Quality Management and Safety in Public Transport Sacco's in Nairobi City County

Abstract

Quality is a shared responsibility of the authority and the operator: to the authority, it is the strategic responsibility to define the level of quality; to the operator the managerial and operational responsibilities are to ensure that the agents successfully deliver the defined quality service. This study sought to establish quality management practices by public transport Saccos in Nairobi City County. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was 85 registered Public Transport Saccos in Nairobi City County according to the National Transport and Safety Authority. The Saccos were distributed in nine major routes within Nairobi City County. Cluster sampling method was used to select one third (1/3) of the Saccos from each route. There were three respondents from each of the selected Saccos who included owner/management, driver/conductor and passenger. Hence the total number of respondents was ninety. The study used primary data. The data was collected using a questionnaire. Data collected was analyzed using means, standard deviation and linear regression. The study established that there is a positive and significant relationship between quality management and public transport Sacco’s safety. It was further established that total quality management had the most influence on safety in public transport, followed by self-assessment, benchmarking and quality loop. The study recommends that policy makers should focus on intensifying the implementation of quality management practices to improve public transport safety to all citizens. The study further recommends that investors in the public transport should invest more in total quality management, followed by self-assessment, benchmarking and quality loop.