Improving service quality in public transportation in Brazil: How bus companies are simplifying quality management systems and strategic planning to increase service level?

Abstract

Improving the service quality in public transportation is essential for convinced users to abandon the use of private cars. However, to improve service quality, companies need to adopt a quality management system and strategic planning which is not an easy task. This paper presents a way of simplifying a Quality Management System (QMS) and developing a Simple Strategic Planning (SSP) to be adopted for bus transportation companies. A methodology is developed and showed in this paper, together with a case study that illustrate the system. A Brazilian Bus Company applied the methodology and reached an improvement of their service levels with low costs.