Category: Omnistopdesign

D&G Bus increases online ticket sales with Omnibus timetable publicity solution

D&G Bus use Omnibus roadside publicity solution

D&G Bus, part of Centrebus Group, operates in Cheshire, Staffordshire and extends into Derbyshire and creates roadside publicity for stops not managed by a transport authority.

Following its expansion to include Chaserider, D&G’s managed bus stops have increased to 1,000, of which the new brand accounts for 70%.

The discrepancy is due to Chaserider’s stops being closer together and responsibility for maintaining displays in Stafford, Cannock and Lichfield resting with the operator.

Challenge

It immediately became apparent to D&G that a purpose-built solution was needed to prevent roadside publicity becoming a full-time job. As well as accelerating productivity, the solution needed to provide stop-specific displays with return journey times to reduce the high number of customer enquiries. It also required capability to combine timetables for rural stops with a case only on one side of the road. Achieving this in a spreadsheet was proving very complex with an increased risk of errors. 

Solution

An existing customer of the Omnibus scheduling suite, D&G implemented OmniSTOPdesign, which simplifies the creation of timetable publicity. Four key features stood out to D&G:  

  • Timetable data is taken directly from OmniTIMES, ensuring accuracy and data integrity 
  • In-built database to store case information and easily assign templates to stops 
  • User-configurable templates provide complete freedom over style, size and format 
  • Batch create PDF output in-house and without third-party software or support 

Result

OmniSTOPdesign has enabled D&G Bus to optimise roadside publicity, increase online sales and improve customer satisfaction.

“We wanted to make timetable publicity administration faster and more efficient. It now takes 3 seconds to create one panel instead of 15 minutes. We wanted to spend less time answering enquiries by providing better information. We generate thousands of pounds a week more in online ticket sales by adding our app to displays. Passengers can also access real-time journey information by scanning a QR code.” – Chris Almond, Centrebus Group Commercial Officer 

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Go East Anglia to gain bus stop timetable publicity efficiencies with Omnibus

Go East Anglia to gain bus stop timetable publicity efficiencies with Omnibus

23 February 2023 – Go East Anglia is building on its partnership with Omnibus by implementing timetable publicity solution OmniSTOPdesign to gain efficiencies and realise cost savings. 

OmniSTOPdesign enables the rapid production of public transport displays through customisable templates, which allow for route branding, graphics, logos and marketing messages. The solution links with OmniTIMES, directly taking timetable data from it to ensure information is accurate and up to date. 

Hedingham Bus, Go East Anglia timetable publicity

The Go-Ahead Group-owned operator, which serves Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, also uses Omnibus for mapping, vehicle and crew scheduling, rostering and data exchange. 

Davina Langley, Marketing Manager, Go East Anglia

Davina Langley, Marketing Manager at Go East Anglia, said: “Roadside publicity is a core element to the success of Go East Anglia and is used to draw customers to our services. The way we produce roadside media is not sustainable and is causing a big drain on important staffing resource.  

“OmniSTOPdesign will streamline the production of roadside media and significantly reduce internal resource. We’re pleased to extend our partnership with Omnibus, whose scale and depth of expertise will help us deliver a better service to customers.” 

Peter Crichton, Founder of Omnibus, said: “We’ve had the pleasure to work closely with Go East Anglia for years and this new agreement is a strong expression of trust in our expertise and solutions, which are continuously being improved to meet customer needs. 

OmniSTOPdesign is used by both operators and transport authorities. The configurable template system provides full control over displays, giving users complete flexibility to deliver passenger information in the most appropriate format.”

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Go East Anglia: www.go-ahead.com

Omnibus Solutions: www.omnibus.solutions

Press contact at EPM Group

Harminder Sangha
harminder.sangha@epm-bus.com
07538 935 568

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Hull City Council to meet BSIP commitments with improved bus stop displays from Omnibus

Hull City Council improves timetable displays

31 January 2023 – Hull City Council has upgraded its Omnibus timetable publicity solution to produce high-quality journey information more efficiently.

