With so many legislative and economic challenges affecting the bus industry at the moment you would be forgiven for thinking that any investment in operations would have been put on hold. However, Lancashire and Yorkshire based transport operator Transdev Blazefield continues to engage with key suppliers that add value to their business; particularly when it comes to making improvements in how it controls and manages its use of fuel.
With a fleet of over 420 buses Transdev Blazefield specialises in the provision of local bus services through 6 individually branded operations in Yorkshire and Lancashire and very firmly believes that each business should be managed and run locally. In addition they are working with Triscan who has provided them with a solution that fits with its overall strategic objectives.
Triscan Managing Director, Simon Hollingsworth is conscious that all investments require a return and comments – “Triscan is pleased to report that in engaging with Blazefields it has delivered a solution that provides a platform for further integrated improvements. Securing stock and having the ability to record and monitor fuel transactions into specific vehicles is important, however the company is further investigating the provision of clean and accurate data to identify exceptions within the reports; it will be this that makes the management information so much more powerful as action can be taken to resolve specific issues.”
The importance of the Triscan reporting software is not underestimated by the company who use it as an integral component of their month end operational reporting. Tyre management reports for example are easily provided to the contractor and BSOG claims are so much easier to complete in terms of extracting the key information required.
Andy Senior – Transdev Blazefields Engineer
“Operations are split across two regions and the networked fuel management solution that we use allows us to report specifically at each depot within these. This in turn feeds into our overall management reporting and ultimately ensures that we operate efficiently in the delivery of services. Information is provided from what are basically locally operated cost centres. A number of initiatives are underway that will ultimately provide further improvements for the business, these include the refurbishment of vehicles and systems to assist with budgetary planning.”
Having assisted many businesses in the transport sector and in particular the bus and coach market, Triscan are well aware that vehicles have to be kept on the road and have to overcome issues like maintenance and physical breakdowns (including running out of fuel), therefore having the information to assist with planning becomes fundamental to the management process.
Blazefields continues – “Throughout Transdev Blazefield the team aims to deliver a high quality of service to all our customers, all of the time. To help achieve this we commit to investing heavily in maintaining a high-quality fleet of vehicles and support systems, with a young average age of fleet. Having a fuel focused IT solution that assists with managing one of the biggest costs in meeting our customer commitments is paramount.”
A staged roll out of the Triscan solution was implemented, starting with the Harrogate depot and was completed 12 months later. The project included 6 fuel islands at all Lancashire and Yorkshire sites all networked to a single point for management reporting. Triscan continues to work closely with Transdev Blazefields to further improve their infrastructure and reporting options.