Performance assessment of urban passenger transport is relevant since it causes economic, environmental and social impacts. Thus, this paper proposes a structured method to assess and evaluate the performance of passenger transport systems. Assuming that an eco-efficiency analysis is a step toward sustainability, we applied the method in a Brazilian case considering eco-efficiency measures, to show its potential as a tool to support decisions. We concluded that neither the most used alternative nor the one with the highest capacity attained the best eco-efficient performance, which can be explained by the low occupancy rates. Focusing on the latter, we propose some actions – based on the Brazilian and international literature – that can be implemented to improve its performance.