Optibus Blog

Transdev’s RedBus Urbano signs with Optibus to improve its electric fleet

Written by Abigail Levner | June 8, 2022

RedBus Urbano, one of the main public transport operators in Santiago, Chile and Transdev’s largest bus operation globally, is now using Optibus to modernize its scheduling processes and increase the efficiency of its electric vehicle fleet management.

RedBus Urbano serves 300,000 daily passengers in Santiago with a fleet of 700 buses. It is working to build a fleet of 250 electric vehicles by the end of 2022, totaling 950 buses that will be managed using Optibus’ software. Planning and scheduling their electric buses was challenging, tedious, and inefficient given the many complex parameters to consider, such as battery life, charging times, and energy costs. The operator wanted a sophisticated solution for improving the movement and efficiency of its entire fleet, particularly with regards to its mixed diesel and electric operations.  

To easily account for all the steps involved in managing a mixed fleet and optimizing electric vehicles, RedBus chose Optibus' planning, crew and vehicle scheduling, and electric bus management products. Leveraging the software’s cloud-native platform, artificial intelligence, and optimization algorithms, RedBus will be able to work faster, improve their schedules, gain deeper insight into the operation, and use their resources more efficiently, producing financial gains.

“We are committed to offering highly reliable transportation services to our passengers, with quality and efficiency, and seek to constantly improve our operation. In this sense, we related to Optibus’ commitment to innovation. We were impressed with the potential results that their advanced electric vehicle scheduling and planning module demonstrated, and the software’s ability to exponentially improve operations and service efficiency,” said Rainer Rojas, Operations Manager at RedBus.

Optibus' Electric Vehicle management tools support EV scheduling and planning needs, such as defining charging times, locations and minimum battery levels, making it easier to operate EV routes.

 

RedBus’ adoption of Optibus reinforces Optibus’ momentum in Latin America, specifically in Chile, where it is used by MetBus, the largest public transportation operator in Santiago and the operator of the largest number of electric buses in the Americas. 

“It is a great joy to work with RedBus, a company that is committed to sustainability and constant innovation by electrifying its fleet and reducing its vehicle emissions. We will walk hand-in-hand in this sense, providing RedBus with a solution that supports the complex management of electric vehicles and enables efficiency, agility, and speed across their operation,” said Alvaro Sanderson, Optibus’ regional director of South Cone, Latin America.