The long-standing OmniSTOP user has now implemented OmniSTOPdesign, a configurable template system which greatly reduces the time and expense of creating accurate and well-presented at-stop displays.

Hull City Council timetable displays

The upgrade comes after a public consultation, which informed the city’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) and identified the need for easier to understand information, real-time bus information and user-friendly journey planning tools.

Kerry Ryan, Strategic Transport Manager at Hull City Council, said: “Hull has lower car ownership than many cities, as well as areas of high deprivation, making the use of buses paramount. Bus use in Hull is high, and we are always looking to remove any barriers people may face when accessing public transport.

“One of the aims of our BSIP that OmniSTOPdesign will support us with is to provide passengers with easier to understand at-stop information, which is timely, accessible, informative and user-friendly.

“Having full design flexibility, the solution will be used to create tailored templates that fit the space available on the infrastructure. To assist with journey planning, we will take advantage of the ability to easily generate QR codes for each stop so that passengers have access to live real-time data for that stop from their smartphone.”

She added: “A large portion of my time is spent on creating bus stop displays. OmniSTOPdesign has the capability to allocate templates to specific stops and batch produce PDFs for all displays, greatly speeding up production time.”

Peter Crichton, Founder of Omnibus, said: “We are delighted to provide Hull City Council with a solution which improves efficiency and enables them to offer their customers enhanced stop displays in line with their BSIP objectives.”

Hull’s bus network is served by East Yorkshire Buses, part of the Go-Ahead Group, and Stagecoach with around 97% of the services provided being commercial. The remaining 3% is provided with council support.

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Hull City Council: https://www.hull.gov.uk

Omnibus Solutions: www.omnibus.solutions

Press contact at EPM Group
Harminder Sangha
harminder.sangha@epm-bus.com
07538 935 568

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Newport Transport moving to the cloud with Omnibus to maximise efficiency

Newport Transport moving to the cloud with Omnibus to maximise efficiency

18 January 2023 – Newport Transport is expanding its partnership with Omnibus by moving its existing software to the cloud to increase efficiency. 

The operator will migrate its timetabling, mapping, scheduling, rostering and timetable publicity software to a cloud-based scheduling platform, and upgrade its depot allocation system, OmniDAS, to a cloud-native version of the solution.

Newport Transport moving to the cloud with Omnibus to maximise efficiency

The cloud scheduling platform allows for seamless collaboration on jobs, increases accuracy with automatic file management and provides operators with a clear picture of their operation through enhanced reporting capabilities.  

OmniDAS cloud provides operators with a holistic view of their operations with real-time driver and vehicle management control to enable services to be delivered safely and legally whilst minimising costs. 

The cloud solutions will eliminate infrastructure costs and together provide the capabilities Newport Transport needs to streamline processes on a secure and flexible platform. 

Morgan Stevens, Newport Transport

Morgan Stevens, Director of Delivery (Commercial) at Newport Transport, said “The modernisation of our processes is key to providing reliable bus services more efficiently, and we look forward to achieving this using software solutions we already know and trust.” 

The operator serves nearly 8 million customers every year and is the main provider of bus services in Newport. The operator, which has been in operation since 1901, runs nearly 50 services throughout the city, including routes to Cardiff, Cwmbran, Chepstow and Monmouth. It also operates the Chepstow to Bristol service with dedicated TrawsCymru buses and drivers. 

Mr Stevens added: “Omnibus has in-depth knowledge of the passenger transport market and has proven experience in cloud-deployed solutions. We are confident Omnibus will enable us to continue streamlining business processes with solutions that support our growth plans.” 

Peter Crichton, Founder of Omnibus, said: “We are proud to continue and build on our relationship with Newport Transport providing them with solutions that will further increase their efficiency and help streamline their processes. We are committed to delivering innovative solutions which support operators’ long-term goals and enable them to overcome their challenges.”

