Category: Operators

Webinar – Managing alternative fuels vehicles in OmniBASE

Posted on December 7, 2021 by - Events, OmniBASE, Operators

Alternative fuels vehicles in OmniBASE

The drive to net zero is revolutionising the passenger transport industry as we know it – and our solutions are too.

To meet the needs of bus operators, our vehicle scheduling software OmniBASE now includes advanced alternative fuels functionality to make planning for battery-electric, hydrogen and gas buses quick and easy.

Alternative fuels vehicles in OmniBASE

In our webinar, recorded on Tuesday 7 December, we run through our Alternative Fuels functionality, covering all facets of the new features available to OmniBASE users.

The webinar includes:

  • How to configure new fuel parameters for your vehicle types
  • New ‘at a glance’ reports to help schedulers quickly review workings
  • Improvements to the link tool and adding distance information to the bus graph
  • For EVs, functionality to identify when a vehicle is recharging
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Challenging time ahead for scheduling?

Posted on December 2, 2021 by - Manual Scheduling Training, Operators, Opinion, Transport Authorities

Challenging time ahead for scheduling

Scheduling is an art and there are concerns about an emerging skills gap that is about to hit the industry.

Much has been written about the bus industry’s skills gap – the missing generation of managers brought about by the sector’s deregulation in the mid-1980s. However, it seems that there are issues looming in other segments of the industry, specifically the increasing number of schedulers who have reached a certain age and are choosing to retire.

Challenging time ahead for scheduling

“We have a real and significant issue,” warns Peter Crichton, founder of Omnibus. “Schedulers tend to be of a certain age and more and more of them are retiring. Just how do we replace that talent that is now starting to leave the industry in increasing numbers?”

While the skills gap in industry management teams has been largely plugged with the profusion of graduate and internal management training schemes, Crichton expresses concerns about how the looming skills gaps in the scheduling function will be tackled.

“You can’t just pop people down in front of a computer and expect them to get on with it,” he says. “Scheduling is an art and a skill and it takes time to train people up to meet expectations.”

With staff costs roughly accounting for 45% of the cost base of the industry, even a 1% saving in resource can lead to significant cost savings. With a good, well-trained scheduler having the ability to save bus operators thousands of pounds, Crichton notes that good, thorough training is key as well as a thorough knowledge of the job and the tools of the trade.

“You can’t just expect people to take on scheduling within five minutes,” he says. “It takes time, training, knowledge and expertise. I wouldn’t sit someone fresh out of school or college in front of a computer and expect him or her to run my financial year-end. You need training and skills to be able to do that and scheduling is just the same.”

He contrasts the training that many of today’s new schedulers experience with his own training in the area in the late seventies in Greater Manchester. Crichton’s starting points was an intensive 4 weeks of training that gave him the nuts and bolts of the job. This was then followed by 12 months of on-the-job training under the wing of an experienced scheduler, where Crichton admits that he was given every drudge job going, but he learnt the scheduler’s art “from the ground up”. His career then progressed.

“It was just an excellent way of learning,” he says. “Back then there was a demographic time bomb that was about to explode too. The generation of schedulers who joined the industry in the immediate post-war era was on the verge of retirement, but there was structured training and there was a very clear path. What we have now is very similar – that generation is now coming up to retirement, but I’m not sure there’s that succession planning there today. I’m also not entirely convinced that the industry, on the whole, has the skills to provide a good level of training.”

Crichton remembers the paper-based systems that were in use when he began his career in the late seventies. “Back then we had four people scheduling just two depots as a full-time job,” he remembers.

“The advent of computers to assist with the scheduling process has really, really cut that down. I know of some companies where there’s just one or two people responsible for scheduling whole companies and there isn’t any form of structured succession strategy.”

He points to the management training schemes that the major groups and even some smaller operators have developed in recent years. Crichton feels that this is all well and good but it is structured towards people looking to reach the top in operational and engineering roles. As he says, there’s nobody thinking about recruiting and training the next generation of schedulers in any meaningful way.

“Those management training schemes aren’t really attractive to people who would be interested in scheduling, “Crichton says. “More and more operators are getting involved in apprenticeships for engineering staff to solve the problem of a generation retiring there, so why don’t we, as an industry, have some sort of formal training scheme for schedulers? Perhaps we need to think about almost a scheduling apprenticeship.”

This article originally appeared in the ALBUM magazine.

Depot allocation – Minimise costs by improving crew duty efficiency

Posted on November 5, 2021 by - OmniDAS, Operators, Opinion

Depot allocation – Minimise costs by improving crew duty efficiency

Getting the service out each day is one of the most important considerations for bus operators.

