4. Acknowledgement
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to AiCSTL,
Industry Interaction Cell, IPM, IIM Indore and Professor
Ranjit Nambudiri for giving us an opportunity to work on
this live project.
We would like to thank Prof. Sushant Kumar Mishra for
being our mentor and guiding us throughout the project.
Big thanks to all of the participants for being a part of the
survey.
Special thanks to Mrs. Mala Thakur for her guidance,
support, suggestions and encouragement. Without her,
this project would not have taken its present form.
This project helped us in learning a lot of things over and
beyond the scope of theoretical knowledge. It helped us
apply all that we’ve learnt in real life situations and grow
from them.
We are grateful to everybody who helped make this
project a reality.
Thank you
5. Introduction and Theory
Indore, the largest metropolitan city of the state of
Madhya Pradesh, is fast emerging as a centre of trade
and commerce. In the context of rapid growth of the city,
increasing mobility, high travel demand, increasing
intensity of traffic, congestion, delays, accidents and
other such problems, public mass transport system of the
city stands out as the most critical issue. The intra-city
public transport system is essentially road based with
500 private minibuses, 550 tempos and 10000 auto
rickshaws. Since there was no specialized and effective
regulatory agency to monitor the system a special
purpose vehicle in the form of public limited company
"Atal Indore City Transport Services Ltd." was set up to
operate and manage the public transport system in
Indore with private sector participation to overcome
financial constraints.
The aforesaid company has identified and took
permission for 18 high travel demand routes from RTA
and has already started operation of its 37 ultra-modern
low floor buses. These city buses with 2 broad doors are
allowing passengers to board and alight quickly and
easily, save time and fuel, and give better run-times and
improved economy to the bus operators. Real time
vehicle tracking and fully computerized ticket vending
6. system are some other highlights. O&M and other
regulatory measures are being exercised by the
company.
The main sources of revenue for the system are the fair
box collection, advertising, passes revenue and bidding
amount by private participants. The optimum fare
structure has been decided to meet twin objective of
Equity access to poor and incentive for upper middle
class to prefer these buses over their own vehicles. The
fares have been kept reasonable to give healthy
competition to existing minibuses and tempos, low
enough to secure fullest utilization and high enough to
ensure viability of the system within the government
norms. System of monthly, weekly, employee and
student passes will ensure the fullest utilization of the
new system.
Financial evaluation of the project was carried out with
the objective of determining its financial viability and
assessing its potential for implementation on a
commercial format. At this stage, projected financial
analysis estimates the likely returns to the operators,
company and people at large.
Cities with population of more than one million should
have urban bus Transport Corporation that owns 30
percent of its own buses and contracts 70 percent of
buses from private contractors and operators. Motivated
by this World Bank recommendation note on 'India's
Transport Sector, The Challenges Ahead (2002)' Mr.
7. Vivek Aggarwal, Collector and District Magistrate, Indore
conceptualized a financial model of public transport
system through private partnership where in every player
whether Government, the spv, local administration,
operators and people are mutually benefited.
Looking to the high potential for development of
competitive bus transport market through contracting or
franchising arrangements, a Special Purpose Vehicle as
a public limited company was formed which specifies the
role of the market and government. It was felt that cities
like Indore should develop their own regulatory and
enforcement capabilities to promote city service
competition and put in place a mechanism that will
ensure financial viability of such operations.
The main source of revenue for the company is the
monthly premium amount received from the bus
operators, advertising revenue and the share of revenue
generated through passes. The sources of revenue for
the bus operators are the daily fare box collection, share
of revenue generated through advertising on buses and
monthly passes. Cost effective and substantial finances
to the operators have been made available by the bank.
Operators were financed 100% by the bank and an
agreement has been executed between the company,
the bank and the operators to have an escrow account.
Indore has a population of 2.72 million in 2001. There
was an increase of almost 50 percent during the period
1991-2001. It has estimated 3.30 lakh workers in 1991
8. with 63.4% of the workforce in the tertiary sector. The
workforce has increased at a growth rate of 3.64% per
annum during the period 1961-91. The workforce
participation rate was 28.9% in 1991.
It had a registered vehicle population of 0.48 million in
2000 increasing at an average annual rate of 8.8 percent.