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Newport Transport: https://www.newportbus.co.uk

Omnibus Solutions: www.omnibus.solutions

Press contact at EPM Group

Harminder Sangha
harminder.sangha@epm-bus.com
07538 935 568

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Warwickshire County Council selects Omnibus planning and publicity solutions

Warwickshire County Council selects Omnibus cloud-based planning and publicity solutions

18 May 2022 – Warwickshire County Council will plan and publicise bus services using Omnibus’ cloud-based platform – and deliver on a commitment to increase the quality of journey information for customers.

The contract was awarded following a tender process which will see the council implementing timetabling, mapping, timetable publicity, roadside asset management and data sharing solutions.

Warwickshire County Council selects Omnibus cloud-based planning and publicity solutions

In response to the National Bus Strategy to get more people travelling by bus, the provision of quality publicity information was identified as a priority measure in Warwickshire’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).

By using OmniSTOPdesign timetable publicity software, the council can create and maintain professional and accurate displays in multiple styles, sizes and formats without the need to use a graphic designer.

Derek Riley, Passenger Transport Officer at Warwickshire County Council, said: “Warwickshire County Council creates and maintains NaPTAN stops, timetable schedules, bus routes, roadside publicity displays, as well as analysing ‘what if’ scenarios and importing and exporting data.

“Following a county-wide survey to help shape our BSIP, better static timetable information was identified as a measure which would encourage more people to use the bus. For example, ‘easier access to bus service information’ featured as one of the top three measures in the results from both regular users and infrequent or non-users.”

“OmniSTOPdesign offers us new possibilities in timetable publicity that can take things to a whole new level. We will be able to manage roadside and online publicity information for local bus services, from improving roadside/in-street route and timetable information, including the use of digital displays, to integrating bus services and timetables in order to maximise scope for multi-modal connections.”

Peter Crichton, Founder of Omnibus, said: “I’m delighted that Omnibus has been successful in being awarded this tender. Our software solutions have been designed with the needs of transport authorities and bus operators in mind to improve operational efficiency.

“Our timetabling system provides flexible modelling tools that provide high-level timetables and schedules to give a quick view of effectiveness for different scenarios. Our timetable publicity software for stop displays enables users to produce information displays quickly and cost-effectively, whilst our communications and infrastructure applications provide accurate transport data to all internal and external downstream systems.”

– ENDS –

Omnibus Solutions: www.omnibus.solutions

Press contact at Omnibus Solutions, part of EPM Group

Harminder Sangha
harminder.sangha@epm-bus.com
07538 935 568

Empowering transport authorities with software solutions

Grow patronage, improve efficiency and deliver outstanding customer service

Yellow Buses reduces costs with timetable publicity software

Yellow Buses improves timetable publicity efficiencies

When you have 800 bus stops in your network and it takes up to three weeks to carry out a service change, you need fast and accurate timetable publicity software that you can rely on. There is simply no room for error.  

This was the case for Yellow Buses which carries approximately 14 million passengers on its 110-strong bus fleet across Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and East Dorset.

Yellow Buses improves timetable publicity efficiencies

Since returning to local ownership and management, the long-standing Omnibus customer recognised the need to accelerate efficiencies throughout the business, starting with its publicity material.

Challenge

Yellow Buses’ commercial team were creating a generic PDF of the timetables for each stop and inserting it into Adobe InDesign backing templates. The output looked good – but the process was slow, taking approximately three weeks for the graphic designer to do each stop. And at one point, the team were sending the PDFs to a commercial printer for final production.

Additionally, the operator has four bus stop sizes in its network. Using OmniSTOP software (now replaced with OmniSTOPdesign), the team “would get so far before having to change the templates to get the timetables to fit in, which was very difficult” – Kevin Brolan, Commercial Assistant, Yellow Buses.

The operator required a similar easy-to-use tool but one which produced displays quickly and cost-effectively. The aim was not only to adopt an efficient software solution, but to reduce costs. There were four primary objectives:

  • Reduce the time taken to create information displays
  • Ability to tailor templates to requirements
  • Promote other services – internal and external
  • Reduce production and labour costs

The next generation timetable publicity solution, OmniSTOPdesign, had already been released and successfully deployed elsewhere – and Yellow Buses was keen to procure the application.

