The partnership brings safety data to the early stages of transportation planning for increased passenger comfort and satisfaction
Optibus, a market-leading software platform for public transportation planning, scheduling, and rostering, is partnering with GreenRoad Technologies, the safety telematics leader, to increase passenger safety and comfort by bringing historical road safety data into the earliest phases of transportation planning.
The lack of safety data at the earliest stages of transportation planning means many road and driving hazards are detected only after services roll-out, at the driver-level. This exposes passengers to low-quality, risky services that compromise their safety and comfort and increase the rate of injuries or incidents per million miles. Some operators and agencies increase running times to mitigate accidents, thinking slower is safer, but longer travel times only decrease passenger satisfaction, increase expenses, and harm operational efficiency.
“Although public transit is one of the safest ways to travel, thousands of passengers, as well as drivers, pedestrians, and occupants of other vehicles, are still injured or killed each year in bus-related crashes. Many of these incidents could be prevented if safety data was used to plan networks that are safer,” said Optibus CEO and co-founder Amos Haggiag. “Partnering with GreenRoad allows us to do just that, by creating the first-ever integrated planning and safety system for public transport providers.”
To reduce risks, Optibus and GreenRoad are empowering operators and agencies to account for safety factors, such as road and ride quality, collisions, injuries, and driver behavior including speeding, sudden acceleration and braking, and sharp turns, at the network planning stage.
Operators and agencies can account for safety factors, such as road and ride quality, collisions, injuries, and driver behavior including speeding, sudden acceleration and braking, and sharp turns, at the network planning stage.
On the Optibus platform, planners can harness GreenRoad’s Safety Heat Map to visualize and assess the safety score of existing routes within their network. Planners can re-plan low-scoring routes to avoid hazard areas and increase safety, assess the impact of rerouting on the entire network, and support local authorities in identifying and fixing road hazards. By optimizing route safety, the partnership will reduce the number of injuries per million miles and produce a smoother ride that feels safer to riders, while increasing passenger satisfaction and trust.
“Early insight into route safety enables operators to reduce risks, save lives, and deliver better services to passengers,” said David Ripstein, GreenRoad Technologies’ CEO. “The combination of GreenRoad’s world-class safety data and telematics and Optibus’ cutting-edge transportation planning software creates a powerful, essential tool for ensuring the safety of mass transit.”
Launching on a global scale, road safety scoring builds on Optibus’ commitment to safety through its rostering module that creates quality driver shifts, prevents fatigue, and ensures driver retention and satisfaction. GreenRoad’s advanced driver safety platform is already being used by leading transportation operators worldwide, including Stagecoach, the UK’s largest bus and coach operator, Coach USA, First Group, KMB and many others, to reduce accidents and risk while improving sustainability and passenger comfort.
To learn more about how safety data can be used early in the planning process, fill out this form.
About Optibus
Optibus is an AI platform that brings much-needed innovation to the essential mobility mode at the heart of our cities: public transportation. Optibus leverages a robust combination of artificial intelligence, advanced optimization algorithms and distributed cloud computing to make public transportation smarter, better and more efficient – and ultimately nourish freedom of movement and sustainable cities.
A cloud-native SaaS company founded in 2014, Optibus powers complex transit operations in over 500 cities around the world, planning and scheduling the movement of vehicles and drivers to improve the quality and reliability of transit service and make operations more efficient.
Optibus has been recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer and by Gartner as a Cool Vendor. It has offices in London, Tel Aviv, New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and São Paulo.
(www.optibus.com | info@optibus.com)
About GreenRoad Technologies
GreenRoad, a global leader in safety telematics, provides comprehensive solutions for fleets looking to improve their safety, operational efficiency and passenger satisfaction. Used by leading bus and coach and other companies in 60+ countries, the GreenRoad Platform’s real-time driver self-coaching and engagement solutions, monitoring platforms and predictive analytics technologies help fleets achieve dramatic reductions in accidents, fuel consumption and maintenance expenses while improving passenger comfort, risk and operational efficiency.
For more information, please visit www.greenroad.com, and follow GreenRoad on Twitter and Facebook.
Read more:
➤ Webinar: Scheduling Your Buses and Drivers
➤ How Transportation Planners Can Think Like Passengers (and Why They Should)
➤ Case Study: How Abellio UK Uses Optibus as a Sustainable Digitalisation Tool
