West Coast Motors has seen positive results for driver scheduling from its adoption of the Optibus public transport management platform during 2021, the operator has said.
Those tools have allowed the business to create what it describes as schedules that better suit drivers’ needs while also optimising crew and vehicle usage, with less call on management time and effort compared to cutting ‘paper’ duties, adds Operations and Systems Supervisor Paul Borthwick.
The rollout of Optibus at West Coast Motors has given the operator access to what Optibus describes as “user-friendly yet cutting-edge AI scheduling tools.”
Mr Borthwick says that AI now powers around 60% of the operator’s schedules and timetabling, and that the improvements resulting from the transition allow “a better work-life balance for drivers.” He believes that days of longer shifts and longer schedules “are over,” which is in refection of drivers now wanting more time with their families.
The AI technology is used by West Coast Motors to account for driver preferences, relief vehicles, rules on breaks, and to optimise duties. That work can be carried out in seconds to minutes and Mr Borthwick thus runs multiple scenarios rapidly to choose the best one, he notes.
“Optibus has given us a quicker turnaround for making schedules and timetables, and it gives us a better variation, if needs be. We can have a look at different variations and decide pretty quickly which one we keep.”
He adds that planning and scheduling has changed over the last three to five years and that technology has seen that work improve “massively.”