Solution

The upgrade to OmniSTOPdesign – a sophisticated publishing application developed in consultation with bus industry experts – was seamless and Yellow Buses appreciated the smooth transition. The solution addressed the operator’s key objectives and included additional features giving Yellow Buses complete control over template design from one piece of software. The solution included:

  • Creating templates to any paper size from a range of layouts
  • Working in real-time to assess and create different outcomes
  • Automatically generate a line-of-route map for each service
  • Option to add graphics in any format to enhance the displays
  • Customising all text elements using preferred fonts and font sizes

“OmniSTOP was quick but the way we were using it, with graphic designers, meant progress was slow. OmniSTOPdesign is straightforward, very user friendly, logical and adaptive. The potential OmniSTOPdesign provides is endless. It doesn’t matter what size roadside material you have; templates can be tailored to exactly what you need,” – Kevin Brolan

Result

Since the upgrade, Yellow Buses has gained significant benefits which have improved business processes such as batch producing displays. The operator is now also utilising employees in an optimal manner.

Yellow Buses has been successful in:

  • Reducing the time taken to create displays from weeks to hours.
  • Saving a vast amount of budget in every service change by removing the need to utilise a graphic designer.
  • Using colour branding on routes to make information clearer for passengers.

“We are very satisfied with Omnibus and its solutions – OmniBASE, OmniTIMES and OmniSTOPdesign. The intuitiveness of them working together has saved us valuable time and improved our operational efficiency. Without Omnibus we wouldn’t be able to do our jobs” – Kevin Brolan

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Video – Operator saves time using bus stop display templates

bus stop display timetable publicity software

Yellow Buses is one of the early adopters of bus stop display software OmniSTOPdesign and the operator’s commercial assistant, Kevin Brolan, is the main user. 

The application gives users complete freedom over template design – with no need to go back to the supplier to make changes.

Used by operators and transport authorities, the software enables users to work with any paper size, font, font sizes, colour and graphics. It is designed to be flexible enough to meet operators’ unique demands and brand requirements.

Kevin explains how the templates available in OmniSTOPdesign have made his job easy and why he believes it is the leading publishing software for stop displays. 

Software solutions to drive your network forward

Maximising efficiency of your drivers and vehicles

How operator improves output using bus timetables publicity solution

flexible bus timetables publicity software

Providing passengers with easy-to-read bus timetables is important to Yellow Buses – and the operator achieves this with bright and colourful information displays.

The Bournemouth-based company colour brands each service on its network using Omnibus’ timetable publicity software OmniSTOPdesign.

flexible bus timetables publicity software

“Our iconic yellow vehicles, with core route branded colours, help our buses stand out on the road for customer ease,” said Kevin Brolan, Commercial Assistant at Yellow Buses. “We also reflect this with our roadside material, and this is done with ease thanks to the OmniSTOPdesign solution,” he said.  

“We can tailor the services and the individual times to show in different colours so customers can clearly see which service is coming at the stop at a particular time. It’s so clear for the customer and important to us as we know they can’t get too confused,” he added. 

Yellow Buses carries just under 14 million passengers on its 110-strong bus fleet, clocking up nearly five million miles across Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and East Dorset.  

The long-standing Omnibus customer adopted OmniSTOPdesign in 2019 and immediately benefitted from cost savings in human resource and timetable production (see case study). 

Kevin added: “I may be a little biased but the way in which we use the software is a brilliant example of its true potential and what can be achieved by operators. 

“We use a lot of imagery to brighten up our stop displays. This helps to promote our services and share a variety of marketing messages which include being a locally owned and locally operated business since the management buyout in 2019, promote our mobile apps, website and new services. It’s no longer just a timetable for a customer to know what time the buses come past; it has the potential to promote our business. 

“And it’s all done through OmniSTOPdesign, the software is absolutely brilliant, and we really maximise its features.” 

