Assessment of Service Quality in Public Transport Using an Underperformance Approach: A Case Study of Constantine, Algeria

The paper proposes a new approach to evaluating the quality of public transport based on underperformance analysis. This approach aims to identify actual service failures by combining objective data and user perceptions. In this context, the objective of this paper is to offer a more reliable evaluation tool adapted to the contexts of developing countries, where certain service deficiencies tend to be normalized. The proposed approach is applied to a real case study in Constantine public transport; a series of objective and subjective indicators are calculated on the basis of infractions provided by local authorities and user perceptions of the service. This approach thus allows for a better understanding of the sources of quality degradation and supports more effective decisions for improving public transport in order to achieve the overall objectives of sustainable mobility.