98 11.01
2-3times/week 155 17.42
4-6 times/week 70 7.8
1 time/month 256 28.76
Less than 1 time/month 219 24.61
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Factor analysis. On the Bartlett’s test of
Sphericity, the approximation of Chi-square
and the significance is 13,704.147from
351 df, and 0.000, respectively. These indicated
that correlations between items are sufficiently
large for a Principal Component Analysis
(PCA). The likelihood increases that the null
hypothesis can be rejected and the alternative
hypothesis accepted and the variables are
related. In addition, the Cronbach’s Alpha
coefficients of all factor dimensions were
higher than 0.80. In accordance to Field (2009),
the generally accepted range of the Cronbach’s
Alpha from 0.80 is appropriate for cognitive
tests. The result from factor analysis is
summarized as the following: the first factor is
distance signs and road markers, consisted of
number of traffic signs, accuracy and clarity of
traffic signs, number of emergency telephone
number signs, warning signs when the lanes are
closed, and visibility of road markers. The
second factor is convenience, consisted of
number of tollgates, smoothness of road
surface, number of lanes, lane width, and
location of each interchange. The third factor is
of amenities, consisted of number of public
toilets, cleanliness of public toilets,
convenience to service area, and safety in
service area. The fourth factor is related to value
of time and money. The fifth factor is related to
road conditions, and the sixth is related to speed
of safety staff. Finally, the seventh factor is
related to safety equipment and environment,
which included controlling of transportation
vehicles, safety equipment, and lighting at night.
4.3 Multiple regression analysis
Out of seven independent variables, six of
them are significantly affecting road users’
satisfaction. They are distance signs and road
markers, convenience, amenities, value of time and
money, conditions and safety. According to
Krathwohl’s, about the customary level used when
working on significance, the level of significance
is to set at p< 0.05. Conditions factor appeared to
be the most important factor with 0.253, the
highest number of standardized co- efficient value
followed by distance signs and road markers
(0.173), convenience (0.172), valuation for time
and money (0.137), safety (0.085) and amenities
(0.082). However, speed of safety staff, is not a
significant factor affecting the over
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Table 4. Results of factor analysis.
Factorsa Mean SD Factor
Loading
Variance
Explained
(%)
FACTOR 1: Signs/traffic/warning and road marking (0.886)b 13.060
Number of traffic signs 3.357 0.778 0.694
Accuracy and clarity of traffic signs 3.395 0.779 0.720
Number of emergency telephone number signs 3.228 0.804 0.730
Warning signs when the lanes are closed 3.254 0.835 0.731
Visibility of road markers 3.281 0.832 0.637
FACTOR 2: Convenience (0.887)b 12.531
Number of tollgates 3.337 0.847 0.650
Smoothness of road surface 3.303 0.894 0.598
Number of lanes 3.426 0.849 0.734
Lane width 3.477 0.812 0.726
Location of each interchange 3.319 0.806 0.566
FACTOR 3: Amenities (0.894)b 10.636
Number of public toilets 2.890 0.998 0.702
Cleanliness of public toilets 2.603 1.030 0.830
Convenience to service area 2.963 0.988 0.737
Safety in service area 3.103 0.910 0.615
FACTOR 4: Value for Time & Money (0.893)b 10.576
Speed and accuracy of highway officers 3.452 0.729 0.707
Traveled time 3.571 0.754 0.717
Fuel consumption 3.416 0.777 0.673
Amount of toll fees 3.243 0.806 0.723
FACTOR 5: Conditions (0.891)b 9.909
Traffic volume 3.182 0.811 0.798
Cleanliness of road surface 3.360 0.846 0.686
Characteristics of Motorway Route 7 3.486 0.865 0.562
Legality of other drivers 3.191 0.813 0.685
FACTOR 6: Speed of Safety Staff (0.898)b 7.355
Speed limit management 3.222 0.760 0.778
Speed of emergency responses 3.236 0.763 0.771
FACTOR 7: Safety Equipment & Environment (0.885)b 6.237
Controlling of transportation vehicles 3.164 0.861 0.511
Safety equipment 3.441 0.834 0.526
Light at night 3.252 0.871 0.639
Total Variance Explained 70.323 a Principal component factors with iterations: Varimax rotation
b Reliability score (Cronbach’s α) for each factor grouping is shown in parentheses.
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road users’ satisfaction of Motorway Route 7
since the sig- nificance value is 0.087 which is
greater than 0.05 can be concluded that the
effect was too small to be detected. The overall
regression results 75.30% of adjusted R square
and
75.5% of R2
of the variance are almost equal.
Hence, this is a model of ‘no relationship’ at all
between the variables (Fiels, 2009). The
Durbin-Watson statistics was at the value of
1.767, which lies between the range of 1.5 and
2.5; this means the residuals are uncorrelated
(Field, 2009). Groebner et al. (2011) stated that
if VIF values lower than 5 for a particular
independent variable, multicollinearity is not
considered a problem for that variable. In
addition, tolerance below 0.2 indicates a
potential problem (Menard, 1995; Field, 2009).
From the studied, the VIF values are all below
5 and the tolerance statistics all above 0.2.