OmniSTOPdesign is a sophisticated application which enables operators and local authorities to create attractive and accurate public transport stop and station information displays. 

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Video – Timetable publishing software ‘logical and easy to use’

publishing software

Kevin Brolan joined the commercial team at Yellow Buses in 2019 and is responsible for producing roadside timetables for all bus stops in the operator’s network. 

To do this he uses OmniSTOPdesign – an Omnibus publishing software solution he describes as “brilliant, logical and easy to use”.

It takes Kevin half-an-hour to produce PDFs for all 800 stops; it was previously taking up to three weeks and involved full-time support from a graphic designer.  

The commercial assistant highlights four of his favourite OmniSTOPdesign features. 

Customisation

There are so many features of OmniSTOPdesign that are great, but the customisability is the top one for me; the options this feature provides are endless. From one master template, I can create eight, nine, 10 different templates and each one will be different and tailored to our needs. 

OmniSTOPdesign allows users to create templates to any paper size, with a large range of layouts to choose from, and full freedom over graphics and fonts. Printed material is tailored to meet company specific brand requirements. 

Route maps

I particularly love the route maps as well. We’re a tourist town that attracts visitors and students who need to make informed decisions on how to get to places and route maps by locality makes this very clear. 

OmniSTOPdesign templates can include an automatically generated line-of-route map for each service, showing which places are served by the service and how long it takes the bus to reach them from the current stop.

On-stop display imagery 

Another great feature is the ability to advertise our services such as Buster’s Beach Bus. We insert an image of the brand into the service line to point the customer to the beach bus and it will tie in with our calendars as well. It’s also useful when promoting services offered by our partner organisations. 

OmniSTOPdesign allows users to insert graphics in any format to enhance the displays; all services can have their own branding graphic shown alongside the service details as well as promotional messages for other services. 

One size fits all

We struggle with our roadside infrastructure where we have several services going to one place that we haven’t got the roadside material to fit it in. Again, this is where the customisability feature is so brilliant; we can force the times in by resizing the departure dates and departure. Without OmniSTOPdesign, we would have to use multiple cases on bus stops which would be confusing for the customer. 

OmniSTOPdesign allows all text elements to be customised using whatever fonts and font sizes the user requires for that particular text element. 

Kevin said it is important for Yellow Buses to provide clear information quickly to customers: “By using OmniSTOPdesign, we can do that easily. For us it ticks all the boxes.”

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Video – Complex network revisions made simple

Complex network revisions simplified by Omnibus

In the first 12 months of the pandemic, Yellow Buses went through five network revisions – an “extremely difficult” and time-consuming task which the operator said was simplified by the Omnibus solution. 

The bus operator normally implements one or two small changes a year and larger revisions every few years. But COVID-19 temporarily changed this, and it had a significant impact on the Bournemouth-based operator. 

Yellow Buses uses Omnibus’ full suite of timetable and schedules modules, including OmniSTOPdesign to create at-stop information displays. 

Kevin Brolan, Commercial Assistant at Yellow Buses, said: “We’ve gone through numerous network revisions, one of the largest ones we did was in 2017. We did another major change in February 2020 only for it to last a month as a result of the pandemic. 

“The impact of the pandemic has been absolutely huge on our workload. Since the February change, we’ve had to do five different revisions of the network in all, so it’s been quite intensive. 

“Normally, all the on-stop run for 800 stops would be extremely difficult, but with OmniSTOPdesign we’ve been able to speed things up massively, so we can focus on all the other activity behind the scenes. Once we have it auto running, OmniSTOPdesign can PDF all our 800 stops within about half-an-hour and print them in a day. “To put it in context, for a service change that was starting on Monday, we would have all the material out on the previous Friday to minimise the disruption to the customer. The productivity of OmniSTOPdesign is absolutely astronomical.” 

Kevin added: “We are extremely satisfied with the Omnibus solutions and particularly in the case of OmniSTOPdesign. We would not have been able to implement the many different service level changes we have made to react to the fluctuating situation regarding the pandemic were it not for this intuitive and easy-to-use package.”

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