Overview
| Employees | More than 7,800 bus and tram drivers |
| Vehicles | More than 3,200 buses, Around 400 trams |
| Transport services | More than 500 million passengers/year, over 900 bus and tram lines |
| Operations | Regional and urban bus and tram services |
| Objectives | Simplify and standardise fleet management processes, Modernise passenger information |
| Special features | Complete system for all operating regions, Comprehensive information at stops |
| IVU products | IVU.fleet, IVU.realtime, IVU.realtime.stop, IVU.fleet.statistic |
Initial situation
De Lijn transports more than 500 million passengers a year in the Flemish provinces of Belgium – by bus, tram or dial-a-bus. The Belgian transport company operates more than 3,200 buses and around 400 trams in Flanders – including the famous Kusttram along the Flemish coast, which, at 68 kilometres, is the longest tram line in the world. Each of the region’s five provinces has its own fleet management. This poses challenges in terms of smooth coordination of traffic and reliable provision of information on current departure times to passengers.
Objectives
To accelerate timetable planning and increase customer satisfaction, De Lijn and the commissioned industrial consortium THVProfa resolved to restructure the existing systems for operations control and passenger information. A new, central operations control centre was to support the various independent regional control centres and focus data management in one place. De Lijn also wanted to replace its outdated analogue radio system with a state-of-the-art digital system to benefit from improved data transmission. It was also important to retain the existing IT environment and upgrade the system cost-effectively. As part of this, De Lijn also planned to comprehensively modernise the passenger information systems to increase customer satisfaction.
"The process of modernising the passenger information was particularly challenging due to not only the size of the bus stations but also the specific requirements that apply in Belgium. We were really impressed with the powerful IVU software and now have a central, all-in-one system for all data transmission tasks for the control centre and passenger information."
Solution
Due to the high level of standardisation, De Lijn opted for the integrated IVU.suite solutions to implement a new fleet management system with central data management and real-time information.
In response, IVU created a complete system for all of De Lijn’s operating regions based on the IVU.fleet traffic control system. This ensures a continuous flow of data from the vehicle to the control centre and keeps the dispatch managers up to date at all times with the current traffic situation and any disruptions. A comprehensive range of dispatch functions helps dispatch managers to rectify problems quickly, ensure connections and trace the movement profile of all vehicles.
To modernise the passenger information, IVU shipped its IVU.realtime.stop stop computer software, which supplies up-to-date information to more than 450 displays at central interchanges. The system allows bilingual output and automatic colour coding of the lines shown on TFT displays. In addition, the audio output can provide up to 16 stop points simultaneously with automatic text-to-speech announcements.
IVU.realtime also transmits all departure information to the displays as well as to the websites and apps exact to the minute.
The IVU.fleet.statistic controlling solution monitors journey punctuality and cancellations, allowing performance data to be analysed and disruptions and problems to be managed more effectively.
Outcome
IVU.suite products enabled De Lijn to implement requirements-oriented fleet management. This enabled the scheduled run data of the once separately managed control centres to be centralised in order to efficiently coordinate processes across the boundaries of the different provinces. Data quality has been significantly improved because De Lijn switched from an analogue to a digital notification system. The IVU solution has also optimised the process of forwarding journey progress information to controlling, which is crucial for the statistical evaluation of operations.
And last but not least, De Lijn’s customers, too, benefit from a reliable information pool. Always up-to-date bus and tram departure times on more than 450 stop displays make life much easier for passengers and help them to plan their trips more reliably.
Last update: December 2020
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IVU Traffic Technologies AG
Headquarters
Bundesallee 88
12161 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49.30.8 59 06 -0
E-mail: contact@ivu.com
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