What is the VIP room like at the Tietê bus station, in SP – 12/22/2023 – Tourism

The Tietê Bus Terminal, the largest in the country, gains a new VIP lounge this Friday (22). With 160 m² and capacity to receive up to 50 people at a time, the space is more similar to airport lounges than the VIP lounges that already exist in the terminal — including offering unlimited snacks and drinks at no additional cost. Access is exclusive to customers who purchased their tickets through the Quero Passagem website, the second largest in the country for road ticket sales.

The new space is at the bottom of the bus station’s mezzanine, in front of the ATMs and close to the bus companies’ counters, where Caixa Econômica Federal previously held the Mega-Sena draws. Renovated by the architecture firm Superlimão, it now offers dozens of armchairs and sofas equipped with individual sockets, air conditioning, meeting room, bathrooms and functions as a service point for Quero Passagem customers.

When the Sheet visited the space, moment before the inauguration, the food options included water, juices and soft drinks (such as Coca-Cola and Guaraná Antártica), different versions of espresso coffees from the Três Corações brand, chestnuts, peanuts, sweet potato chips and cassava and shortbread cookies. Offered in packages with individual portions, the snacks are very similar to those that airlines offer for free in their in-flight service.

“Brazil is the second largest travel market in Latin America, and road transport is the only one that reaches all municipalities. But unlike the airline sector, which managed to build an entire aspirational aspect around traveling, road transport did not do this That’s what we want with this space”, says Edson Lopes, marketing director at Quero Passagem. “We want to signal to passengers and the market that bus travel can be more comfortable and enjoyable.”

Lopes says that the idea of ​​opening a lounge at Tietê came up more than a year ago, but it took a while to get off the ground due to the lack of suitable and available spaces in the terminal, which was last revitalized in the 1990s. When Caixa left the location, the brand soon moved to install its “flagship” there. The investment to open the space reached R$2 million, in addition to another R$100,000 per month for the operation. The works lasted around three months.

The brand is also preparing to deal with a phenomenon that already occurs at airports: the overcrowding of VIP lounges. The solution, according to the executive, should not involve restricting access to certain groups of customers, as happens in air terminals.

“Depending on public acceptance, the idea is to expand the room to be able to receive more people and offer the room’s services in other formats, in other terminals”, says the executive. “But we certainly won’t create filters to restrict access. We want to provide a good travel experience for as many people as possible.”

Starting in January, the Quero Passagem lounge will also have a space dedicated to children, with toys and activities — including a magazine inspired by the “Almanaque da Turma da Mônica” that can be taken along on the trip by the little ones.