Demographic information of the respondents
Genders
A total of 182 people took the questionnaire. Among them, 64 or 35% are male and 118 or 65% are female. The reason that there were more female than male respondents responding to this questionnaire may be due to the Chinese customs that “a woman’s place is in the home”. Male residents might be at work while female residents run the errands. Judging from the appearances of the male respondents, there were more senior male respondents in this project. It looked like they were retired citizens. There’s more to it, female residents tend to be friendlier to young students like us.
Ages
A big proportion of the respondents came from the age range of 50 to 59. Most of them are local residents and have been living in the Beitou area for quite a long time. On the other hand, the researchers encountered fewer residents from the age range of 60 and above, such less accessibility may attribute to these senior residents’ health condition which forced them to stay home. Younger generation (aged from 20-29 in this case) was the least age range took questionnaire in this research. Moreover, the researchers found that these younger residents didn’t appear to have much knowledge about the motorcycle courier service available in Beitou. On the contrary, the more senior residents have more knowledge about the local culture of Beitou.
Occupation of the respondents
Among the occupation categories, the respondents were more from the “others” category followed by business related. The fact is that the students in this research administered this questionnaire in the market place, MRT station and the Bietou Community College. That’s why there were more retired citizens and housewives and therefore such results.
Results and findings of the questionnaire
1. Are you a Beitou resident? If not, what is your purpose for visiting Beitou?
Among the respondents, there are 154 or 83% Beitou residents and 32 or 17% non-Beitou residents. Those ones not from Beitou are either tourists or locally employed persons. In this research, there were more local residents than non-local residents, which made the research results better reflect local residents’ opinions and expectations toward this unique service of Beitou’s.
2. What is the major transportation way you are using?
Given the fact that Beitou is surrounded by hills and mountains, it becomes more common that the local residents purchase their own transportation tools such as cars or scooters. Hence, they use the motorcycle courier less and less. However, there are still chances that people would use motorcycle courier service for some unexpected situations. Or there are people have favor for the motorcycle courier service.
3. Are you aware of the availability of the “Motorcycle Courier Service” in Beitou?
As most of the questionnaire takers were local senior residents, they do have more knowledge about local culture and some special services available in Beitou exclusively. Still there are local residents although having rare experience of motorcycle courier service, they are aware of its availability.
4. Have you ever called on the motorcycle courier service?
Among the questionnaire takers, 46% of them would use the motorcycle courier service and 54% of didn’t have any experience of using it. The researchers also found that the ones using it regularly are mostly housewives and students. The housewives would use the motorcycle courier service after they’ve done the purchases in the marketplace, while some students rushed for schools or cram schools need instant transportation service. Under these circumstances, they would call for service from motorcycle couriers. The ones who seldom call for motorcycle courier service are probably either having their own transportation, living near to the marketplace, or commuters who are locally employed.
5. On what occasions will you call on the motorcycle courier service?
The ones who have multiple experiences of using motorcycle courier service reported that the most situations they would call for services were when they were in a hurry, when they couldn’t do purchase in person, or for emergencies. A lot of them would prefer to just making a phone call at home and had the motorcycle couriers buy things and delivered them to door. Still they would have the motorcycle couriers make a special delivery of the left-behind lunch boxes to their children at school. So they feel that motorcycle couriers are indeed helping hands when they were not available in doing certain things and it does make it easier to live in Beitou.
6. Did you feel secured when you were using motorcycle courier service for a personal ride?
Yes, it was safe. It was OK. No, I don’t feel quite alright.
Most of the people who had experiences with motorcycle courier service think that the rides were safe. The courier service company also takes customer’s safety as their first priority as they think any accidents will certainly jeopardize their company image and increase the tense of overall supervision from the government authorities. Therefore, they take safety as the best policy, which has earned trust and support from the local residents.
7. What are your reasons for using motorcycle courier service? (Multiple selections are acceptable)
The results reveal that 43% of the respondents take the “convenience” of the motorcycle courier service as the main reason for using it, followed by saving time (26%) and speed (16%). Since Beitou area is full of narrow, meandering trails, it would be difficult for the residents to walk or ride a bike. Besides, it was not so common that people owned cars before. Therefore, when housewives had to run some errands, and students rushed for schools, motorcycle courier service seemed to be a good choice. Cases also existed when the weather condition was too bad for them to go out, people tended to ask motorcycle couriers for help. No wonder local residents take motorcycle couriers their best helping hands.
