www.sciedu.ca/jms Journal of Management and Strategy Vol. 1, No. 1; December 2010 Published by Sciedu Press 93 Institutional Aspects on Bus Rapid Transit Systems Implementation in Mexico City, Estado de Mexico and León Guanajuato Fernando Lámbarry Vilchis (Corresponding author) Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica / Escuela Superior de Comercio y Administración, Instituto Politécnico Nacional E-mail: flambarry@ipn.mx Luis Arturo Rivas Tovar Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Administrativas de la Escuela Superior de Comercio y Administración, Instituto Politécnico Nacional E-mail: larivas@ipn.mx Mara Maricela Trujillo Flores Escuela Superior de Comercio y Administración, Instituto Politécnico Nacional E-mail: martruj@aol.com Received: September 7, 2010 Accepted: September 20, 2010 doi:10.5430/jms.v1n1p93 Abstract The paradigm of bus rapid transit as a mean of public transportation has been studied from different perspectives by renowned international researchers and, although there is a consensus in its implementation because of the operational institutional traditional structures toward a public-private participation scheme,there is few specialized literature that analyzes these institutional aspects: the actors involved, the new system organization and the legal norms of the new transport system. This research through study cases is aimed to compare institutional aspects between the Leon Guanajuato’s Optibus, the Mexico’s City Metrobus and the State’s of Mexico Mexibus, which represents the bus rapid transit systems implementation, in order to identify in each of them the actors involved, their stockholders and contractual options, the organization and the legal framework that provides certainty to the systems’ institutional scheme. Key words: Rapid transit bus, Institutional aspects, Actors involved, System organization, Legal regulations. 1. Introduction Public transport studies have been approached from different perspectives, Van Egmond, Nijkamp and Vindigi (2003), conclude that it is required to improve the local public transport service efficiency through drastic changes in the mass transit systems organization, which involves creating a regulation that reconciles the market interests and high quality services focused on citizens.Winston (2000), proposes the privatization due to government technical inefficiency at investment and public transport regulation. Humphrey (1979) summarizes that on a successful public transport policy the coordination and cooperation among government agencies are crucial so that it will be possible to finance infrastructure and massive transportation systems. The public transport paradigm (Curitiba, Brazil, 1974) known as Bus Rapid System (BRT), has features that place them in the mass transport systems family, in which are placed systems such as the subway, light rail and tram, which is relevant due to the BRT systems are competitive in performance against the subway, but most of all in terms of insertion flexibility. Topic World Experts, have focused on study and research extensively the BRT concept on topics such as the overall system (Wright, 2003, Wright and Fjellstrom, 2003; Hook, 2005), the demand modeling (Ortúzar and Willumsen, 2002), the vehicle technology and the systems pricing (United States Federal Transit Administration, 2001), the system evaluation (Litman, 2006), the regional and global comparison among them (Hidalgo et al, 2007; Menckhoff, 2007; Ardila 2004) and, systems planning and regulation (Ardila, 2004; Meakin, 2002; Levinson Zimmerman et al, 2003). Likewise, the topic has been approached by organizations within the most important studies are those developed by: