RESEARCH OF THE CONCEPT OF TRANSPORT SERVICE (FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION)

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of the modern content of the concept of transport services (freight transportation). Given the complexity of the concept of "transport service" (especially in the field of freight (commercial) transportation), many measures aimed at improving its quality do not always yield tangible results due to the insufficiently developed methodological and methodological basis. The article develops the theoretical foundations and methodological approaches related to the concepts of "transport service" and "quality of transport service", clearly defines their structure, identifies the difference between the concepts of "transport maintenance" and "transport ser-vice", performs a classification and, on this basis, substantiates quality indicators and methods of their assessment, taking into account the specifics of the object of transport (cargo). It is shown that transport service is a more complex concept, since the client perceives it in terms of the services provided, the level of organization of the transport process and interaction with users of transport services. The concept of a service is, in a general sense, the result of at least one action that must be performed during the interaction between the supplier and the consumer, and, as a rule, is intangi-ble. Therefore, the concept of "service" is interpreted in different ways, but all definitions emphasize the service as a result of activity. It is expedient to give priority to the process and it can be argued that transport service is a process as part of the system of economic relations in the field of circulation and distribution of goods, which is presented as a set of its elements, consisting of transport products, transport process and organization of interaction between the user of transport service and transport business entities. The author concludes that it is necessary to strictly distinguish be-tween the concepts of "transport maintenance" and "transport service", and to define transport service from the point of view of process as part of the system of economic relations in the sphere of circulation and distribution of goods, which is presented as a set of its elements consisting of transport products, technological process and relations between par-ticipants in the transport process. Presentation of transport services in the form of a structure makes it possible to more clearly define the properties that form the quality of transport services, its quality indicators, methods of their evalua-tion for further assessment of the level of quality of their provision.