2014年10月14日火曜日

Amazing Transportation Services in Japan for Ultimate Customer Satisfaction (1)

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.