Author: Harminder Sangha

Newly restored 1931 AEC Bus showcases on our stand at Euro Bus Expo 2022

Join us, Omnibus and EPM on stand J70, on 1st to 3rd November 2022 at the NEC, Birmingham at the Euro Bus Expo 2022.

Euro Bus Expo is the passenger transport must-attend event to discover new ways to move your business forward from leading manufacturers and suppliers to the bus and coach sector. Visitors can explore and experience the latest vehicles, meet suppliers representing the breadth of the sector, and attend three days of informative seminars from some of the industry’s most respected names.

Take a seat and photo on the 1931 AEC Regent 

We have the newly-restored AEC Regent 486 bus on our stand, kindly provided by Transport Museum Wythall. The double decker bus has a remarkable history spanning more than 90 years. Starting life on the roads of Birmingham in 1931, it now has a new lease of life after a restoration that cost £500,000. Visit the stand and take a look at this spectacular bus in its glory.

Book a demo of our new solutions

As well as experiencing the AEC bus, we will be hosting demos of our solutions.

  • Scheduling suite: Our cloud-based flexible modelling tools provide high level timetables and schedules to give you a quick view of the effectiveness of different scenarios.
  • Depot allocation: Recently launched, cloud-native OmniDAS provides realtime driver and vehicle management for managing day-to-day resources and handling unexpected changes.
  • Driver app: Our new OmniENGAGE driver app streamlines communication with drivers and accelerates your operational agility.

Meet the team

Join us on stand J70 and speak to Software Director Nick Brookes, Client Managers Penny Johnson and Dan Newman, Omnibus’ Founder Peter Crichton, Product Owner Aiden Proctor, Client Support Paul Wreggit and IT Manager Dave Lambert on the latest passenger transport software to increase commercial, financial and operational performance.

RSVP: Book your ticket

Visit the website: Euro Bus Expo 2022

Let us show you the power of our solutions

at Euro Bus Expo 2022, NEC Birmingham

Omnibus to exhibit at New Zealand Bus and Coach Association Annual Conference

Join us at 10-11 October 2022 at New Zealand’s Bus and Coach Association (BCA) Conference 2022 held at the Rotorua Energy Events Centre located in the spectacular Government Gardens.

Visit us on stand 12 and speak to our group Software Director, Nick Brookes and Scheduling Suite Product Manager, Aiden Proctor; and Client Account Manager, Penny Johnson on the latest passenger transport software to increase commercial, financial, and operational performance; from scheduling, to staff rostering, depot allocation and timetabling.

Visit the website: New Zealand Bus and Coach Association (BCA) Conference 2022 

Dates: 9-11 Oct 2022
Location: New Zealand, Rotorua
Stand no: 12

Nick Brookes

Nick Brookes, Software Director at EPM Group

Aiden Proctor

Aiden Proctor, Product Manager – Omnibus Scheduling Suite

Penny Johnson, Client Account Manager at EPM Group

Let’s meet at the show – we can drive your business forward

Grow patronage, boost revenue, and drive operational efficiency.

Omnibus to exhibit at Australian Coach and Bus Expo 2022

Join us at 5-6 October 2022 at the Australian Bus and Coach Expo 2022 taking place at the Sydney Showground.

Visit us on stand 83 and speak to our group software Director, Nick Brookes and Scheduling Suite Product Manager, Aiden Proctor; and Client Account Manager, Penny Johnson on the latest passenger transport software to increase commercial, financial, and operational performance; from scheduling, to staff rostering, depot allocation and timetabling.

Visit the website: Australian Bus and Coach Expo 2022 

Dates: 5-6 Oct 2022
Location: Sydney
Stand no: 83

Nick Brookes

Nick Brookes, Software Director at EPM Group

Aiden Proctor

Aiden Proctor, Product Manager – Omnibus Scheduling Suite

Penny Johnson, Client Account Manager at EPM Group

Let’s meet at the show – we can drive your business forward

Grow patronage, boost revenue, and drive operational efficiency.

Webinar – Depot Allocation simplified from schedules to payroll

Close up of man using laptop

Starting with your schedules, OmniDAS simply and efficiently allows you to allocate staff and vehicles, easily handling shift swaps, holidays and non-attendance, and day to day aspects in a bus depot. Whilst also making sure that it remains legal, and everyone is paid correctly too. Cloud based OmniDAS captures all this and more by being tailored to your specific circumstances. Join our webinar to find out more.

