Key factors affecting rail service quality in the Northern Italy. A decision tree approach

This work concerns with the analysis of transit service quality on the basis of the perceptions directly expressedby the passengers of the services. The transit services supporting the research are offered by rail operators ofthe Northern Italy, and particularly by regional and suburban lines connecting different towns of the hinterland of thecity of Milan, and express lines connecting Milan with the Malpensa airport. The experimental data were collected in asurvey conducted in May 2012, and addressed to a sample of more than 16,000 passengers. Passengers expressed theiropinions about service characteristics such as safety, cleanliness, comfort, information, personnel. The tool chosen forevaluating service quality is a Classification and Regression Tree Approach (CART), useful for identifying the characteristicsmostly influencing the overall service quality. We found that service characteristics like ‘Windows and DoorsWorking’, ‘Courtesy and Competence on Board’, ‘Information at Stations’, ‘Punctuality of Runs’, ‘Courtesy and Competencein Station’ and ‘Regularity of Runs’ mainly influence service quality