Abstract
Many countries have conducted various kinds of user satisfaction surveys for public transportation services. It is necessary to develop a methodology to understand how Likert scores represent a user's satisfaction. Satisfaction is a subjective indicator that depends on individual interpretation. For this study, we developed two such methodologies: "maximum satisfaction" and "ratio of satisfaction (ROS)." To evaluate maximum satisfaction, we developed bivariate ordered probit (BOP) models for user satisfaction with headway and access time using survey data from Korea. The ratio of maximum satisfaction to observed user satisfaction (i.e., ROS) provides valuable insight. Based on the ROS, caution should be exercised when interpreting the observed satisfaction level because the maximum satisfaction is not a perfect score of seven. Better understanding of users' attitudes and satisfaction will be essential to attracting more people to public transportation.