  • Date: Wednesday 13th October 2021
Close up of man using laptop

Key topics covered in the webinar

These tutorials taken from the webinar explain how to import schedules information, allocate resources and reduce administration.

Getting started with OmniDAS

Quickly & efficiently allocate resources

Automate staff sign-in

Produce accurate payroll information

Omnibus software supports Oxford Bus company to meet ‘net zero’

Oxford Bus Company

14th June 2021 – Omnibus is cementing its commitment to support bus operators accelerate towards ‘net zero’ – and Oxford Bus Company is the latest to benefit.

The leading transport software supplier has carried out work around electric vehicle (EV) operations for the company, which is part of the Go-Ahead Group. The work will support the operator’s bid for government funding as Oxford prepares to deploy large numbers of electric buses under the government’s ‘ZEBRA’ scheme.

Oxford Bus Company

Omnibus created custom performance scenarios on agreed route groupings and advised on the most operable, cost-effective solution with which they can roll out a fully electric bus fleet across the city. The work will inform Go-Ahead’s wider strategy for decarbonisation, and Omnibus is also advising on the interurban services operated by Thames Travel.

Luke Marion, Finance & Commercial Director of Oxford Bus Company, said: “We’ve had a longstanding partnership with Omnibus and have always highly valued their proactive and positive approach to helping us solve our scheduling challenges. The work they’ve done to support us on the electrification project has been invaluable in helping us understand how we will need to adapt our scheduling practices to deal with new vehicle technologies.

“Omnibus have used the feedback from ourselves, and from other operators to feed into the development of  some really useful improvements to their tools, and we believe these will keep Omnibus at the front of the pack of bus scheduling software for some time to come.”

Peter Crichton, Omnibus Managing Director, said: “We’re committed to giving our customers complete visibility over their fleet and operations and delivering accurate information first time.

“Our software has been used to successfully plan for numerous EV operations and limited range vehicles – and naturally we are delighted Oxford Bus Company chose our team to support them in their bid for government funding.”

Kieran Proctor, Omnibus Technical Account Manager who worked on the project, said: “Oxford Bus Company needed scheduling scenarios running to see how they can maximise the total number of electric miles operated, whilst also considering the limited range of these vehicles – so the vehicle workings needed to be spot on. They also wanted to analyse any impact to driver costs that these revisions may cause.

“By producing several realistic scheduling solutions we were able to consider the various cost implications of each. The customer was delighted with the results, and this level of scrutiny has given them the confidence that they have the best possible plan to introduce a fully electric bus fleet to the streets of Oxford.”

Omnibus has worked on a number of decarbonisation projects for customers in the UK and in Europe. National Express UK Bus and Harrogate Bus Company, amongst many others, use Omnibus software to plan and manage existing EV operations.

Through active involvement in similar projects and valuable feedback from customers, the Omnibus team have been able to design software improvements that make planning EV solutions much easier.

With further enhancements in the pipeline, Mr Crichton said Omnibus is committed to giving customers the best solutions for the job.

– END –

Press Contact:
Harmi Sangha

Marketing Manager – Omnibus and EPM Bus Solutions
07538 935 568
Harminder.sangha@epm-bus.com 

Supporting operators to improve efficiency when scheduling alternative fuels vehicles

Sam Greaves
Head of Service Delivery at Tower Transit

How OmniBASE has improved efficiency at Tower Transit around scheduling electric vehicles.

Take the hassle out of scheduling 

Empowering you with technology to develop efficient and optimised schedules

Omnibus and EPM to Exhibit at ITT Hub 2021

ITT Hub event 2021

Join Omnibus and EPM on 30th June and 1st July at ITT Hub 2021 at the Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre. The new industry event supports the government’s decarbonisation of transport plan.

Exhibiting the best in road-transport innovation and technology for fleet operators, planners and policy makers; ITT Hub combines an indoor exhibition, outdoor interactive display and demonstration space with a high-profile Future Logistics Conference.

Addressing the key challenges shaping the transport industry today, the programme of sessions will be delivered by thought leaders, innovators and experts representing a wide range of businesses and stakeholders.

