Quality of Service and Crime Incidents in Public Transport: A Case Study of Lagos Metropolis

Abstract

Crime incident is one of the greatest endemic challenges in public transport system. This study examined the relationship between quality of public transport and crime incidents with the view to examine the sustainability of public transport system in an African mega-city-Lagos, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure and sampling ratio of 0.0165% was used to randomly administered 1,599 questionnaires. Data obtained were analyzed using frequency distribution, correlation and regression analysis. Findings revealed that poor quality of bus stops, unemployment/poverty, poor law enforcement, inadequate transport infrastructure, poor land use pattern, ineffective regulation of public transport service are among the causes of crime incidence in public transport. Results also shows that there is significant relationship (p<0.05) between volume of crime and passengers income, educational level, age and gender. Also, a significant relationship (p<0.01) was found to exist between volume of crime incidence in public transport and quality of public transport system. There is a significant impact of quality of modes (waiting time, p<0.05; bus stop design, location and condition, p<0.05 on the volume of crime incidence experienced by passengers. Furthermore, a significant relationship (p<0.01) exists between public transport experience (length of use) of the passengers and volume of crime. This result suggests that increase patronage of public transport in Nigerian cities would be facilitated through the provision of sustainable public transport service.

Keywords: Passengers, Crime, Public transport, Patronage, Sustainable transport, Quality of modes