Considering that travel times are generally high in large cities in developing countries such as Brazil, this study proposes a methodology based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist Index to evaluate urban public transportation systems that combine two conflicting perspectives: the economic, represented by an efficiency index, and the social, represented by a satisfaction index. The performance of urban public transportation systems is measured by an efficiency/satisfaction ratio (ESR), which can aid public municipal authorities (PMAs) to develop better transport strategies and improve long-term investment planning. ESR < 1 indicates that the transport policy favors the passengers and ESR = 1 represents an equilibrium. The application of the methodology to 17 Brazilian municipalities over six years reveals how each municipality is located in the efficiency x satisfaction space, and how the transport authorities could balance economic and social indices. Our methodology integrates a set of effective analysis tools that can assist PMAs in the important task of balancing between interests of service providers and passengers Ver menos