A SUSTAINABILITY OPTION: A META-ANALYTIC EVALUATION OF RAIL SERVICE QUALITY IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION STUDY AND PASSENGER SATISFACTION

These contradictory findings, as well as the increased emphasis among transport professionals on having satisfied passengers, highlight the important information on passenger pleasure to appraise existing data. And also evaluate the meta-analytical relationship of the reported passenger satisfaction findings. However, the equity and disconfirmation model are most significantly associated with passenger satisfaction, according to the document. Discovery shows that the analysis measures and procedure elements often alter the strength of the association between satisfaction and its experiences and outcomes. The authors examined the consequences of these impacts and suggest numerous research avenues for future study.

For a long time, the passenger's view of public transportation (PT) has been based on the rated efficiency of PT services and operations (e.g., Hensher and Daniels, 1995;Pullen, 1993). Service Quality (SQ) has arisen as a major source of difficulties for practitioners, managers, and researchers in recent decades, as well as transportation experts who have concentrated on customer (passenger) awareness. In recent years, several academia has investigated SQ in the PT sector from a variety of views and techniques. Gaining a better understanding of the relationship between passenger satisfaction and service quality is critical for transport sectors to obtain core loyalty for services provided. The variety of existing approaches could be due to the complexity of the SQ concept, the number of attributes used to evaluate it, the imprecision and subjectivity of the data used to analyze it, which is typically based on customer (passenger) satisfaction surveys, and the heterogeneity of passenger satisfaction.
There is no consensus as to what passengers should expect. In the literature, passenger performance sensitivities are compared to ideal performance or quality (Mattsson, 1992), desirable quality, and adequate or tolerable quality (Gilbert and Wong, 2003); (2006) (Hu and Jen). Teas (1993) defines expectations as "service predictions," "an ideal norm," or "attribute importance." Although there is no theoretical justification for this, many scholars (e.g., Chen ISSN: 2320-5407 Yet, it can be more valuable to transport experts to measure which provision features are imperative to passengers than expectations (Smith, 1995). As a result, public transport particularly the rail sectors must place a premium on program quality. According to Francis and Richard (2017), public transportation services must adhere to set timetables, be safe and timely, provide good service quality, efficiently employ resources, and meet the demands of users.
In today's competitive market, passenger happiness is highly dependent on a company's total service quality (SQ) and is regarded as a critical strategy. SERVQUAL and RAILQUAL models were employed by the researchers to assess service quality.
Though, the definition of quality and the methodology for measuring service quality, as well as the relationship between service quality and passenger pleasure, are still being debated. Without a doubt, the quality of public transportation service affects passenger happiness, but as Fadare and Adeniran (2018) point out, what defines quality service differs from one client to the next. Therefore, the widespread notion of PS and the many studies carried out from different perspectives, Passenger satisfaction, according to Hoffman and Bateson (2006), is a link between expectations and service experiences.

