Bus companies and public transport: what needs for embedded IT solutions?
Geolocation-assisted fleet management tools, and more generally embedded computing solutions, applied in the field of passenger transport, can be very useful for organizations such as bus companies.
Our Silver, Gold and Platinum softwares provide many features that might interest professionals in the public transport service. The needs of these professionals, in terms of fleet management, lie in the following points:
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- Locate drivers and vehicles in real time, and identify the vehicles closest to an address for rapid intervention: the fleet manager can know at any time where the buses are, and ensure that the journeys are going well. He has access to vehicle status and knows if the vehicle is driving, paused or stopped, and for how long.
- Inform passengers of the location of the bus or coach and its proximity to their stop.
- Allow a third party to remotly locate the coach or the bus with the tracking sharing position.
- Organize the parking of vehicles: quickly find the location where the vehicle is parked, which saves additional time for the fleet manager, and avoids looking for a vehicle where it is not.
- Produce statistics and calculate the buses using rate: to find out which vehicles are most used and the number of kilometers on the clock, in order to distribute vacant vehicles more evenly to drivers, which therefore makes it possible to better target vehicles requiring maintenance. To also know the time at which the driver of the vehicle started his day and at what time he finished, which has the rapid effect of making him responsible for his punctuality and respect for his working time.
- Consult the trip histories: allows the fleet manager to find all the driver’s journeys on the platform or by receiving them automatically by e-mail, count the number of trips, driving time and distance traveled, note traffic violations such as speeding, knowing the time slot (day/night/holiday) of a transport, and possibly checking the honesty of a driver by detecting undeclared work. Some of the fleet manager’s tasks are therefore automated, for example he will no longer need to manually enter the mileage of the vehicles, which will save him time and make him more comfortable in the execution of his work.
- Achieve fuel and maintenance savings: drivers trained in eco-driving adopt economical and more ecological driving, which has the effect of reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The company will thus be able to communicate on its responsible approach to sustainable development. Eco-driving also reduces vehicle wear thanks to smoother driving, taking better care of the engine, tires, etc.
- Securing drivers against attacks or accidents: thanks to an alert button that we provide, react more quickly and call the emergency services. Make road safety prevention by controlling the speed of the vehicle, enforce the rules of eco-driving and reduce the risk of falling asleep at the wheel with the loss of attention detection, release the driver’s responsibilities thanks to the geolocation tracker Type 4 CRASHBOX, and the connected video system which provide access to a large amount of information prior to a possible crash, which will help avoid conflicts with insurance companies.
- Build a database of the entire fleet of vehicles and drivers: simplify the administrative tasks of the fleet manager by centralizing information and allowing him to organize himself better. Access vehicle information such as date of last maintenance, type of fuel or registration number, know who is driving which vehicle at any given time through the use of Dallas keys.
- Be alerted by SMS or e-mail: the fleet manager is notified in real time in the event of non-compliance with safety, eco-driving or authorized speed instructions; if a vehicle enters or leaves the garage, or at a specific location such as a pick-up point, or in an area where parking is not permitted.
- Know the status of the buses fuel tank in real time.
- Count validated transport tickets in real time when getting into the vehicle.
- Be sure that no one has been left inside the bus at the end of the tour (e.g. a child on school transport), by installing a system requiring the driver to make sure the bus is empty.
- Fight against fraud, vandalism and aggression, by installing a connected video system in the vehicle. This type of installation makes it possible to dissuade, or at least reduce damage to vehicles by passengers, as well as to reduce malicious acts and aggression.
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