November 2017 NUI Galway Student-led Research to Investigate Satisfaction Levels with Galway’s Public Bus Service

NUI Galway students with the help of NUI Galway’s Social Science Research Centre (SSRC) are leading a research project to investigate levels of satisfaction with the Public Bus Service in Galway. The student-led project is an effort to gauge satisfaction levels and bus usage practices in the city. The research project will begin this week and will last until the end of the month.

The research will initially be rolled out as an online questionnaire, and students will then undertake a series of data collection activities seeking questionnaire responses and feedback from bus customers in and around the Eyre Square area. While Galway continues to grapple with its ongoing transport-related problems, such research seeks a better understanding of the standard of service currently available to bus users and will provide important baseline information in looking for ways to combat congestion in and around Galway city.

Dr Mike Hynes, Lecturer at NUI Galway and member of the SSRC stressed the importance of such information and for further research on city-wide transport-related solutions to our current problems: “The public appreciate that any solution to the ongoing congestion in the city must put improved public transport to the fore, and this is borne out by previous research” he stated. “By assessing levels of satisfaction with the Public Bus Service as it currently operates, we can then attempt to build our knowledge about potential improvements that would lead to an increase in bus passenger travel and result in a reduction of cars on the roads of Galway.”

Olga Bolbocean, one of the lead students on the project, appealed for help from bus users over the coming weeks: “The questionnaire we designed is short and will take two to three minutes to complete, but the information that bus passengers provide will be invaluable.”

Olga added: “It’s important for people to understand why we’re doing this research; students also live and study in the city so we want practical and workable solutions to the congestion that is clogging the streets and roads and we believe an efficient and reliable Public Bus Service is an important step in that direction. We may well find that people are already satisfied with the levels of service they get, but until we ask we won’t know.”

The questionnaire can be accessed online at www.tinyurl.com/ptgalway from today until the 20th of December and participants are invited to put their name forward for a draw for a Leap Card worth €100 for Public Transport in the city.       

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