Sociological Survey: Public Transport in Public Opinion

The Social Research Center  conducted a telephone survey about the use of transport among the population of Baku. 1254 respondents took part in the survey, the confidence interval is 95.0%, and the margin error coefficient is 2.8%.

The main means of transport used

793 of respondents use a bus  while 461 of respondents use a private car on a regular basis. In general, information on the frequency of use of buses, chartered taxis and 1 manat taxis for all selections is shown in the relevant diagram.

26.7% of bus passengers  use BakuBus, and 73.3% use buses operated by other companies. The majority of bus passengers (97%) take 1 or 2 buses to reach their destination.

The respondents (793 people) who use the bus intensively, 50.6% use the bus every day and 49.4% several times a week. Among them, the share of taxi drivers with different frequencies was 73.2%. Approximately 5.2% and 7.4% of the 461 respondents who regularly drive a private car use a bus and a taxi several days a week, respectively.

The majority of bus users have a monthly income in the range of 251-500 manat (37.5%). 48.2% of those who use this vehicle are employed, 27.7% are not looking for work and 6.8% are students. 70.9% of bus users are women.

39.7% of people who  aged 18-25 and 44.2% of those with a monthly income of 251-500 manat use the bus every day. One in ten people (9.7%) with a monthly income of more than 1,000 manat chooses a bus at this frequency. One third of the 375 respondents (31.5%) who said they never used the bus were those with a monthly income of more than 1,000 manat.

When it comes to the demographic characteristics of car drivers, we can see that the number of car drivers increases as the monthly income level increases. For example, 31.5% and 22.1% of 461 respondents have monthly income levels between 1001+ and 751-1000 manats, respectively. As an exception, for 21% of those with a monthly income in the range of 251-500 manat, a car is the main means of transport. Although 73.3% of car drivers are currently employed, 10.6% are looking for work. In terms of gender, the opposite is true for buses - 78.5% of drivers are men.

Let's have a look at the ones that are used several times a month (because this is the most preferred frequency option). Almost the same number (25%) of those with a monthly income between 251-500 and 501-750 manat use this vehicle several times a month.

24% of all respondents use 1 AZN taxis at different frequencies. 32% of bus users and 15.4% of private car users use 1 AZN taxis at different frequencies. In general, the main reason for respondents to use 1 AZN taxis was the reasonable price (33.0%) and shorter travel time (22.7%). Interestingly, this opinion is more widespread among bus passengers- the price is reasonable (49.6%) and the travel time is shorter (34.9%).

The three main points of concern for the respondents are relatively different depending on the vehicle used regularly. However, there are some differences in the percentage of options selected for the problem. For example, while the dangers of crossing pedestrian crossings are a major concern for bus users (44.6%), inadequate road lighting (48.1%) is a major problem for private drivers.

Satisfaction level

Respondents were also asked to evaluate various components of public transport. The results of it  are expressed in the form of average values. On a 4-point scale, 1 indicates the lowest and 4 indicates the highest degree of satisfaction.

The three aspects that BakuBus bus passengers  are least satisfied with are the information displayed on the monitors installed at the stops (1.78), the passenger density (1.80), and the location of payment terminals to load the card (1.98). The three aspects of bus use by other companies are the least satisfied: the information provided on monitors installed at bus stops (1.59), the availability of special space for wheelchairs (1.69) and the provision of buses with COVID-19 hygiene products and social providing distance (1.99). The cleanliness of the interior of the BakuBus bus is positive (3.32).

Payment methods

65.7% of bus users surveyed said that the payment was made by card on the route they use. Although the way of payment is not important for one in three respondents, 57.6% of those said that card option is more convenient. Thus, this result once again raises the issue of installing terminals on buses where card payment is not possible.

Conditions for walking

One in three people in the entire sample is to some extent dissatisfied with the conditions created for walking in their area (28.6%).

Parking

Drivers are also asked how long it usually takes to find a place to park. Thus, it was found that drivers spend an average of 13 minutes each time (median = 10 minutes).

Although most of the above-ground parking lots are reported by officials to be free of charge, the majority of drivers surveyed (78%) are asked to pay if parking is indicated on one or another road sign soon. Even 33.8% said it always happened. Almost half of drivers (48.2%) pay for parking in the amount of 1 to 10  AZN monthly. Relatively more drivers (56.2%) have encountered various cases of drawing up an electronic protocol for parking and parking over the past year. 9.5% of these drivers consider one of the protocols, 5.9% two and 3.5% three. Only 24.8% of the 121 respondents who considered the protocol unfounded complained to at least one body.

Follow the rules

From the perspective of both bus users (45.3% - do not follow) and regular drivers (56.8% - do not follow), motorists / moped drivers are the least involved in traffic. One of the interesting differences between the groups is that while only 24.3% of bus users think that bus drivers ignore the rules, a similar figure is 46.2% among car drivers. A similar difference was observed in the pedestrian option.

Complaints

Despite a number of problems with public transport, only 7% of bus and 7.3% of private car users have complained to at least one agency. The main address of the complaint was the Baku Transport Agency. However, only 7.2% of the complainants and 19.3% of the other group were satisfied with the outcome of the complaint. Dissatisfied with personal car and bus users, 60% and 54.4%, respectively.

Activity of Baku Transport Agency

Awareness of the activities of the Baku Transport Agency among users of both modes of transport is evaluated as very low. Thus, 48.4% of private car drivers and 54.5% of bus users do not know about the activities of this institution. This indicates the need for more active awareness and information about the work done by the agency. 32.5% of bus users (4.6% very good, 27.6% mostly good) and 33.9% of private car drivers (3% very good, 30.9% mostly good) are satisfied with the Agency's performance to varying degrees. In general, only 4.2% of all respondents are very knowledgeable about BNA's activities, and 8.6% of those 625 respondents evaluate its activities very well.

Lanes for buses

After the construction of bus lanes, the travel time of 27% of bus users has decreased to some extent, while the time spent on the road has increased for about 13% of drivers. 20% of bus users mentioned that there were no lanes on the roads they used. In the general sample, 25.5% of respondents did not change the duration of the visit after this event.