Information tools for fleet management

Summary

To coordinate traffic information in a more efficient way, Craiova is developing an innovative fleet management system using vehicle tracking. As part of the system elements like mileage and fuel consumption are gathered into a global statistics scheme.

Implementing sustainable mobility

Advanced information and communication technology (ICT) will be used to improve information flows.  Eighty buses and 27 trams will be endowed with the GPS system and 20 stations will be provided with digital real time information panels.  The traffic management system will be connected with the traffic management centre which will be introduced as part of the e-ticketing measure. The basic function in all fleet management systems is vehicle tracking, based on GPS. Once the vehicle is located, the GPS transmits information on the speed and direction to fleet management software application. This facilitates driver/vehicle profiling, trip profiling (route, speed, time, position) and vehicle efficiency.

Advanced fleet management systems are connected to the vehicle's onboard computer, and gather data for the user. Details such as mileage and fuel consumption are collected in a global statistics scheme. The fleet management system, which will be applied in Craiova will be composed of in-vehicle tracking hardware, data service packages, desktop software, database hosting, technical support and panels in the most important stations with real time information for passengers. The info-mobility tools will be integrated in a system with two main features: the first is the fleet monitoring with automatic vehicle monitoring (AVM) based on GPS and the second is the passenger information with data provided by the AVM system. The measure will be implemented in four steps: research, demonstration, training and evaluation activities.

Progress

The research regarding GPS / GPRS equipment has been completed and the technical specifications were added to a common tender book with the e-ticketing and surveillance systems measures. The integrated technical documentation for acquisition of equipment was developed in unison for the three measures and the GPS equipment was designed so it could be integrated with the e-ticketing system.  The call for tender and the related documents were published in January 2010. The tender procedure took place through the national tender electronic system and the winner was nominated in March 2010.

The mounting and installation equipment were made as part of a programme established by the transport company RAT’s manufacturing company. The system is mostly installed and is now in the testing stage. Twenty digital information panels have been installed in the main bus stations and 80 buses were equipped with onboard computers for GPS tracking.

Outcomes

Craiova expects that the measure will:

• Increase the reliability of the public transport system;
• Provide better access to real time route information;
• Reduce the use of private cars;
• Increase the average transport capacity by 10 percent;
• Increase the occupancy of public transport vehicles by 5 percent.