Analysis of barriers to perceived service quality in Ghana: Students’ perspectives on bus mobility attributes

The quality of bus transport to school and its synergistic effects on school attendance, quality teaching, and learning are best measured using experiences and perceptions of users. The study sought to investigate 43 obstacles to the delivery of quality bus service via 20 selected private schools in the Sunyani Municipality, Ghana. The survey was an exploratory case study which focused on the use of a questionnaire. Survey participants of 403 students were selected to respond, using the probability sampling technique. Descriptive statistics were used to define essential socio-demographic and bus service-related characteristics and their effects on schoolchildren's mobility decision-making as well as academic work. Exploratory factor analysis was used to construct four latent factors which describe obstacles to perceived service quality (PSQ) delivery. The theoretical factor structure of the data was tested using confirmatory factor analysis in AMOSS 23. Simultaneously, path analysis was employed to investigate the direct and indirect effects of barriers to PSQ in the private schools' transport system. The principal component analysis highlighted four constructs as barriers to bus PSQ in the municipality: (1) perceived scheduling and routing barriers, (2) perceived safety and bus attribute barriers, (3) pedestrian and bus stop facilities barriers and (4) efficiency, effectiveness, and equity-related barriers. We recommend that Private School Authorities and Municipal Board of Education adopt policies and draft operational safety and guideline manuals that clarify acceptable bus service delivery benchmarks and performance indicators for schools. [Display omitted] •Irregular bus transport strongly influences attendance, teaching and learning outcomes.•School travel plans are positively associated with students' socio-ecological perception.•Well-developed school travel plans affect the perceived quality of bus service delivery.•School travel plans strongly correlate facilities on the home-to-school environment.•Home-to-school environment positively impacts students' socio-ecological perception.