Surviving at a Falling Transportation Industry with the Help of Emotional Relationship with your Customers

Public intercity transportation is an example of a rapidly evolving industry. In developing countries, we observe the increasing popularity of airlines, whereas bus lines start to lose their significance.

The successive bankruptcy of bus companies, which have made a large amount of investment and provided significant employment, is a case worth examining. This article offers a case study from the Turkish public intercity transportation industry in which a bus company distinguishes itself by becoming a love brand with the relationship it establishes with its customers. The case shows that the emotional relationship established during the ups and downs of sectors have become insurance that protects companies during the downturn.

To support our argument, we estimated the occupancy rates of bus companies based on characteristics such as ticket price, travel time, existence of catering service, social media interaction, and year of establishment. We found that the significant variables explaining occupancy rates are the companies' founding year and positive social media interaction frequency.

In an estimation where even the price is not a significant variable at the 0.01 level, the significance of the above-mentioned variables shows that relationship-based dynamics can be important demand determinants in a conventional transportation sector.