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Context—Passenger satisfaction is a crucial factor in encouraging the use of public transportation over private vehicles, as it directly affects user loyalty, service effectiveness, and overall urban mobility. Assessing satisfaction in public transport systems is inherently challenging due to the subjective, multidimensional, and uncertain nature of passenger perceptions. The EN 13816 standard offers a comprehensive framework for evaluating public transport service quality through criteria such as accessibility, comfort, safety, security, availability, and information. Nevertheless, traditional evaluation approaches often face difficulties in integrating both qualitative and quantitative aspects of service quality while effectively managing uncertainty in passenger judgments. Therefore, identifying and analyzing the key factors influencing passenger satisfaction is essential for enhancing service performance, increasing ridership, and supporting sustainable transportation policies and urban development goals.Objective—This study aims to develop a robust framework for assessing passenger satisfaction in public transportation systems by integrating both passenger and operator perspectives. The objective is to identify, prioritize, and evaluate service quality criteria to support informed decision-making for service improvement. The study also seeks to highlight the gaps between passenger expectations and operator assessments, thereby providing actionable insights for transit management.Method—A hybrid two-level analytic hierarchy process (AHP) integrated with intuitionistic fuzzy sets was employed to address the uncertainty and complexity inherent in multi-criteria decision-making. The AHP method was used to determine the relative importance of service quality criteria, while Intuitionistic fuzzy sets were utilized to capture the vagueness and uncertainty in expert judgments. Transportation experts from diverse disciplines, including strategy development, operations management, and information technology, evaluated the criteria to provide a comprehensive assessment. The proposed framework was validated through a case study of Istanbul’s public bus transportation system. Additionally, gap and sensitivity analyses were conducted to examine the differences between passenger and operator perspectives and to evaluate the robustness of the model.Results—The analysis revealed that safety and security are the most influential factors for both passengers and operators. From the operator perspective, service availability is equally critical, whereas passengers rank availability second, followed by comfort and travel time. The gap analysis highlighted areas of consensus, such as accessibility, as well as significant differences in comfort and information criteria, indicating priority areas for improvement. The sensitivity analysis confirmed that the model is responsive to variations in expert judgments, emphasizing the importance of carefully selecting evaluators.Conclusion—The integrated AHP–Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets framework provides a reliable and adaptable tool for evaluating passenger satisfaction in public transportation systems. By identifying key service quality criteria and highlighting gaps between passenger and operator perceptions, the proposed model supports targeted improvements in service planning and management. The findings provide practical guidance for transit operators to enhance passenger satisfaction, increase ridership, and contribute to the development of more sustainable urban mobility systems.

Introduction: Megacities are facing traffic jams and their negative effects such as economic, social, and environmental. Decision-makers and politicians want to decrease this pressure on cities by attracting public transportation. To make public transportation attractive, understanding passenger demand plays an important role. Another important issue is related to the increased service quality of the public transportation system. Methods: In this study, to evaluate and increase the service quality of the public bus system, quality criteria are defined regarding EN13816 certification which is designed for public transport and logistic services. A hybrid fuzzy method consisting of two-level hierarchies was developed based on the SERVQUAL approach. A gap analysis was conducted to discover the gap score between the passenger and operator sides. A real case study is applied to the study which is the Istanbul bus transportation system. Results and Discussion: The results show a gap between the passenger and operator sides except for availability criteria. The biggest gap is seen for the time criterion of service quality. When the passengers prioritize security criteria in public bus services, the operator focuses on time for the operation. This study contributes to the literature by providing the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) using a Spherical Fuzzy Sets based on the Servqual approach which is a new solution due to preventing loss of information in complex problems. Conclusion: Also, the study sheds on lights for the public bus authorities or operators to find out priority criteria in service quality for improving services.

External analysis plays a critical role in finding out the developments of companies on the outside. With regard to these changes directly affects the performance of the company. P.E.S.T.L.E. analysis is used as a strategic tool for external analysis that is formed by six criteria; political, economical, social, technological, legal, and environmental. In this study, the public bus transportation system is analyzed using the P.E.S.T.L.E. framework. The problem is modeled with two hierarchical levels and evaluated by transportation experts. The Neutrosophic Fuzzy AHP is applied to solve the problem with a real case study. Results showed that economical criterion comes first, environmental comes second and technology comes third in the order. The results are compared with two methods, Intuitionistic Fuzzy AHP and Classical AHP. Convergence and divergence of the methods are presented in the study with a heatmap. This study will be a guide as a practical tool for transportation operators to discover which criteria have a bigger effect on the system from the external view. Thus, they will adjust their operations regarding changing conditions with an agile approach.