An incident on the road, unscheduled leave, communication and pay issues, the COVID-19 pandemic – scenarios such as these increase costs if duty allocation is not managed properly.

To remain ahead in today’s competitive market services must be delivered efficiently and with optimal resource whilst complying with legal and regulatory requirements. If COVID has taught operators anything, it is they need the right tool to work smarter. 

Depot allocation – Minimise costs by improving crew duty efficiency

Allocate duties legally and with optimal resource

Sickness, booked leave, rest days and last-minute schedule changes mean that 10-15% of duties need to be reallocated on any given day. The challenge for operators is maximising the efficient use of available resources to cover this open work – and ensure duty allocation remains legal and assigned in the most effective way. 

A key function of depot allocation is to automate daily operations where no human intervention is required and come into its own when it is, making forward and on-the-day allocation a breeze. 

The controller should have clear visibility of the best matches for allocating uncovered work – and see this in an unbiased way. Information must be quick to locate and provide a summary of key details critical to making those informed decisions. For instance, only those that meet drivers’ hours, union agreements, local labour rules and company guidelines are listed. One important safeguard is the software will not let the controller make an illegal allocation and stop them at every attempt. This control of staff against relevant drivers’ hours legislation and company rules will offer assurances that drivers are only allocated to duties they are legally able to complete. 

Additionally, each drivers’ route and vehicle type training should be automatically captured so work is only assigned to staff who have prior knowledge of both. To ensure quality decision making, the controller needs to be alerted at the point where work is being considered where relevant experience is lacking. This adds another layer of confidence when making those quick decisions and potentially helps to prevent incidents that risk reputational damage. 

An important part of the reallocation decision process is the financial impact on the business. With bus driver wages accounting for around 41% (1) of operator costs, the controller needs to know when allocation choices will have a negative impact on pay. This way only the best driver in terms of legal rules and cost is chosen for the work. The simplicity to quickly identify available drivers and assign duties to them means the operator’s non-driving paid time can also be reduced. 

These capabilities become extremely important as operators not only look to rebound from COVID, but also to continue to respond to significant national and local drivers of change such as transforming for net zero, meeting Bus Service Improvement Partnerships (BSIP) requirements and shaping for future work.   

Quickly capture planned and real-time data

Schedules do not always go to plan in a live environment. Any number of situations can arise from unfavourable traffic conditions, accidents and vehicle incidents to driver absences and lateness. Far rarer are national emergencies such as the restrictions imposed on operators at the start of COVID. In all cases, bus operators must respond quickly and effectively to real world changes. 

To do this effectively, operators need to capture operational activities as they happen such as planned and unscheduled leave and events relating to accidents, complaints and disciplinary action. At the same time documents and DBS checks, data relating to CPC training and the expiry date of each driver’s CPC card, and issued equipment need to be recorded along with driver route and vehicle knowledge.  

Operators also need to better track their vehicles to quickly resolve allocation issues. The controller needs to see the assignment of buses to specific trips with all available, used and out of service vehicles displayed. The traffic office also needs visibility of allocated and unallocated running boards that are identifiable with mismatched buses as well as supplementary information on vehicle data, branding criteria and parking locations. 

For the smooth running of the business, it would be helpful for the operator if all this data could be captured automatically by one easy-to-use system that did not burden the busy controller. The traffic office’s workload can further be reduced by empowering drivers to manage their own duties, holiday and swaps. 

Benefits of payroll integration

Paying drivers correctly can be a challenge for bus operators. To avoid under and overpayment and retain a motivated workforce, pay needs to be accurate and account for actual hours worked, including overtime, duty rates, duty changes and so on. A depot allocation system with payroll integration is one way round this, and it can have multiple benefits for the operator and drivers. 

Firstly, it can save money. A controller who can see the cost of allocation can assign work to a driver who, for example, needs to meet their guaranteed paid hours and is legal to do so rather than one who would be on overtime. 

Secondly, it can increase efficiency because pay is calculated at the point of allocation. Also, it would be useful for the operator to have a system that automatically recalculated pay if a driver was involved in an incident and pushed into overtime. This would remove the burden from the controller and reassure drivers and the operator that payment is accurately recorded against hours worked. 

Finally, the controller needs a simple process to close the day or week and the finance department wants a fully accurate payroll-ready file that requires no data manipulation. Operators can reduce the risk of errors and improve efficiency if they were able to pass data between departments or teams without the need to share files and emails. By doing so, they would remove the need to create multiple versions of the same document. In terms of payroll, the traffic office will have a hassle-free way of sharing payroll data with finance, with neither team having to rekey information. 