Currently total vehicle population is 732893. The intra-
city public transport system is essentially road based with
an estimated 550 private minibuses and 500 tempos.
On an average, 88423 vehicles move in and out, daily, at
the outer cordon while 5,28,558 vehicles enter and exit,
daily, through the inner cordon. Of the total traffic
crossing the outer cordon, freight vehicles account for a
share of 23% followed by slow vehicles and cars
(14.4%). At the inner cordon, slow vehicles account for a
share of 15 percent. While percentage of peak hour
traffic ranged between 7.5 and 14.0 at outer cordon, it
varied between 7.3 and 14.6 percent at inner cordon.
Total no of registered vehicles
Type of vehicle No. of Reg. vehicles
Multi axle 1219
Medium heavy truck & lorries 29255
Light four wheelers 4970
Three wheelers 3964
9. MPSRTC Bus 1650
Private buses 1204
Deluxe 366
Omni up to 12+1 14023
Omni 12+1 to 30+1 2300
Motor cab 2219
Tempo 6+1 86
Tempo 12+1 572
Auto Rickshaw 9676
Motorcycle/scooter 488907
Moped 84818
Car 62689
Jeep 4337
Tractor 11211
Trolley 7714
Others 1713
Total 732893
10. 1. An estimated 2,84,161 passengers enter and exit
the city daily by various modes. Minibuses and
buses put together contribute to a share of 60
percent of passenger trips. Majority of trips are
made for the work, business and education
purpose together accounting for nearly 76% of total
trips performed.
2. 71 percent of road length in central area had
speeds less than 20 kmph. The average journey
speeds on A B Road and Ring Road were
observed to be 32.2 kmph and 40.1 kmph
respectively.
3. The city is presently being served by an estimated
300 minibuses along with estimated 150 tempos.
An estimated 22,469 passengers use the regional
bus terminals daily. Of the four bus terminals in
Indore City, Sarvate bus stand accounts for the
maximum share of passenger flow (65.33%). An
estimated 61,192 rail users use the station daily. In
all, 49 trains service the rail movement needs.
4. Average household income in Indore is Rs. 7524.
On an average, a household in Indore spends
Rs.600 per month on transport, which is about
eight percent of household income. The average
vehicle ownership rate in the study area is 0.88
vehicles per household with two wheelers and
bicycles being the most commonly owned vehicles.
11. 5. An estimated 22.7 lakh trips are performed
everyday in the city of which central area
contributes 19.4 percent, while the rest of
Municipal Corporation area contributes 76.4
percent and extension area's share being 4.3
percent only. The shares of personalized vehicles
(cycles, two wheelers & cars) and public/IPT
transport in the total trips are 51.1 percent & 16.4
percent respectively. Work /Business trips
accounts for maximum share (38.1 %) followed by
education trips (37.6 %). Shopping trips share was
28.4 percent. The average trip lengths observed
were 3.8 km and 4.4 km including and excluding
walk trips respectively.
6. A population size of 42 lakh is estimated for the
city by the year 2025. For employment, it was
estimated that 13.44 lakh workers would comprise
the workforce in the study area by 2025 giving a
work force participation rate of 32%. Further, it is
assumed that by the year 2025, nearly 63% of the
total workforce would be in the tertiary sector while
the secondary sector will account for 33%.
7. An estimated 62,85,950, passenger trips have
been forecasted, for the year 2025, comprising
55,03,000 intra-city trips while the rest comprise of
inter-city passengers. An estimated 27,51,825 trips
12. by public transport has been forecasted for the
horizon year.
8. By year 2025, at modal split of 50% and with an
estimated average trip length of 6.02 km, it is
estimated that 16.5 million passenger km would be
performed daily by public transport.
9. According to traffic estimates, a total of 5.5 million
person trips would be generated every day by
2025, of which the share of public transport trips
would be 2.75 million trips.
10. Travel Demand : The passenger demand per day,
on the Bus System, in 2025, has been estimated
as under:
a.Direct Service : 5,97,330
b.Feeder Service : 6,25,580
c.Total : 12,22,910
In order to overcome the traffic problem of future, it was
decided to introduce a better public transport system in
the city.
