Thamesdown Transportation
Download PDF"Driver route training has given us a controlled environment for learning without the hassles and concerns of traffic congestion. It’s a fantastic system which has succeeded in achieving all of the benefits we wanted. "
Kevan Wildy, Training Manager Thamesdown Transport
Snapshot
Services: 33
Vehicles: 113
Drivers: ~200
Trapeze products used: Driver Route Training, TrackBuilder, Enquiry Management System
Background
Thamesdown Transport is a municipal bus operator running primarily frequent service urban routes serving 180,000 residents in one of Europe’s fastest growing towns.
Having celebrated its centenary in 2005 Thamesdown has been looking to the future with recent infrastructure investment including a state of the art depot, new vehicles and new technologies.
Challenges
Thamesdown operates a policy that new drivers must be familiar with all the main routes operated to ensure flexibility in work allocation. Traditionally the trainee learned route information by sitting on live buses running the routes with top up training and assessment from an instructor.
Whilst this method could be effective it was also very time consuming.
In recent times a high number of new employees have moved into the area from farther afield and therefore also lacked local knowledge. Additional training and time have been required to provide general orientation around the town.
Solution
Thamesdown introduced the Trapeze Driver Route Training system into their classroom as part of their training programme for new drivers. The system provides users with a library of pre-recorded video bus routes linked to an electronic map, audio and visual highlights and route examinations. In addition, the Driver Route Training solution is designed to be able to update new route changes without having to record whole services again from scratch.
The routes for Thamesdown Transport were recorded by their in-house team using the video and GPS location equipment provided as part of the solution. All public routes were captured including the rural routes to neighbouring towns. The data was then supplemented by Kevan Wildy, Training Manager at Thamesdown and his team of instructors.
Highlights were added to draw attention to features such as bus stops, fare stages and accident black spots. Road safety video clips and audio commentaries were also added at appropriate points on the routes. Existing drivers also gained benefits from the system as the training application was installed on a terminal in the drivers’ staff room within the town centre. This allowed drivers to refresh their route knowledge at any time.
Results
Since the introduction of the Driver Route Training system, the training programme for drivers to gain their license and become familiar with the job and the routes is now an average of 15% quicker.
When instructors and trainees use the system together in the classroom the process of identifying gaps in route knowledge is simpler and quicker. This in turn means more time can be spent on training with the system as both a tool for learning routes and for driver assessment.
The main benefits to Thamesdown have been in the saving of driving instructor time, more effective driver knowledge assessment and significant fuel cost savings by heavily reducing the need to have a vehicle on the road for the entire training period.
Next Steps
According to Wildy, the plans are to expand on the current scope of the Driver Route Training System. At the top of the list is the activity to record the routes of regular contract work including school routes.
Eventually Thamesdown would like to create a DVD library of all the routes that the drivers can loan out to revise when it’s most convenient for them.
Bottom Line
“The Driver Route Training system has achieved all the results it was supposed to. The high level of support from the Trapeze team is almost unheard of with other technology providers. Experience and responsiveness shine through whether it be software or hardware,” said Wildy.
About Thamesdown Transport
Thamesdown Transport, formerly Swindon Corporation, celebrated 100 years of travel in Swindon in 2004. Visit the company’s Web site at www.thamesdown-transport.co.uk.