Cross-departmental processes can also be streamlined with other teams to benefit the business. Analysts can extract data on drivers’ hours, overtime, mileage, etc for reporting purposes to identity timetable inefficiencies. 

All these scenarios reduce business risks and maximise productivity when making those quick decisions and put the operator in a stronger position to manage costs – and increase revenue – when responding to changes in the market and operating environment.  

Configurable around operator’s needs

When making those important decisions operators need to maintain strong union relationships and ensure compliance with local labour rules. This is achieved within rotas and duty plans – but also in the allocation process. To do this efficiently, operators need highly parameterised systems that can incorporate the complexities of the local labour agreements and provide multiple parameters to accommodate different labour rules across depots.   

As no two companies work the same, the depot allocation software must be entirely dynamic and configurable around the operator’s unique working practices. In terms of forward allocation, the operator needs to allow for a wide range of driver needs and have the flexibility to accommodate specific and complex requirements to ensure driver preferences are met. 

Also, the operator needs to define special days and may want to set a balanced holiday number so the same number of drivers are off all the time. In terms of payment, they may want to set pay rules, pay grades, pay codes, holiday and sickness entitlements and work guarantees. 

A system with a wide number of configurable options is available which allows for multiple levels of security so the operator can choose to use it effectively throughout the business.  

Conclusion

Bus operators are obliged to operate every duty, particularly one that is publicly funded, and they face potential penalties and reputational damage if they fail to do so. In the case of a subsidised route, the penalty can be higher than the loss of direct revenue from not running a service. Once an operator gets into the position of not running a route, bringing the service back on schedule can be a horrendous challenge.  

Highly configurable depot allocation software that gives real-time control over driver and vehicle management will help operators address allocation challenges. A system that is one source of truth for data which allows users to allocate and manage resources, produce timesheet and payroll information and automate staff sign-on – so the traffic office can focus on service provision. 

How Omnibus can help

With over 30 years’ experience in software and consultancy services, our depot allocation software enables passenger transport operators to better manage their resources in real-time.

Our software solutions are trusted by public transport operators and local authorities, and implemented in mainland Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

To discuss your depot allocation requirements, please contact us on 0161 683 3100 or complete the online form. 

(1) Source: Understanding Buses by Chris Cheek 

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Scheduling around the limited range of alternative fuel vehicles

Posted on November 2, 2021 by - OmniBASE, Operators, Opinion

Bus operators – Scheduling around the limited range of alternative fuel vehicles

Operating range has always been a parameter in vehicle scheduling but has not been restrictive until recently.

The introduction of vehicles with alternative fuel sources (battery electric, hydrogen, gas) presents a schedules challenge as range is not as great, and can be more variable, compared to the diesel buses they replace. 

Bus operators – Scheduling around the limited range of alternative fuel vehicles

With national, regional and local government having environmental and decarbonisation strategies all major bus operators are investing in alternative fuels. Government funding has been available to assist with the investment required to cover the additional costs of these vehicles and associated infrastructure. 

With range now a restrictive parameter, operators need tools to help produce vehicle workings with oversight of range. In addition, vehicle schedules must also have awareness of opportunities to recharge, in the case of electric vehicles (EVs), and reflect the impact this has on the available range of each bus.

What operators should consider

Managing range can be done manually by the scheduling team but requires transferring data into spreadsheets to calculate distances travelled, equate that to fuel depletion and factor in any refuel or recharge opportunities. This can be a time-consuming, repetitive and iterative process – and not the most efficient use of resource. 

Furthermore, it is recognised that technology is improving and as this matures vehicle range will increase. Simultaneously, it is known that an EV’s battery degradation reduces range over time.  

One important factor is that range can be affected by seasons; more fuel is required in the winter to power heating and lighting for instance. Also, high consumption routes may require more vehicles to reduce the range across the buses than those in rural areas.  Where recharge or refuel is required during the day, branded routes – routes operated by buses in specific colours or branding – can become diluted by operating vehicles in the regular brand in order to optimise vehicle workings. The alternative may be that additional vehicles are required to maintain route branding which, of course, adds further cost to the operation. 

These dynamics show that maximum vehicle range is not a constant, it changes over time between vehicle types and routes. Therefore, a solution must be flexible enough to work around these dynamics.

Efficiently dealing with range-related issues

When accommodating alternative fuel vehicles into a schedule there are several different considerations. Firstly, the best thing an operator should do is start planning early and consider all the options and permutations available.  