We, the students of IIM Indore’s Integrated Programme
in Management did a market based survey to improve
the services and increase customer satisfaction. AiCTSL
is aimed at client service. There are several initiatives
under its kitty already like passing tenders for new
13. routes, new buses, tying up with State Bank Of India for
provisions of ATMs, having vending machines at the bus
stops, having automated buses, free Wi-Fi at the bus
stops etc. In order to assist them with the same we did
an on ground study to get an in-depth analysis of the
problems, requirements and needs of the people in
relation AiCTSL bus services. Through sorting of the
data, statistical analysis, on field intuition and severe
discussion we reached a conclusion that, through its
implementation benefits not only the clients but AiCTSL
itself as people would use it more and it would set a
precedence to all other such bus services throughout the
country.
14. Goal of Research
Customers are the most important stakeholders in any
business. Any service provider aims to focus on
improving customer satisfaction over time. In addition to
this satisfied customers lead to higher goodwill and
improved reputation for the business. In this scenario,
customer satisfaction gains higher importance. Thus,
customer satisfaction is the parameter by which most
service providers are judged in this competitive
environment. The only way to differentiate various,
similar services is to improve the customers' experience.
Improved customer satisfaction also leads to word-of-
mouth publicity. It would not be wrong to conclude that
investment in customer satisfaction is worthwhile and
necessary if the current business environment is kept
under consideration.
AiCTSL is a service provider which aims to improve
customer satisfaction. This makes market research very
important. Market research aims at scientific collection of
data and its interpretation to form valid and relevant
policies and strategies.
15. The goal of this research was therefore market and
customer oriented.
The main aim of the researchers was to
1. Examine the existing level of customer satisfaction
2.Establish a baseline for customer satisfaction levels
3. Find out the areas in which improvement can be made
4. Explore avenues for innovation in improving the
customer service
5. Understand additional services that the customers
need
16. Questionnaire
1. Respondent’s age
2. Respondent’s gender
3. Respondent’s occupation
4. According to the respondent, should the frequency
of buses be increased? If yes, then in which time
slot (hourly)?
5. Does the respondent feel the need for a water
cooler at the stop?
6. Rate on a scale of 1-5
[1-Highly dissatisfactory, 2-Dissatisfactory, 3-Neutral, 4-
Satisfactory, 5-Highly satisfactory]
a) Behavior of Conductors
b) Comfort of stops
c) Cleanliness of the bus
d) Safety of passengers
7. Rank the aforementioned factors in order of priority
for improvement
17. 8. According to the respondent how many people
should be allowed to board the bus at any given
time
9. According to the respondent, should the number of
stops be increased?
10. Suggestions for any two new stops and the reasons
for the same
18. Rationale behind the questions
4. The rationale behind this question is very simple. A
number of customers face problems in the rush hour as
the number of seats is limited. High frequency of buses is
necessary to ensure that people are able to travel
comfortably and that if they miss a bus, they do not have
to wait for a long time before the arrival of next bus .A
long time gap between the arrival of two buses( or low
frequency of buses) can often reduce the effectiveness of
any transport system. If the frequency of buses is too
low, customers end up getting late for various
appointments. On the other hand, if the frequency is too
high, it leads to inefficiency. It is clear for all to see that
the frequency needs to be adjusted according to the time
slot. Thus, this question focuses not only on whether the
customers feel the need for an increase in the frequency
of buses but also which slots should the frequency be
increased in.
5. Asking customers whether they feel that there should
be water coolers at the stop is because many times
people commute from end of the city to another and
usually directly from their home to their destination. The
journey can often be tiring and our aim is to maximize
customer satisfaction by fulfilling their comfort needs.
19. Having a water cooler at select places helps us in doing
so.
6. This question is related to how the customers rate
various, basic facets of the AiCTSL iBus experience. The
objective behind this question was to understand how
people perceive the behavior of the conductors, the
comfort level of stops, the cleanliness of the bus and
safety of the passengers. This question is important as it
seeks to examine how highly the various factors of
customer experience rated are and to therefore establish
a baseline for the ratings and to know which factors need
to be improved upon.
Behavior of conductors
The behavior of conductors can play a large role in
determining the level of customer satisfaction.
Conductors interact with a huge number of people on a
daily basis and therefore have the power to influence the
perception that the consumers hold towards the iBus
service.
