Utilising artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the Freeway software will automatically work out the optimum job scheduling and resource allocation based on live data feeds from drivers, workshop technicians and other staff equipped with mobile devices. Freeway is being integrated with a raft of systems, including those used for transport operations, finance and fuel management.
Transdev Blazefield is part of Transdev. The UK operations employ over 1,250 across the North of England and run bus services from coast to coast, from Preston to Whitby and Scarborough, with 11 garages across the Lancashire, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.
Transdev has initially rolled out Freeway at the Harrogate Bus Company and the company plans to be live at all locations before the end of 2022, with an estimated 200 users and with data being gathered daily from 550 driver mobile devices and 150 devices across the engineering operations; mainly rugged tablets.
“We implemented Freeway as a proof of concept in Harrogate and the roll out went very smoothly; in fact, we managed to get everything up and running in just three months. That’s pretty remarkable and thanks to the excellent support from Freeway and the commitment of our team in the workshop,” said Vitto Pizzuti, operations director, Transdev Blazefield.
Transdev handles paperwork for purchasing with over 2,000 invoices being raised each month across the group. Stores also are managed manually and individually by each operating company with no control centrally. To address this, Freeway will be used to automate stores and purchasing, providing a fully digitised and centralised solution. The software will automatically assign authorisation levels allowing PO signs offs based on order value and seniority.
“By centralising stock control and purchasing we foresee significant savings being made. Freeway will allow us to dramatically reduce administration, control quality, secure better price deals through corporate purchasing, and share stock amongst the group,” said Vitto Pizzuti.
“With Freeway we can look a trends, set up KPI’s to track performance and better manage warranty claims. We’ll be able to challenge suppliers if they are not delivering; something we could not do before as we did not have the information,” he adds.