Visit us on stand A33 to see Omnibus Managing Director Peter Crichton and Technical Account Manager Kieran Proctor, and EPM’s Software Director Nick Brookes and Product Manager Mark Jones showcasing the latest passenger transport software to increase commercial, financial and operational performance.

Visit the website: ITT Hub 2021

Address:
Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre
Etps Rd, Farnborough
GU14 6FD

Powering the future of your bus operations

Grow patronage, boost revenue, and drive operational efficiency.

Leading operators embrace our time-saving publishing solution

Go South West Omnistop design publishing software
Go South West Omnistop design publishing software

4 May 2021 – Leading bus operators embrace bus stop display software, OmniSTOPdesign, to quickly adapt to network changes during the pandemic.

Go South Coast and Go South West upgraded their bus stop display software to OmniSTOPdesign – the application which enables the creation of visual and up-to-date public transport information displays –

from leading supplier of operational software, Omnibus. The software enabled the operators to react quickly and efficiently to the changing nature of reality during the Covid-19 pandemic.

OmniSTOPdesign gives users the tools they need to produce bespoke templates, with the option of adding service branding, graphics, logos, and custom messages – allowing operators to produce attractive and informative transport displays with ease. The software is particularly beneficial for networks that include a variety of stop usage levels and different case types.

The software uses automatic inclusion of timetable information direct from OmniTIMES, which ensures all the data is accurate and up-to-date. Automatic schematic maps can be added to any display, and services can be included, omitted, or merged at stop level – giving users complete flexibility in presenting the information.

Southern Vectis was the first company in the Go South Coast Group to implement OmniSTOPdesign, with over 1,200 stops covering the whole of the Isle of Wight operation. Other companies within the Group are due to be completed by the end of the year.

Marc West, Planning Manager for Go South Coast, comments: “One of the main reasons we adopted OmniSTOPdesign was to have more control and flexibility over our displays. Each operator in the Go South Coast group has a different identity, and this software allows us to quickly and easily produce displays that reflect each brand.”

He adds: “Some of our routes have infrequent services, which often leads to display issues. With OmniSTOPdesign we can seamlessly change any aspect of the design and set up our own templates, creating clean, easy to read and up-to-date displays for our passengers, which was particularly important during Covid-19 and changes being made to services as a result of the pandemic.”

Go South West, which covers Plymouth Citybus and Go Cornwall Bus, have completed displays for over 1,300 stops for Plymouth Citybus – covering almost every bus stop in the city. They are now working to update all the bus stops for Go Cornwall Bus as part of the Transport for Cornwall network.

Phil Bruford, Infrastructure Manager for Go South West, comments: “OmniSTOPdesign makes creating bus stop displays easier, faster and much more flexible. The speed with which we can create display options is more efficient and saves a vast amount of time. We are now able to complete a full-service change in the same time it used to take to complete a single route.

He concludes: “The system is extremely easy to use and the customer service from Omnibus is second to none.”

Peter Crichton, Managing Director at Omnibus, comments: “Providing accurate and up-to-date timetables for passengers at stop displays is essential. We’ve built a solution which has streamlined the processes to provide operators a platform which gives them full control as well as the capability to turn these around very quickly – saving both time and money. With operators having to adapt swiftly to changes in society during the pandemic, OmniSTOPdesign is built with a deep understanding of the issues facing bus schedulers and the complexities in planning and managing resources in the public transport sector.”

– ENDS –

Press Contact:
Harmi Sangha
Marketing Manager – Omnibus and EPM Bus Solutions
07538 935 568
Harminder.sangha@epm-bus.com 

Powering the future of your bus operations

Grow patronage, boost revenue, and drive operational efficiency.

Government unveils new bus strategy with £3 billion investment

happy man in bus
happy man in bus

15 March 2021, Government has announced a new bus strategy along with a £3 billion investment into the sector to encourage people to use buses over cars. The strategy is a complete overhaul to build a better bus services as we recover from the pandemic.

The strategy will see passengers across England benefiting from more frequent, more reliable, easier to use and understand, better coordinated and cheaper bus services.

