Transdev Blazefield to adopt Freeway tech across fleet
Transdev Blazefield is overhauling its maintenance operation with the fleet-wide rollout out Freeway technology. The supplier's platform will ultimately connect 700 mobile devices and a series of operational management systems to provide centralised control of the operator's 550 buses.
Freeway describes the software as “one of the most advanced digital systems in the UK.” It uses artificial intelligence to automatically calculate optimum job scheduling and resource allocation based on live data feeds from drivers, workshop technicians and other staff equipped with mobile devices.
Freeway will be integrated with “a raft of systems” already used by Transdev Blazefield, including those for operations, finance and fuel management.
The operator has initially rolled out Freeway technology at its The Harrogate Bus Company subsidiary. It plans for the software to be live across all its operating centres by the end of 2022. Freeway will gather data daily from 550 on-bus units and 150 devices across the engineering function. With Transdev Blazefield it will see an estimated 200 users.
In Harrogate the system was adopted as a proof-of-concept exercise, with Transdev Blazefield Operations Director Vitto Pizzuti saying that the rollout “went very smoothly” over a full introduction period of three months. He credits commitment from Transdev’s Harrogate team and Freeway for that achievement.
Freeway will also be used to automate stores and purchasing by the provision of a digitised and centralised solution. It will automatically assign authorisation levels allowing purchase order approvals based on order value and seniority.
Adds Mr Pizzuti: “By centralising stock control and purchasing, we foresee significant savings. Freeway will allow us to dramatically reduce administration, control quality, secure better deals through corporate purchasing, and share stock among the group.
“With Freeway, we can look at trends, set up KPIs to track performance, and better manage warranty claims. We will be able to challenge suppliers if they are not delivering, something we could not do before as we did not have the information.”
Meet the brand: CitySwift
We catch up with Alan Farrelly from CitySwift to find out more about their presence at Euro Bus Expo, on stand T80.
Tell us a bit about your company:
Founded by Alan Farrelly and Brian O’Rourke, CitySwift is an Irish big data company powering bus networks across the world. Since its inception in 2016, CitySwift has built the world’s first "Mobility Intelligence as a Service" platform that gives bus network providers the always-on insights needed to operate and adapt bus networks, with precision.
The CitySwift platform was built to break down all of the barriers to data that bus network providers have to deal with. CitySwift partners no longer take action based on manual analysis, guesswork, and inaccessible and unreliable data. Instead, they meet and exceed punctuality and reliability goals, without compromising on resources. Bus giants like National Express and Transport for Wales are using CitySwift to power their passenger experience. Networks built on CitySwift are reliable, efficient, and punctual – free of friction and catered to passenger needs.
What makes CitySwift so powerful is that the team comes from a background of real-world bus industry experience. Merging this industry experience with deep knowledge of data science, bus networks can get the best of both worlds.
Tell us about your latest products, services, promotions or launches that visitors can hope to see on your stand:
CitySwift will be launching two new products at the Euro Bus Expo 2022.
-CitySwift Network: Network provides bus networks with the occupancy, capacity, and origin-destination insights they need to match supply and demand by incorporating CitySwift’s proprietary origin-destination algorithm.
-CitySwift Discovery Packs: Discovery Packs are a range of dashboards delivering brand new insights across bus networks, tailored to problem areas like Driver Performance, Running Board Analysis, and Bus Priority measures.
Why is exhibiting at Euro Bus Expo 2022 an unmissable opportunity for you?
We’re looking forward to getting the opportunity to learn more about emerging trends and innovation within the industry, meet new and existing clients, and launch some really exciting products we’ve been working on the past few months
Meet the brand: Stratio
We catch up with Anna Fernandez from STRA S.A. to find out more about the Stratio brand and its presence at Euro Bus Expo, on stand T60.
Tell us a bit about your company:
Stratio is the World’s Leading Real-time Predictive Fleet Maintenance Platform. Our proprietary technology combines large-scale processing with the latest machine learning techniques to prevent thousands of breakdowns from happening, thus saving millions of people from the hassle of public transportation delays.
The Stratio Platform offers unparalleled visibility over vehicle faults. Our AI Predictive Maintenance models can identify the patterns in real-time data that indicate a potential component failure, thus allowing maintenance teams to anticipate when a breakdown may occur and avert unplanned downtime. Maintenance plans and servicing schedules can be fully automated based on predictive intelligence, saving engineers’ time and resources. With Stratio, maintenance teams can also remotely monitor the state of health of components and assess the best course of action without having to recall a vehicle from the road.
5 of the 10 largest transportation companies in the world rely on the Stratio Platform to eliminate unplanned downtime and increase operational efficiency. Fleet operators in Europe, North America, Asia-pacific, and Latin America trust Stratio’s technology to fully leverage the data under the hood to safeguard operations, and keep customers happy. Our technology has enabled transportation for 1.3 billion people so far.
Tell us about your latest products, services, promotions or launches that visitors can hope to see on your stand:
Stratio has recently incorporated into our offering the findings of an extensive research project on predictive battery analytics. The newly productised metrics enable public transport operators to break even on their initial investment into electric buses by predicting faults, eliminating breakdowns, maximising fleet availability, and ensuring that operations are planned according to real-life battery range calculations. Without this kind of information, it would be impossible for transport companies to make a return on investment on the transition to zero-emission buses, which are significantly more expensive than their ICE counterparts.
Our AI and machine learning models have been trained on real vehicle data to offer the most comprehensive picture of the state of health of vehicles of any brand, type, model and age. The volume of vehicle sensor data we collect is unparalleled - 2.5 billion data points are processed by our algorithms every day - and that's the key to the accuracy of our predictive intelligence.
This makes the Stratio Platform an essential tool for the maintenance of public transport fleets, which often comprise a mix of electric and combustion vehicles, as it provides maintenance teams with a single pane view of the condition of each vehicle in the fleet.
At our stand, visitors will be able to request tailored product demos, which show real-life vehicle data and predictive insights. Our team of knowledgeable experts will present the benefits of a predictive approach to fleet maintenance, as opposed to a reactive or planned one.
Stratio will be present alongside our partner Freeway Fleet Systems, the end-to-end digital solution for vehicle maintenance and compliance, to showcase how public transport operators can bring together fleet management and predictive maintenance with one simple integration.
Why is exhibiting at Euro Bus Expo 2022 an unmissable opportunity for you?
We are delighted to be exhibiting at Euro Bus Expo alongside our partner, Freeway Fleet Systems, to present the integration of our two platform solutions. The integration of Stratio’s AI platform with Freeway’s fleet maintenance system will provide coach and bus operators with crucial real-time information relating to on-the-road vehicle performance and condition.
Furthermore, we are looking forward to presenting our new predictive battery analytics features for electric buses. The event is for Stratio an opportunity to meet with industry-leading manufacturers and suppliers to the bus and coach industry and exchange ideas and experiences with thought leaders in our industry.