8. How do you think about the fees that they are charging?
Among the respondents, 65% of them considered that the motorcycle courier’s fee reasonable, 20% of them took it inexpensive and only 2% of them thought that it was expensive. The respondents take it that the charge of NT40 (US$1.35) for a ride within 1km is quite reasonable. However, the ones considered it expensive might have paid a fixed rate for a very short ride. Most of the residents consider that the motorcycle courier service has charged at a reasonable rate.
9. Please describe the substantial help that the Motorcycle Courier Service can bring to the Beitou residents.
Many respondents think that the motorcycle courier service makes them move faster and more conveniently. Others think that it helps a lot of seniors and the ones who are not able to go out to do the purchase in person. Still some respondents think that it can meet people’s special requirements, ease the pressure from time limit for those who are in a rush. Even some respondents think that motorcycle courier service can be taken as one of the special features of Beitou which should be promoted as an icon to the tourists. It is beyond researchers’ expectation that Beitou residents have taken motorcycle courier service so important.
10. How often do you use the motorcycle courier service?
The results showed that the respondents were either regular customers who use the motorcycle courier service every day or ones that don’t use it at all. There are also non-regular users who only use it when there’s an emergency or when they’re carrying heavy items. Although there are people who seldom use motorcycle courier service, there are indeed some local residents relying on them to make some of the jobs easier.
11. What’s the reason that you use THIS motorcycle courier service but not the others?
Their service number can be picked up easily.
I don’t have any preference.
From the statistics, we found that people don’t have preference for certain motorcycle courier companies. The reason could be that the residents tend to call on the nearest accessible courier whenever possible, so they don’t have to wait. The second most reason is that the courier company’s contacting number is easy to remember. They can pick it up without having a hard time. The ones with rhyme-like phone numbers have better business as the message can be passed on to other people easily. The third one comes from reputation earned through good service. Residents become regular customers when they get more familiar with certain courier service company if nothing goes wrong and thus loyal customers.
12. I think they can do better on______________.
The point brought up by most people was the hygiene problem of the helmet. They think there’s room for improvement. And people also suggest the motorcycle couriers to wear uniforms for creating company image. Some people think that the courier companies should hire younger riders and put on some advertisement for promotion. These constructive suggestions will be provided to the courier companies for reference.
13 .Have they fulfilled your service requirements?z
The results showed that in most cases the motorcycle couriers fulfilled customers’ requirements. They only granted what’s achievable. However, still there are cases that motorcycle couriers couldn’t meet customers’ requirements. That’s what makes the customers unsatisfied. So, the motorcycle couriers should aim at perfect service so the business can be expanded.
14. Would you choose to be a courier rider as your career? Why or Why not?
According to the statistics, most people will not take motorcycle courier as their career as most of them are currently employed. Among the ones with negative answer think that their figure is too small to ride on a big motorbike. Some think the social status of this job is not high. Moreover, it is not well paid. To support the family generously, seldom people would choose this job voluntarily, which revealed 66% on the pie chart. Still there are 29 % of the respondents standing on the fence, who will not reject this job as their career as long as it contains steady employment.
15. What would you say to the motorcycle courier service company?
Most of respondents wanted to say, “Thank you.” to the motorcycle couriers. Others wanted to say “You are doing a great job.” People saying these heart-warming words must have certain knowledge about the motorcycle couriers’ job content and can truly feel their sincerity and dedication in their service. There are also residents hoping that the motorcycle courier companies can continue this unique service in Beitou and make even some promotion. From the results we know better how the local residents feel about the motorcycle courier service.
16.What is the Chinese proverb you would use to describe the motorcycle courier service?
The respondents all seemed to use good words in describing the motorcycle courier service. Although they took this job as a sun-setting industry, they still look at it on the bright side. Most of them think that the motorcycle couriers achieved whatever you requested; “You name it; we’ll deliver it!” was the best words to describe them. Also people consider it “a special local product”, “worth a ride”, “skillful riders”, and “far-reaching service”. All these good words about motorcycle couriers showed residents’ trust on them and revealed positive feedback to their service. To all the residents, motorcycle couriers are their best friends.