Operations and maintenance management are combined with two companies’ integration
Omnibus and Freeway Fleet Systems have joined forces to offer integrated software for both operations management and vehicle maintenance.
The integration provides bus operators with complete visibility of vehicles’ availability, outstanding defects, recently completed work and compliance status.
Operators can plan routes and assign buses with full visibility of the status of every vehicle, making it easier to plan with fewer last-minute changes to schedules.
Freeway’s software manages vehicle maintenance and compliance, while Omnibus’s optimises and manages operations.
The two businesses believe it to be the first partnership of its type in the UK bus industry.
The integration includes connection to Omnibus clocking-in terminals, allowing workshop staff to clock in in the same way as drivers and other staff, which was previously not possible. This provides visibility from within Freeway of the arrival of workshop staff, for work allocation.
Patrick Tandy, Managing Director of Freeway, says: “For bus operators, the seamless integration of fleet management and operations software represents the Holy Grail in system development; the final missing link in the information chain.
“No longer do operations managers need to call the workshop to find out what’s going on – everything they need to know such as when a vehicle is booked in for a service, what defects need fixing and when, are all visible within Omnibus.”
Both Freeway and Omnibus are used extensively by UK bus operators, and the development provides real-time and two-way data transfer between Freeway and Omnibus to provide benefits to both operations and engineering.