Next is how to deal with any range-related issues. For EVs this could be about how and where recharging takes place. Is it opportunity charging at a terminus or depot charging? Then how do vehicles get to a charging or refuelling point? It might be that changing the way driver reliefs occur can facilitate recharge/refuel opportunities.  

This point is not exclusive to EVs, hydrogen fuelling infrastructure is not commonplace and vehicles may be required to visit a separate off-site location for fuel. Here, the challenge for bus operators is deciding how and when this fits the vehicle and crew schedules. 

Operators should also consider whether they can make better use of their vehicles. Particularly whether ‘peak only’ workings could be utilised all day to create time in the schedule for recharging or to reduce the average distance worked across other vehicles. Of course, the operator may then need to consider the impact on their maintenance schedules.

Conclusion

It is important for operators to plan their vehicle workings effectively to get the most efficient use out of their new alternative fuel vehicles without running out of juice. Alternative fuel vehicles are more expensive than standard diesel buses, so it is important to minimise the number of vehicles required.  

Therefore, a range of tools are required to assist schedulers when planning vehicle workings that can assist their role in making sure schedules are deliverable within the parameters of an alternative fuel vehicle. 

How Omnibus can help

With over 30 years’ experience in software and consultancy services, Omnibus enables passenger transport operators to model operable and cost-effective schedules for limited range vehicles, and provides support with decarbonisation strategies – see Oxford Bus Company. 

Omnibus’ scheduling, staff rostering, depot allocation, timetable construction and publicity software solutions are trusted by public transport operators and local authorities, and implemented in mainland Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.  

To discuss your alternative fuels scheduling and planning requirements, please contact us on 0161 683 3100 or complete the online form. 

Yellow Buses reduces costs with timetable publicity software

Posted on October 22, 2021 by - Case Studies, Omnistopdesign, Operators

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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Maximising efficiency of your drivers and vehicles

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Webinar – Depot Allocation simplified from schedules to payroll

Posted on September 23, 2021 by - Events, OmniDAS, Operators

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
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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

Network planning to attract new passengers

Posted on September 23, 2021 by - Operators, Opinion, Transport Authorities

network planning, customers on a bus

The National Bus Strategy (NBS) sets out a vision to improve bus services with the principal aim of encouraging more people to use buses, which means the traditional approach of network planning is going to change.

Previously operators have driven most of the decision making due to buses being largely run on a commercial basis and have had full control in terms of the services they run, which communities they serve, the frequency of services, and the times of day they operate. Now, Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) will have more control over bus services and there will be a bigger push, not only for commercial services, but also economically necessary funded services to meet the needs of local communities.

network planning, customers on a bus

LTAs and operators have a responsibility to work more collaboratively in order to provide an integrated and efficient service for customers. The majority of LTAs have opted for Enhanced Partnerships over Franchising; working closely with operators to improve the network instead of having full control over bus services. Partnerships already operate very successfully, with examples in Nottingham, Brighton, and the West Midlands delivering passenger growth and high levels of customer satisfaction.

LTAs are required to set Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) which they will then closely monitor in order to receive grant funding. The majority of operators in the region must agree to the BSIPs and ensure that they consistently follow the points laid out in the plan to receive BSOG payments.

Utilising data to improve the network

The NBS is encouraging a more open sharing of data between LTAs and operators and insisting that processes become more transparent, which requires a level of trust from both parties. Previously operators will have only had to share data from contracted services, but now the LTAs require data from commercial services: such as patronage, revenue, and customer feedback.

This shared information can be used to inform the structure of the network. For example, an increase in bus lanes and traffic priority measures will speed up journey times, which means fewer buses are needed to run on that particular route, giving them the opportunity to be utilised elsewhere. This can also lead to a reduction in the cost to run the service, which in turn can be passed on to passengers in the form of lower fares. Faster journey times and lower fares will also help to encourage more people to use the bus.

In order to monitor the progress of BSIPs, LTAs need access to data to see whether or not the goals are being achieved and to see if they have made an improvement to service and patronage levels. These results are also required to be published under the funding terms, which means it is important to get accurate figures.

Software solutions can be implemented to monitor route performance to assess how successful a route is, and customer feedback can be collated and tracked to see where issues may have developed and why. Analysis tools can also be utilised to give a complete picture of the network by collating all the data into one system and offering breakdowns of individual areas. Users are able to view information such as patronage trends that are formulated into graphs and charts. This drill down capability provides intuitive interrogation of the data, investigating the root causes of any identified issues.

Coordinating services to streamline the network

A key point of the NBS is to simplify services for customers so that they feel more encouraged to use buses, whether that’s with multi-operator ticketing which enables the customer to use a variety of buses from different operators, or by implementing a more streamlined service.

