Passenger Socio Economic Approach and Service Quality of Public Transport in Determining Bus Fare

Abstract

Determining the amount of public transport fares often creates a conflict of interest between public transport operators and users. Usually the problem will arise if the community has Ability To Pay (ATP) and Willingness To Pay (WTP) lower than the amount of public transportation tariffs set by the Government. Especially for those who are captive users including community groups who rely on public transportation and have no other choice alternatives. This study focuses on the ideal tariff which willing and able to be paid by the user. ATP analysis based on socio economic characteristics user such as family income, total transportation cost, and total budget allocation for transport. WTP can be determine from user percepsion of service quality provide by the operator. Data was collected by questioner. The respondent were the passenger of AKAP economic bus with air conditioner facility, route Yogyakarta-Surabaya which represent by PO. Mira. It was found that the current tariff (Rp 38.000,00) already meet the limits set by the Government, between Rp 30,000.00 - Rp 48,000.00. The current tariff was also lower than ATP (Rp 42.600,00) and higher than WTP (Rp 35.600,00). That is, the current conditions of service, users are able and willing to pay the applicable rates. Based on the BOK (vehicle operational cost), ATP, and WTP, it was found that the ideal tariff should be between Rp 34.200,00 – Rp 35.600,00.