Influence of Socio-Cultural Attributes on Stigmatizing Public Transport in Saudi Arabia

Several factors over the years have contributed to stigma in public transport. Many studies have highlighted the need to make the transport system more equitable both from economic and gender perspectives. This study attempts to demonstrate how the perceptions of public transport users and non-users...

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Autores principales:	Kh Md Nahiduzzaman, Tiziana Campisi, Amin Mohammadpour Shotorbani, Khaled Assi, Kasun Hewage, Rehan Sadiq
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	public transport stigma fuzzy inference system (FIS) sensitivity analysis Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/02e740784ee1410a8c86e552ec133b88
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:02e740784ee1410a8c86e552ec133b882021-11-11T19:43:13ZInfluence of Socio-Cultural Attributes on Stigmatizing Public Transport in Saudi Arabia10.3390/su1321120752071-1050https://doaj.org/article/02e740784ee1410a8c86e552ec133b882021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/12075https://doaj.org/toc/2071-1050Several factors over the years have contributed to stigma in public transport. Many studies have highlighted the need to make the transport system more equitable both from economic and gender perspectives. This study attempts to demonstrate how the perceptions of public transport users and non-users are stigmatized from social and cultural standpoints. Thus, it identifies the social and cultural stigma-induced barriers embedded with the use and people’s general perception about the public bus service, taking SAPTCO (Saudi Public Transport Company) as a case study. The study results suggest that privacy concern is the primary cause of stigma. Most of the users are unwilling to ride with their families as SAPTCO does not account for gender needs (e.g., privacy, travel convenience, safety, comfort, etc.). Moreover, people from the high-income classes are more stigmatized against this ridership. A fuzzy inference system (FIS) model is used to analyze the survey questionnaire responses and understand what stigma means for the public bus service. Expert opinions are employed to generate “if–then” rules of the FIS models. Sensitivity of the defined fuzzy model is conducted to different aspects of the ridership. The study results further suggest that “inconvenience” poses the highest impact while “feeling safe”, “privacy”, “fare”, “timing”, and “comfort” are found to be the medium impact-making variables for stigma. The stigma-defining variables would be critical for the public bus service to improve its service quality and help (re-)design the policies that would attract a high amount of ridership. Some solutions are suggested in the end that would complement, strengthen, and promote the current SAPTCO service. The demonstrated methodology of this study would be relevant and adaptive to any relevant context to improve public transportation service and pertaining policies.Kh Md NahiduzzamanTiziana CampisiAmin Mohammadpour ShotorbaniKhaled AssiKasun HewageRehan SadiqMDPI AGarticlepublic transportstigmafuzzy inference system (FIS)sensitivity analysisEnvironmental effects of industries and plantsTD194-195Renewable energy sourcesTJ807-830Environmental sciencesGE1-350ENSustainability, Vol 13, Iss 12075, p 12075 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	public transport stigma fuzzy inference system (FIS) sensitivity analysis Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	public transport stigma fuzzy inference system (FIS) sensitivity analysis Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Kh Md Nahiduzzaman Tiziana Campisi Amin Mohammadpour Shotorbani Khaled Assi Kasun Hewage Rehan Sadiq Influence of Socio-Cultural Attributes on Stigmatizing Public Transport in Saudi Arabia
description	Several factors over the years have contributed to stigma in public transport. Many studies have highlighted the need to make the transport system more equitable both from economic and gender perspectives. This study attempts to demonstrate how the perceptions of public transport users and non-users are stigmatized from social and cultural standpoints. Thus, it identifies the social and cultural stigma-induced barriers embedded with the use and people’s general perception about the public bus service, taking SAPTCO (Saudi Public Transport Company) as a case study. The study results suggest that privacy concern is the primary cause of stigma. Most of the users are unwilling to ride with their families as SAPTCO does not account for gender needs (e.g., privacy, travel convenience, safety, comfort, etc.). Moreover, people from the high-income classes are more stigmatized against this ridership. A fuzzy inference system (FIS) model is used to analyze the survey questionnaire responses and understand what stigma means for the public bus service. Expert opinions are employed to generate “if–then” rules of the FIS models. Sensitivity of the defined fuzzy model is conducted to different aspects of the ridership. The study results further suggest that “inconvenience” poses the highest impact while “feeling safe”, “privacy”, “fare”, “timing”, and “comfort” are found to be the medium impact-making variables for stigma. The stigma-defining variables would be critical for the public bus service to improve its service quality and help (re-)design the policies that would attract a high amount of ridership. Some solutions are suggested in the end that would complement, strengthen, and promote the current SAPTCO service. The demonstrated methodology of this study would be relevant and adaptive to any relevant context to improve public transportation service and pertaining policies.
format	article
author	Kh Md Nahiduzzaman Tiziana Campisi Amin Mohammadpour Shotorbani Khaled Assi Kasun Hewage Rehan Sadiq
author_facet	Kh Md Nahiduzzaman Tiziana Campisi Amin Mohammadpour Shotorbani Khaled Assi Kasun Hewage Rehan Sadiq
author_sort	Kh Md Nahiduzzaman
title	Influence of Socio-Cultural Attributes on Stigmatizing Public Transport in Saudi Arabia
title_short	Influence of Socio-Cultural Attributes on Stigmatizing Public Transport in Saudi Arabia
title_full	Influence of Socio-Cultural Attributes on Stigmatizing Public Transport in Saudi Arabia
title_fullStr	Influence of Socio-Cultural Attributes on Stigmatizing Public Transport in Saudi Arabia
title_full_unstemmed	Influence of Socio-Cultural Attributes on Stigmatizing Public Transport in Saudi Arabia
title_sort	influence of socio-cultural attributes on stigmatizing public transport in saudi arabia
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/02e740784ee1410a8c86e552ec133b88
work_keys_str_mv	AT khmdnahiduzzaman influenceofsocioculturalattributesonstigmatizingpublictransportinsaudiarabia AT tizianacampisi influenceofsocioculturalattributesonstigmatizingpublictransportinsaudiarabia AT aminmohammadpourshotorbani influenceofsocioculturalattributesonstigmatizingpublictransportinsaudiarabia AT khaledassi influenceofsocioculturalattributesonstigmatizingpublictransportinsaudiarabia AT kasunhewage influenceofsocioculturalattributesonstigmatizingpublictransportinsaudiarabia AT rehansadiq influenceofsocioculturalattributesonstigmatizingpublictransportinsaudiarabia
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Influence of Socio-Cultural Attributes on Stigmatizing Public Transport in Saudi Arabia

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