Rail service quality and passenger satisfaction
The existing literature on this subject demonstrates how various variable quantities are used to deliberate the effects of rail transport on passenger satisfaction. The discrepancy between PS expectations and perceived service can be characterized as service quality. When expectations exceed performance, perceived quality falls short of expectations, resulting in customer dissatisfaction (Parasuraman, Zeitham, & Berry, 1985). In the services industry, service quality is the key to attaining a competitive advantage. Customers' (passenger) pleasure is determined by their perceptions of service quality and their faith in the service provider.
According to Satpathy, Patnaik, and Kumar (2017), service quality is a fundamental part of the service advertising idea, and most service providers rely heavily on the service quality process as the final predictor of customer happiness and long-term loyalty. Rida et al. (2012) have highlighted Indian Railway's current challenges with a suggestion in its transportation industry by showing how service quality affects passenger satisfaction. Whether it is for a product or a service, PS is considered the main factor. If passenger research was not satisfied, certain factors have been taken into account. It also helps find the perception of people that were not pleased, which has contributed to these factors and problems over time. Kumar and Jitin (2015) examined a similar study with relation to passenger satisfaction in the Indian railway service. The analysis reviewed that service quality is the fundamental factor in rail development and growth. Hence, with public mobility, the satisfaction of passenger needs is essential for better to gain their loyalty.
Tyrinopoulos and Antoniou (2018), claim that the distance traveled also has an impact on overall satisfaction with rail-based public transportation. The ease of transfer has been connected to overall satisfaction in numerous studies. Customer (passenger) satisfaction with rail-based public transit is also influenced by station accessibility and ease of transfer.
Even when statistical significance tests are used, similar studies can produce contradictory results.
The results of various studies are combined in a meta-analysis, and the findings of such studies are simply and systematically summarized (Hunter & Schmidt, 2004). The distribution of real correlations between variables is depicted in correlation meta-analysis (Nair, 2006). Measurement error, sampling error, and other study mistakes, which are the sources of disparities in study results, can be corrected via meta-analysis (Hunter & Schmidt, 2004).

Methodology:-
To merge preview data on passenger's interaction relationships, the study employed meta-analysis and moderator analysis methodologies Furthermore, authors of previous satisfaction studies were adopted and gathered on customer(passenger) satisfaction, and our focus shifted to identifying the measure of association (regression coefficient, etc.) that would allow the greatest number of effects to be included in the meta-analysis, namely the regression coefficient. The regression coefficient is the measure to which many satisfaction findings can be transformed, and it is used most frequently in the literature to report satisfaction correlations (Glass, McGaw, and Smith 1981). The author was able to supply the requested relationship in a few cases, and data from 24 of 75 empirical studies on customer(passenger) satisfaction were included in the meta-analysis in the end (see Table 1). A total of 24 published papers and dissertations containing satisfaction or satisfaction-related variables were included in the investigation. and "word-of-mouth" recommendations are all linked, according to the studies. Customer happiness is heavily influenced by empathy, which is why providers place a premium on flight punctuality and efficient transit links between city venues and airports. Rida, K. et al (2012) Regression analysis What role does SQ play in customer satisfaction?
The empirical study found a favorable association between service quality and customer happiness in the public transportation industry. Agarwal, R. (2008) Factor and regression analysis

Relationship between customer satisfaction and SQ dimensions
The key findings of the study demonstrate that of all the variables examined, employee conduct has the largest impact on overall consumer satisfaction with Indian Railways. Based on passenger perceptions and expectations, there is a link between railway service quality attributes and customer satisfaction.
Commuter satisfaction was significantly or moderately associated with all service quality parameters, and the findings were statistically significant. The data suggest that five criteria are crucial in determining happiness with train platforms, the most important of which are refreshments and behavioral aspects.
Source: Author,2021 The trend of the Meta-analysis The table revealed several methods used by several authors for the meta-analysis. It was revealed that most of the studies made use of regression analysis and factor analysis. In addition, the majority of their findings revealed that rail service quality dimensions have a significant effect on passenger satisfaction, with empathy, tangibles, and responsiveness among the major factors influencing passengers' satisfaction. To summarize, most empirical studies agree that rail service quality has a significant effect on passenger satisfaction.

Conclusion: -
A meta-analysis of rail service efficiency and passenger satisfaction was analyzed in the report. Passenger satisfaction is a vital topic that is often overlooked. The rail sector as a mass carriage of public transport has based its efforts on ensuring passenger satisfaction globally. It has been noted that, given the ever-increasing volume of passenger traffic, adequate facilities at stations are needed to ensure passenger satisfaction. Furthermore, periodic upgrades to these facilities as well as proper maintenance of the facilities created are needed.
It is common knowledge that providing better services is critical for the growth of rail transport all over the world. However, rail mobility must continue to upgrade its services to increase quality and customer (passenger) satisfaction, and loyalty.