The changes include:

  • Simpler bus fares with daily price caps, so people can use the bus as many times a day as they need without facing mounting costs
  • More services in the evenings and at the weekends
  • Integrated services and ticketing across all transport modes, so people can easily move from bus to train
  • All buses to accept contactless payments

Through the plans the Government is driving for the fragmented, fully commercialised market, which has operated outside London since 1986 to end. They want to see operators and local councils enter into a statutory “enhanced partnership” or franchising agreements to receive the new funding and deliver the improvements.

Read the full Government announcement on the £3 billion bus revolution

Download the Bus Back Better: national bus strategy for England

Powering the future of your bus operations

Grow patronage, boost revenue, and drive operational efficiency.

EPM Bus Solutions completes Omnibus acquisition

Ian Churchill

18 Feb 2021 – EPM Bus Solutions has today, with the support of Literacy Capital, completed the acquisition of one of the UK’s leading passenger transport software businesses, Omnibus.

The strategic acquisition sees EPM further strengthen its capability in providing high quality software solutions across the bus operator and transport authority markets, focussed on improving operational and commercial performance.

Founded in 1990, by Peter and Carol Crichton, Omnibus provides software for passenger transport scheduling, staff rostering, depot allocation and timetable construction to a wide range of public transport operators and local authorities, with solutions being used across the UK and overseas.

Ian Churchill
Ian Churchill CEO at EPM Bus Solutions

EPM Bus Solutions, formed in 1986, provide software to help bus operators and transport authorities reduce operational costs, improve financial performance and better serve their customers. In addition, EPM are the UK’s leading BSOG auditor and concessionary reimbursement consultancy.

Ian Churchill, CEO at EPM Bus Solutions, said: “Omnibus’ software solutions perfectly complements EPM’s, and the acquisition will enable us to provide a higher quality service to existing clients and give a wider offering of solutions to new customers. By bringing together the two businesses we will be able to harness the domain knowledge and experience of both to develop solutions to meet the needs of the public transport sector as society emerges from the impact of Covid-19.”

Peter Crichton, Managing Director at Omnibus, said: “I am very proud of the journey the Omnibus business has been on over the last three decades. Driven by the challenges faced by the pandemic, new technologies, and demand from bus operators and transport authorities for deeper insights into their operations to drive efficiency, EPM’s solutions combined with Omnibus’s will offer a powerful set of solutions which will be best-in-class. I am looking forward to working with the EPM team on this exciting journey.”

–END–

EPM Bus Solutions: https://www.epm-bus.com

Press Contact:

EPM Bus Solutions
Harmi Sangha
07538 935 568
Harminder.sangha@epm-bus.com 

First Bus supported to meet BODS compliance

First Bus Operator

21 Dec 2020 – Omnibus is helping First Bus to provide seamless and compliant timetable data for the Bus Open Data Service (BODS).

Earlier this year Omnibus launched a new module that provides BODS compliant TransXChange files ready for uploading to the Department for Transport BODS portal by the 31st December deadline.

First Bus Operator

The BODS module has been designed by Omnibus, for our customers to utilise, enabling them to simply select timetables and produce compliant data with minimal effort.

Omnibus is providing First Bus with this innovative new software to enable the Schedulers to draw the data from the Omnibus suite of products in a way that is familiar to them. Omnibus has and continues to provide help and training to ensure First Bus will be BODS ready for the deadline at the end of this year.

Michael Meilton, BODS Project Leader for Omnibus, comments: “We are working closely with all our customers to ensure that they are BODS ready. We are ensuring that they are aware of the need for the TransXChange to be in a specific BODS format, and not getting caught out by thinking that their existing exports fit the bill, as unfortunately they won’t. Our developers have worked wonders in creating software that ensures the data can be exported in a compliant format, with minimal impact on schedulers’ workloads.”

John Birtwistle, Head of Policy for First Bus, commented: “The work that Omnibus has done has simplified the process. The software does its job perfectly. We have been able to compile our BODS data seamlessly, enabling us to meet the DFT deadline efficiently for customers.”

-ENDS-

Press Contact:
Harmi Sangha
Marketing Manager – Omnibus and EPM Bus Solutions
07538 935 568
Harminder.sangha@epm-bus.com 

Seamless.Effecient.Easy

Alex Hornby
CEO for Transdev Blazefield

We are delighted to be working with Omnibus in leading the way in helping us make data more open and accessible. Ensuring information is easily available to our customers, existing and new, is a vital part of growing bus use and we are excited to embrace the opportunities it provides.”