Customer Satisfaction and Commuter Transport Services a Quandary: A Case Study of Zimbabwe Commuter Omnibus Transport Services

The need to meet customer service satisfaction in the transport service industry has always been the key aim for most transport service providers the world over, however sometimes with very little success. This observation is well confirmed if one is to pluck a leaf from the commuter omnibus transport service providers in Zimbabwe. This research study was based on investigating reasons behind the perceptible absence of customer service satisfaction within the commuter omnibuses which ply the Bindura-Harare route in order to come up with customer care strategies for this transport service industry. This is a qualitative research in which random sampling technique was used to select the commuters who then became the respondents for this research. Using the selected respondents, a customer satisfaction survey was then carried out in order to determine the level of customer perceptions on the level of customer satisfaction from the commuters who use the commuter omnibuses which ply the Bindura-Harare route. This research study discovered that there is apparent lack of customer satisfaction within the commuter omnibus transporters. Such discernible lack of customer satisfaction was attributed broadly to lack of employee training on customer care issues, unresponsiveness to customer needs and complaints, poor customer transport service experience as well as poor transport service delivery processes. This research is to be significant in coming up with customer care strategies for the commuter transport service industry. In addition, the findings of this research are to inform the concerned ministry on customer care policy formulation for the commuter omnibus transport service industry.