Within a month of installation, public transport operator Abellio is benefiting from a computerised fleet management system from Freeway Fleet Systems, which is maximising the efficiency of its London and Surrey bus services. The intelligent software streamlines maintenance scheduling, eliminates mountains of paperwork and ensures that the fleet is running smoothly and that running costs are minimised.
"Following Abellio's purchase of the London and Surrey public transport business from National Express it was imperative that we had the system up and running as quickly as possible. We were pleased to be able to go live within a month of installation," says Steve Perks, Engineering Director, Abellio.
The system gives full visibility of fleet maintenance activities, enabling Abellio's engineering team to manage its workload efficiently and cost-effectively across five different workshops, while keeping tight control of its stock of spare parts through its inventory management and order processing capabilities. The software helps identify problems and schedule routine jobs so that engineers can work more efficiently with full access to vehicle histories and maintenance information.
"Freeway is a very good system for managing bus fleets. It gives a clear picture of the fleet and its maintenance requirements. With Freeway, we have a comprehensive electronic record of our fleet assets that is easy to access and use; this also details individual warranty items so that we can process claims quickly. The system allows automatic scheduling of routine events as well as giving us the flexibility to plan other maintenance work according to available resources," says Steve Perks.
Rapid implementation of Freeway was possible because of its user-friendly design, which cuts down training time. Also, the system takes into account over 15 years' experience of understanding precisely what bus operators need to run efficient fleets.
"Freeway has an intuitive user interface so that users are comfortable with the system in a very short time. Its bus specific functionality has been developed by working closely with industry customers and ensuring that all the features they need are built into the system as standard. There is no need to rewrite the software, all we have to do is install it and configure it to our customers' requirements. Abellio's system is hosted, making it easy to deploy across several sites and available to many users using an Internet link. Rapid deployment means customers benefit from it immediately; the return on investment can be measured in weeks, rather than in months and years," says Patrick Tandy, Director Freeway Fleet Systems.
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