Impact of bus franchise mode change in Macao on local residents' transportation mode choice

Abstract

The new bus operation mode has been implemented in Macao from 1st August, 2011 onwards. In the new operation mode, Government becomes the operator of all bus routes while bus companies have switched their roles to service providers. The major objective of this new bus operation mode is to enhance bus ridership and minimize the uses of private vehicles. This objective has come to the main aim of this dissertation, which is to investigate whether the new bus operation mode has achieved the Government’s targets by analyzing the impacts on residents’ transportation mode choices after the change of bus operation mode. This study is essential to the Government because it can be a milestone for the Transport Bureau to evaluate the effectiveness of the new bus operation mode so as to arrange the public transportation system to fulfill the needs of the residents. If public transportation is considered as safe, convenient and efficient, local citizens will be more willing to ride on public transportation instead of private vehicles. Questionnaire survey and interview had been applied in this study. There were four main findings from the questionnaire. Firstly, the most influential factors affecting Macao residents to make mode choices are time and distance. Secondly, residents are less satisfied with the new bus operation mode compared to the old bus operation mode in terms of the satisfaction scores ranked by the respondents while significant differences in satisfaction scores towards different bus operators are recorded. Thirdly, the new bus operation mode is not effective for the time being from the perspective of the respondents. Fourthly, nearly none commuters driving their own cars or motorcycles to commute before the new bus operation mode are willing to change to buses after the commencement of the new bus operation mode. In other words, it can be concluded that the new bus operation mode does not increase ridership on buses, especially for commuters who drive their own vehicles to commute. The main reasons for the currently ineffectiveness of new bus operation mode are the high expectations for the new bus operation mode and the negative impacts caused by the increase of bus frequency. In order to change the public belief that the bus services are still not reliable and effective, the Transport Bureau in Macao has to apply measures to rebuild the confidence of bus passengers on bus services and to reduce the travel time on bus journeys. Once these suggested measures are implemented, passengers will be more willing to ride on buses and the targets of the new bus operation mode can be achieved.