Competition and Choice among Intercity Bus Operators in Nigeria

AMAMILO Chukwunenye Augustus, AGBOR Emmanuel

The study examined the competition and choice among inter-city bus operators. The population for the study is made up of 17 transport companies drawn from the available ones plying inter-city routes. Three hundred and ninety copies of questionnaires were administered and analyzed using simple descriptive and percentage frequency. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine the degree of importance of the factors that affect the competition and the choice among the intercity bus operators. Findings revealed the order of the factors as safety (0.995), availability (0.993), frequency of service (0.992), comfort & space (0.990), On-off board services (0.981),convenience (0.959),government policy (0.949), schedule reliability (0.948), crew behaviour (0.890)and cost (0.804)affected the competition and the choice among the intercity bus operators.  Thestudy recommends the need for government to step in fully to control the operation of inter-city bus transport in the country, to formulate and review the existing national transport policy that guides and regulate operations of transport services.