The NBS encourages operators to work with LTAs to harmonise route numbers to improve the passenger experience. So instead of having two buses that serve different parts of the city but have the same service number, this would then change to two different numbered buses.

LTAs should plan an integrated transport network whereby other modes of transport, such as trains and trams are coordinated with bus services and arrive and depart at a suitable time so passengers can avoid waiting for long periods. Bus timetables should also be coordinated so different operators do not run buses at the same time, which will stop a duplication of effort and cut down on costs.

As well as streamlining the operational side, operator branding can be replaced with route branding to simplify the service. Software solutions can easily merge different operators’ timetables together and create a customised stop display that incorporates the route’s branding, making it easier for customers to know that they are getting on the right bus.

Improving process efficiencies

In many cases, processes between LTAs and operators are not synchronised and require time-consuming and error-prone manual duplication of data entry. Tools are available for mapping, timetabling, and scheduling, that can gather all the information from operators and consolidate this data into a single, combined view of operated routes which LTAs can then use to produce timetables for the whole network. Operators can then use tools that enable rapid scenario modelling to test for ‘what if’ scenarios and find the best way to service that route.

By using integrated software solutions, LTAs can transfer timetables into contract registers and operators can import the information and work out how to make the service more efficient, such as moving journey times to cut down on costs. They can then feed this information back to LTAs and share ideas without losing data integrity.

Historically this data has been exchanged over paper, pdf, email or excel and this format has had to be rekeyed into the operator’s or LTA’s systems, which is very time consuming and can lead to errors. Ideally, planning data should be shared via TransXChange files which should be used as a standard format across LTAs and operators, regardless of the different systems used. This will allow for a more efficient sharing of data as the operator can then import that file straight into their scheduling system.

How Omnibus can help

With over 30 years’ experience in software and consultancy services, Omnibus provides software and consultancy for passenger transport scheduling, staff rostering, depot allocation and timetable construction to public transport operators and local authorities, with solutions being used in over 180 sites across the UK and overseas.

Video – Operator saves time using bus stop display templates

Posted on September 22, 2021 by - Omnistopdesign, Operators

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

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Edinburgh Trams uses Omnibus to forecast future costs

Posted on September 13, 2021 by - Case Studies, CrewPLAN, Operators

Edinburgh Trams crew duties solution

Edinburgh Trams is an award-winning operator with a fleet of 27 trams and annual ridership of 7.5 million.

Employing over 200 people across Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife, the light rail operator runs 2,000 services every week, connecting Edinburgh Airport to the heart of the city in under 35 minutes.

The operator partnered with Omnibus as the tram line continues to extend across the city.

Edinburgh Trams crew duties solution

The latest development, Trams to Newhaven Project, is a continuation of the existing tramway network and will add 2.91 miles of track in both directions, connecting Leith and Newhaven to the current end of the line at York Place with eight new stops by 2023.

Challenge

Edinburgh Trams required a tool to produce the most efficient crew duties, model scenarios and operating patterns to forecast and budget for future operational costs. The solution had to meet the local labour agreements and be workable on the ground. Therefore, any scheduling solution had to enable the following timetable changes:

  • Facilitate the closure of York Place tram stop (the current terminus)
  • Accommodate the phased opening of the extension
  • Accommodate test running over the extension (or parts)
  • Manage the extension to the tram line
  • Adjust running times as they become better established after opening the extension

Solution

CrewPLAN is Omnibus’ next-generation automatic crew scheduling tool. It uses advanced algorithms to find the best possible solution within the parameters defined by the user. It is used throughout the passenger transport industry to quickly model multiple scenarios as well as forecast and budget for future operational costs.

“Omnibus has been key for developing a sustainable transport strategy which includes the Trams to Newhaven project. CrewPLAN will provide us with the level of control and accuracy we need to ensure optimised shift patterns. It offers tools for medium-term and long-term crew scheduling based on our organisation’s legal frameworks and guidelines” – Sarah Singh, Operations Manager, Edinburgh Trams

Result

Edinburgh Trams has a flexible and user-friendly solution designed by schedulers who understand the UK passenger transport industry. Since adopting CrewPLAN, the operator has succeeded in:

  • Establishing costs for current and future operational needs
  • Building workable crew duties using different scenarios
  • Saving time in generating multiple rosters
  • Providing time-sensitive reports for critical decisions
  • Optimising crew schedules ensuring an efficient and reliable service

Edinburgh Trams “work collaboratively with colleagues as much as possible on any project” and positive feedback from their Scheduling Manager was “absolutely important” when choosing the Omnibus solution.