Cleanliness of the bus
This factor is very basic in nature. It is also not very hard
to implement or improve upon. In addition to that
cleanliness is one of the main factors that influence the
impression of the bus that the customers hold.
Comfort of the stops
The stops are the first points of interaction that
20. the customers encounter when they begin their bus
experience. They also have to wait at the stops for some
time. A clean and comfortable stop can therefore go a
long way in improving customer satisfaction.
Safety of passengers
Safety is a factor that has seen its importance increase
over the time. The safety of the bus as judged by
passengers is presented below.
7. This question is in continuation to the previous
question. We asked the respondents to rate the order in
which the improvement of factors should be focused
upon. This was done so that we give the required
importance to each of these areas which still have scope
for improvement.
8. The rationale behind this question is related to the
overcrowding of the buses. This question is also related
to the frequency of buses in an hour. Overcrowding leads
to discomfort for customers. At the same time, it is very
hard to restrict the number of people who climb aboard a
bus. Thus, this question aims to test whether there is a
limit of intake which will not cause any discomfort to
customers. This question also seeks to establish the
aforementioned limit (if it exists).
9. AiCTSL aims at connecting all the practically possible
places of Indore to ensure connectivity as well as to
21. increase its scope for catering to more people. Therefore,
we asked the regular users of the bus services whether
they felt the need for increasing the number of stops.
10. The last question aims at exploring newer options for
stops. It seeks to take inputs from the users on the best
possible stops. This question is also related to the
comfort and satisfaction of customers as they will benefit
from improved connectivity.
22. Methodology
The methodology behind any research is a very
important factor. It requires a great understanding of the
purpose and context of the survey to select the
appropriate method. Various factors such as time
available for interaction, literacy level of respondents and
the nature of questions play a great role in this decision.
Keeping all this in mind, we decided to conduct our
survey by approaching people, asking them a set of
predefined questions and recording their answers.
The questions were prepared to test the existing level of
customer satisfaction and to take inputs from the
customers as to what could improve the satisfaction
level. A detailed analysis of the questions and the results
obtained has been presented in the subsequent parts of
the report.
23. Responses
1. Respondent’s Age
The above frequency plot shows that teenagers and
youngsters are the most frequent travelers of i-bus. The
i-bus service has made the students’ life easier .College
students and coaching centre students benefit a lot from
it. Most of the people in the 21-30 age group are daily
users of i-bus service.
24. 2. Respondent’s Gender
The survey was administered to 67 different individuals.
Out of
these, 37 (55.2%) were male and 30 (44.8%) were
female. This shows that there was fair participation from
both males as well as females in the survey
3. Respondent’s occupation
25.
26. 4. According to the respondent, should the frequency of
buses be increased? If yes, then in which time slot
(hourly)?
27. More than 75% of the participants believe that the
number of buses which arrive at a particular stop in an
hour should be increased. The hours in which this
aforementioned frequency should be increased were also
discussed with the customers.
28. 5. Does the respondent feel the need for a water cooler
at the stop?
The data very clearly indicates that more than 80% of the
people feel that there should be a water cooler near the
bus stops. Water is a necessity and water coolers can
therefore be placed at least some of the major stops like
MR-09, Bhawarkuan.
29. 6. Satisfaction level of people
(Due to discrepancies in the data these results were
derived from a subset of the total data. This data
included 46 respondents)
Behaviour of coductors- More than 50% of the people
rated the behaviour of conductors at a satisfactory or
higher level.
Comfort of stops- More than 50% of the people rated
the comfort of stops at a satisfactory or higher level
Cleanliness of the bus -More than 50% of the people
rated the cleanliness of the bus at a satisfactory or
higher level
Safety of passengers - More than 50% of the people
rated the cleanliness of the bus at highly satisfactory.
The people were asked to rate four factors on the basis
of their satisfaction level. It is quite evident that that most
of the people are not very satisfied by the behavior of the
conductors. On the other hand, most of the people
consider i-Bus to be a safe way to commute between the
major stops of the city.
