In a recent Japanese TV programme they had
a group of bus professionals from the US, the UK and France inspecting bus
services in Japan, who were so much impressed, saying “there are so many things
for us to learn from”.
The things the inspectorate members were
impressed with are all for customer satisfaction, with three keywords – speed,
safety and hospitality or “Omotenashi おもてなし” in Japanese
which was the key word used in the presentation to win Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
To the author, these show what kinds of
services are required to win customer satisfaction in the Japan market for
service companies but on the other hand some might be a little “too much”. What do you think?
1. For
maximum hospitality
The inspectorate members were amazed at the
hospitality provided to the passengers through the bus announcements
1) Bus
announcements providing ample information
When buses in many other countries do not
necessarily have bus announcements, the inspectorate members were overwhelmed
with the quality and quantity of information provided with this service. These announcements are usually in woman’s
voice.
The announcements not only provide what the
next stop is but also what key places are near the next stop (e.g. school,
hospital) as well as transfer information.
2) Bus
announcements providing reminders
There are even announcements to remind
passengers such as “the bus is to turn right thus will make a rocking motion,
so please hold on to straps or hand rails.”
And, to distinguish such announcement from
those providing information about the bus stop, these announcements are in a
man’s voice.
2. For
speedy services
The inspectorate members were amazed to see
the time schedule of the busses because especially at the rush hours buses
arrive at a bus stop every 2 or 3 minutes, when it is something like every 10
or 15 minutes in their country.
Such operation is feasible in Japan with
speedy services enabled by the following.
1) Multi-functional
fare payment machine
An extremely smart, multi-functional fare
payment machine is located next to the driver.
This is to provide speedy services even when Japanese buses are run by
only one driver similarly to those of many other countries in a very tight time
schedule.
The machine can offer change as soon as
when the passenger puts coins in it, just like the vending machines of train
tickets and drinks. The machine also can
change money when the passenger does not have coins.
It can handle for the fare just for one
passenger each. It can do so for up to
60 passengers at a time; therefore, if there is a group of passengers the
payment can be done with minimum time.
The machine also has another unique
function, which is explained in the next section.
2) IC
card reader
IC card has been quite popular in Japan
when riding trains and subways for years now, and the same IC card can be used in
riding buses today.
So when a passenger gets on the bus from
the back door and wants to pay by IC, she/he simply touches the IC on the IC
reader just like she/he does so when getting on the train. She/he again touches the IC reader on the
multi-functional fare payment machine when getting off the bus from the front
door near the bus driver.
3. For
passenger safety
The inspectorate members were amazed at
some systems they learned from first-hand experience they would not find in
their country, all for safety of the passengers, which are the below.
1) So
many buttons to inform “getting off at the next stop”
As soon as they got on a bus, the US member
of the inspectorate started counting the number of buttons that passengers
press to inform the driver that they are getting off the bus at the next
stop. Surprisingly, there were as many 35,
located at variety of places - relatively high up for passengers standing up
and low down where passengers seated can reach without standing up.
The inspectorate members asked the Japanese
bus company staff why there are so many buttons. The answer was “so that passengers can press
the button with ease, not losing balance, when the bus is still on the
move. This means safety for the passengers.”
2) Door
designed for ultra-safety
The French member of the inspectorate did
an experiment about the back door (where passengers get on) and was extremely
impressed with its cleverness, making it ultra-safe for passengers. When the door started to close, he put his
arm at the position that his arm would likely be jammed. Then the door immediately opened again. He did this experiment many times and the
result was the same.
This was because a sensor is embedded in
the rubber part of the door where it shuts.
As soon as the sensor detects something, it delivers the signal that the
door needs to be opened instead of closed.
This is quite helpful when the driver cannot see the situation at the
back of the bus, around the entrance door area.
3) Systems
to monitor drivers’ skills daily
Each bus driver, before leaving their
office, has a short 1:1 briefing of the route they drive for smooth operation
followed by going through a check list for safety. In doing so, they repeat a phrase of reminders
that are differently every day, such as “avoid sudden braking”, “keep to
appropriate speed”.
When the driver gets on the bus, he sets a
recorder that records everything about how he drives, including how brakes and accelerators
are used, speed and so forth. And when
he returns to the office, he brings back the recorder with him and places in an
equipment. Then immediately the “result”
is displayed by graphs and charts together with the score. In this way, his driving skill is monitored
every day.
4) Training
to detect veteran drivers’ possible negative habits
When in other countries like France where
once the driver passes to be qualified he is never trained as the French member
of the inspectorate clearly said, in Japan they regularly provide training to
drivers including experienced ones to “guarantee” safety as much as possible
for passengers.
The training is done on a bus with a
special system, with which the points where the driver sees are monitored and
displayed on a screen real-time. Other
information about how he drives are also recorded and visualized real-time and
thus the trainer can immediately detect any possible negative habits of the
driver.
This is helpful when the experienced drivers
find it difficult to be aware of any habits after having being in the role for
so many years, which could impact negatively from safety perspective.
