Real-Time Fleet Management Solution Helps Improve Bus Fleet Business

Go West Tours provides a diverse range of transportation services throughout Western Australia. Their passenger services include: location tours, government transfers, school children transportation, and transportation services within the mining sector. Go West Tours are 9001 Quality Assured and are a member of the National Road Transport Council – so safety is paramount for their business.

Go West Tours was on the forefront of GPS vehicle tracking and knew that monitoring their fleet would produce long term cost savings for them. Initially Go West Tours used a GPS provider to manage their fleet, which provided them with basic visual tracking, however, it lacked the accurate data that would eventually give Go West Tours deeper insight into how their fleet was being operated and how real cost savings could have been achieved.

After installing Reveal, Go West Tours finally had access to real-time bus tracking data to help manage driver behaviour; monitor safety and maintenance; and improve customer service. “We have vehicles all over the country so I was afraid that implementation was going to be quite long but I have to hand it to Reveal, it did get implemented very fast. The transition from our other service provider to Reveal was seamless with minimal hurdles and we got great support anytime we needed it.  Reveal is much more appropriate for our business,” said David Haust, Director and Owner, Go West Tours WA.

GPS vehicle tracking reduces fuel wastage 

Excessive idling wastes a significant amount of fuel and in the bus and coach industry, it’s not uncommon.  If drivers are sitting in the vehicle with the engine and air-conditioner running while waiting for passengers valuable fuel is wasted. Go West Tours was unsure how to reduce this needless fuel wastage, until they installed GPS vehicle trackers with Reveal.

Following implementation of bus gps tracking, Go West Tours set up real-time alerts to their mobile devices, which notify them if their buses are idling excessively. This has helped Go West Tours reduce fleet fuel consumption.

“Idle times have definitely been reduced and there is a direct cost savings there when it comes to fuel efficiency. We also use Reveal to help understand our ATO diesel fuel rebates – so that’s been a big bonus as we can give credible data on idle times and also traveling times,” said David Haust.

Accurate data for better responses

Without GPS vehicle tracking, Go West Bus & Coach did not know if their drivers were practicing poor habits, such as speeding or hard cornering. Further, if complaints were made about their employees driving styles, they had no accurate data to prove it wasn’t their driver.

“If we have any perceived issues in regards to speeding or harsh driving, or issues on the road we quickly turn to Reveal to provide reports, and thankfully 99% of the time there isn’t an issue and we can give credible data, which give our clients the assurance that we are in control,” said David Haust.

Go West Tours can pull reports and even replay routes of their entire fleet on Reveal to understand the driver behaviour of each vehicle. This function has allowed Go West Tours to provide responses to customer concerns. 

Fatigue management under control

Go West drivers cover a large territory and if they do not get the appropriate amount of rest in between routes they could end up endangering not only themselves, but their passengers too. Their duty management team can monitor vehicles that travel longer distances with real-time GPS tracking to help ensure their drivers are taking the appropriate breaks and that the business is complying with fatigue management regulations. 

“We move our buses right across Western Australia from as far south as Albany to as far north as Kurrunara. We need to track what the drivers’ times are to make sure they are taking their fatigue breaks at the appropriate times,” said David Haust.

Vehicle reports improving customer billing

To add to Go West Tours’ already varied work portfolio, they also rent their vehicles out to other bus companies.

Having a fleet management service gives Go West Tours the functionality to understand and bill for the distance that was travelled, the exact amount of fuel that was consumed and wear and tear the vehicle may have been exposed to.

“Tracking our vehicles is a great benefit. We rent our bus fleet to other companies and by being able to monitor the kilometres they are traveling allows us to charge against that,” said David Haust.

Greater levels of insight into their fleet with GPS Vehicle Tracking

Go West Tours now have greater levels of insight into their fleet with GPS vehicle tracking. They can respond to customer complaints with more accuracy, help eliminate wasted fuel and improve fatigue management. “Reveal is very easy to use compared to our previous vendor. We can get reports quickly, have a better understanding of where vehicles are and the features of Reveal are much better in comparison,” said David Haust, Director and Owner, Go West Tours WA.