Hence, we can conclude that there is no
collinearity within our data.
5. Discussion and Conclusions
This study empirically investigated road
users’ satisfaction on Motorway Route 7 by using
of at least 800 samples of questionnaire in order to
survey road users’ satisfaction
Table 5 Collinearity statistics and regression results of factors affecting Motorway Route 7 users’
satisfaction.
FACTOR Motorway Route 7 users’ satisfaction (n=890)
Collinearity
Statistics
Unstandardized
coefficient
Standardized
Coefficient t Tolerance VIF
FACTOR 1: Signs/traffic/warning
and road markers 0.173 0.192 7.221*** 0.409 2.445
FACTOR 2: Convenience 0.172 0.191 7.077*** 0.398 2.51
FACTOR 3: Amenities 0.082 0.114 4.614*** 0.475 2.103
FACTOR 4: Value for Time & Money 0.137 0.145 5.908*** 0.48 2.081
FACTOR 5: Conditions 0.253 0.285 11.417*** 0.465 2.152
FACTOR 6: Speed of Safety Staff 0.034 0.04 1.715* 0.545 1.835
FACTOR 7: Safety Equipment &
Environment 0.085 0.097 3.624*** 0.404 2.475
Adjusted R Square = 0.753
Durbin-Watson = 1.767
F = 373.355***
* p<0.10, **p<0.05, and ***p<0.01
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and understand road users’ expectation to fulfill
the road users’ expectation and reach the road
users’ satisfaction on Motorway Route 7. As the
multiple regression results suggested, the
significant factors that most affected road
users’ satisfaction were conditions which are
traffic volume, cleanliness of road surface,
characteristics of the Motorway Route 7, and
legality of other drivers. The second most sig-
nificant factor that affected road users’
satisfaction was signs/traffic/warning and road
marking. Convenience is the third that affected
to road users’ satisfaction, followed by value for
time and money, amenities, safety equipment
and environment, and speed of safety staff.
The study revealed that safety
equipment and environment factors are
concerns to road users. In accordance with the
concerns; the Department of Highways
strategic plan for 2012-2016 has stated seven
stratagems to raise the highway standard. One
of the stratagems is the development of
highway infrastructure to support the growth
in regional transportation under the purpose
of traffic controlling by enforcing the Road
Traffic Act (1979) and Highway Act (1992).
Another stratagem is the development of
highway infrastructure to meet the safety
standards, also corresponds to this.
Moreover, there are seven stratagems,
which are aimed to update the accident
information on the highway, to publicize traffic
information and news to the road users, to
establish and develop service centers, to prevent
the accident on holidays by facilitating traffics
and safety, to set up and repair safety equipment
at the standards of safety, to enforce of using law
rigidly for more efficiency, to control and manage
the traffic for more safety while constructing
the road, and to improve the risks or placement
of roads (Department of Highways, 2012). This
strategic plan also aims to increase the number
of Motorway Route 7 users.
Conforming to value for time and
money factor, the Intercity Motor way Route 7
had a closed experimental motorway tollgate
system for the road users to collect smart cards
from the staff at the beginning and return it and
pay fees at the last tollgate. This closed system
will be a fair system with the concept of more
distance, more fees. This system also helps to
release vehicles at the beginning tollgate. Thus,
the fees will develop this route and others at the
safety standards and efficiency to fulfill road
users’ satisfaction and to support the logistic
system for building up the economic stability of
the country.
6. Recommendations
Currently, there are several projects and action plans of the Intercity Motorway Division
which are related to the development of highway infrastructure to support logistics of regional
transport and a closed motorway tollgate system to solve the problem of safety and expensive toll
fees. These projects are supported by the government through the Department of Highways. Based
on this study, these projects should include routine maintenance management in order to keep the
road conditions such as surface roughness at the acceptable standard; Emphasis should be place
on projects that are aimed to solve the problems of indistinctness of signs, traffic, and warnings
to increase safety while using the motorway. Additionally, repairing of the road surface is also
important for higher convenience and decreasing travel time of the road users. According to the large
amount of the vehicles that travel via this road, “easy pass” has already been implementing by
the highway authorities to improve traffic flow and decrease traffic problems.
This current study could be continued in several directions in order to understand more
about Motorway Route 7 users’ satisfaction; for instance, the emotions of road users. It will allow
us to have a better understanding about the impact of road user satisfaction. In order to continue
this study, surveying in different spans of time and place may gain more information and details from
Motorway Route 7 users. In the future, this could be a model of road users’ satisfaction on other roads.
However, traditional respondents avoid doing survey questionnaires due to a limited time. Hence,
the researchers need a strategy to reach more respondents; for instance, competing for a prize or
reward, and distributing the survey questionnaires through a social network, which might generate
more number of questionnaires respondents.
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Acknowledgements
This research is partially supported under the research fund from Sirindhorn International
Institute of Technology (SIIT) and Transportation Research Center (TREC), SIIT, Thammasat
University. In addition, the authors would like to acknowledge T. Siriaramsakul, J.
Rungruangmeesap, P. Pornpratarnsuk, and W. Panupintu for their assistance in collecting data and
would like to acknowledge the support form Inter City Motorway Division, Department
of Highways.
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