Despite decades of computerisation in bus maintenance and compliance management, numerous operators still grapple with overwhelming paperwork, as computers have yielded minimal improvements in efficiency and productivity. This is because paper documents are still manually entered into a system and such manual transcription is slow and inconsistent, and often incomplete and incorrect.
Now there is a switch from ‘computerisation’ to ‘digitisation’ which eliminates paper completely. Staff are equipped with mobile devices and everything that they used to complete on paper is replaced with a digital version. It’s all automatically synchronised with a central computer system even if the devices are in use in workshops miles away. Managers then have visibility of everything going on, in real time, anytime, from anywhere.
For bus operators, digitisation is completely transformational. However, the paper forms used in workshops have been around for half a century or more and that’s what workshop staff have been used to. The success of digitisation is completely reliant on the staff that enter data in the first place. It’s therefore crucial to engage and train staff, and provide suitable tools for the job.
Software supplier Freeway Fleet Systems has been working with the bus industry for over 20 years and is now at the forefront of the switch to full digital working. Some, such as Abellio, Reading Buses, Trentbarton, Cardiff Bus and Nottingham City Transport, have already made the switch and others, including RATP Dev, Transdev and Lothian Buses are making the transition now.
Freeway provides that hands-on support and training to smooth the transition but also provides an easy-to-use app that does more than simply replace paper cards and sheets. It guides the engineer through each job step-by-step, with pop-up lists to save typing and reduce errors. With one click, the user can access instructions and videos on how to use the system, and how to do a particular task. It will show what parts are needed and even gives access to the complete maintenance history of the vehicle being worked on.
