How does the environmental concerns affect the satisfaction of BRT and Metro users? A moderator analysis

The increase in urban population density, car ownership, and car dependency, especially in developing countries highlights the need for sustainable public transportation development. This paper aims to recognize factors affecting people’s satisfaction with public transportation services including, bus rapid transit (BRT) and metro with a focus on the moderating effect of ‎environmental concerns. ‎Satisfaction is modeled using the structural equation modeling approach developed on the preferences of 625 respondents in Tehran, Iran in 2020. The results show direct, and significant, ‎with conflicting impacts of the perceived values and service quality on the satisfaction of metro and BRT users. ‎Further, the results indicate that in contrast with BRT, service quality is more crucial affecting satisfaction than the perceived value in metro. The service quality is also more affected by the core service than the physical environment and the infrastructure in metro. While concerning BRT, these two variables have similar ‎impacts. Environmental concern negatively moderates the relationship between service quality and satisfaction while positively moderates the relationship ‎between the perceived value and satisfaction of both transit systems.