30. 7. Rank the aforementioned factors in order of priority
for improvement
People felt that the AiCTSL management needs to really
focus on the Human Resources part of its services. The
behavior of conductors needs to be improved. Only once
that is done should focus be shifted to the comfort of the
stops and cleanliness of the buses. Safety is already
being taken care of, so that should continue on. The
order of priority for improvement after talking to the
people was settled to be
(i) Behavior of Conductors
(ii) Comfort of Stops
(iii) Cleanliness of Buses
(iv) Safety of Passengers
31. 8.Should there be a limit on the number of people
boarding the bus? If yes, how many people should be
allowed to board the bus at any given time?
The biggest problem faced by passengers of i-bus is the
overcrowding of buses. 94%of people want the number
of people who board the bus to be limited. According to
65.67% (44 out of 67) people the number of people
boarding the bus should be equal to capacity and the
32. remaining believed that letting 10-12 people stand would
be okay.
9. According to the respondent, should the number of
stops be increased?
33. Suggestions
1.Appointment of lady guards: Although there is much
conflict about appointing female guards in i-buses
due to the hectic nature of the job, we still
recommend this because most of the female
passengers are more comfortable to share their
problems with a lady guard.
2.Seating capacity at the stops should be increased;
Due to excessive crowding passengers has to wait
on the stops for the next bus; since the seating
capacity is limited many people have to stand. We
can also reserve seats at the stops for senior citizens
so that they are at a greater ease.
3.Announcements should be made more informative at
the bus stop as well as in the bus; it should mention
the next bus timings, name of the next stop and the
approximate time that will be taken to reach the next
stop.
4.The bus conductors, ticket checkers and issuers
should be trained professionally as during our survey
we encountered a few cases of misbehavior on their
part. This can be a month long training where the
34. AiCTSL authorities can conduct workshops for
training their employees about basic hospitality skills
and dealing with a crowd patiently. The training can
also be done on practical grounds by sending new
employees to work with the senior employees for 2-3
weeks, so as to let them understand their work and
duties better. Also, while hiring the employees they
should be tested on their patience and endurance
skills because working for AiCTSL is a very tiring job
and one is bound to get tired and frustrated by the
end of the day.
5. There should be orientation programs for the workers
of AiCTSL so that they can be motivated to work for
AiCTSL more sincerely. This orientation can also
include yoga sessions for them so that they can relax.
This would also help in increasing the job satisfaction
among the employees and increase the employ
turnover.
6. There should be a strict check on drivers for rash
driving.
7. The customers also gave suggestions for stops that
include MR-10,Annapurna,Collector’s office, Rau-
Pithampur road, a stop beyond LIG,a stop before
Treasure island mall on MG road, Sitawa chauraha,
Ring road,Rajendra nagar, Choithram, Rajwada, Regal
36. There is need of
washroom at major stops
like Bhawarkuan, Palasia
and MR9. We took an
inference from an article in
News Today and asked
people at the above
mentioned stops about
problems due to
unavailability of
washroom. Many of them
strongly agreed with the
idea of having washroom
nearby bus stop. Ticket
issuer and guard at
Bhawarkuan stop said that
they have to go to nearby
hospital for toilet while that
of MR9 go to nearby
offices and banks. But one
of the problems was of
non availability of proper
place to construct portable
washroom. So, we went to
the field and spotted some
place near Bhawarkuan,
Palasia and MR9. But we
couldn’t find any proper
place at MR9 and Palasia.
37. Conclusion
We suggest placing a portable bathroom trailer
nearby each stop during operation hour of
AICTSL. This can also help building Indore a
smart city.
38. The i-bus has evolved as a Sustainable, Affordable,
Reliable and Technology-based solution for mobility.
People across Indore consider it one of the top features
of Indore. However, like all good things it must be
constantly evolving to keep up with needs and
expectations of the people it serves. Based on our own
experiences as well as after interacting with the i-bus
customers we found a little scope for improvement in
some key features like the behaviour of conductors and
ticket checkers. Focus needs to be laid on the driving of
the bus. People want the frequency of the buses to be
increased and more stops for the bus service to reach all
parts of Indore as well as neighbouring areas. The
general perception of the bus is extremely positive. The
customers feel that issues about safety are extremely
well addressed which a very important question is given
today’s scenario in the country. We also had some
suggestions of our own regarding portable toilets,
orientation programs, workshops, more modernisation
etc. If these small things are worked upon then i-bus has
the potential to become one of the best transport
services in the country.
