/ DE LIJN
Mobile Inspections for Better Travel Experience and Efficient Stops Management at De Lijn
De Lijn is the Flemish government company providing public transportation by bus and tram in Flanders. Half the Flemish population takes at least one of the approximately 3,700 buses each year. That’s about 540 million rides. Each bus ride starts and stops at one of De Lijn’s 36,000 bus stops, making them – together with the drivers and vehicles themselves – the most important touch points with travelers.
Starting point: the stop
Thousands of bus stops means there are as many chances to make a good or a bad impression. Well-kept stops, with accurate information, sufficient space and a comfortable step on the bus are crucial for the image and functioning of De Lijn. They also largely determine the traveler’s experience and satisfaction.
We measure customer satisfaction and strive for 70 percent of our customers to score us 7 or more out of 10. Bus stops now score a 6 out of 10. In terms of accessibility for persons with physical or visual impairment, young parents with a stroller or heavily loaded shoppers, we have to catch-up with road authorities in other countries. The threshold of bus stop and vehicle must literally be lowered.
ROGER KESTELOOT
Director of De Lijn
This is a challenge for the team of thirty-five men who map and restore the state of bus stops throughout Flanders. Until recently a job with additional obstacles.
In the rearview mirror
In the recent past, the bus stop crew fought that battle with pen, paper and a camera. After which, they reported on the checked bus stops (are they clean, do they provide shelter …?). Next step: In the office, this data was entered in the system. Lots of administration in exchange for too little efficiency. ‘The system’ also showed that there was only one system. In fact, there were five: each province had its own database, each with its own management.
An inventory of the entire network did not happen systematically. In 2008, an external company charted 36,000 bus stops based on a standardized checklist. However, many non-relevant data was recorded and the database became outdated in no time.
Hot tip: between 2008 and now, more than a quarter (28%) of stops were moved – often without notice. (One stop ‘moved’ even more than a mile away.) Problematic when you work on adequate route planners and detours.
En route!
De Lijn was in need of a mobile, digital and user-friendly system that would enable stop crew to transmit their quality assessments and notifications on the spot and in real time. Each time with pictures. In a standardized way throughout Flanders, so the interpretation is unambiguous and the quality of the data is guaranteed. Such a mobile platform as a daily tool would enable, among other things, immediate action by De Lijn or by the municipality, who usually owns the bus stops.
The solution to that challenge came from TenForce. Via Proximus, a reseller of the mobile TenForce software solution, and the HB + agreement that Proximus concluded with the Flemish government, De Lijn could purchase the TenForce mobile platform for stop management. Together, De Lijn and TenForce gathered pragmatically the necessary information, responded flexibly to the necessary changes and carried out a rapid implementation of the bus stop project.
By listening to the needs of the stop crew and involving them in the consultation, there was no internal resistance to the new technology, and TenForce delivered ready-made material in no time.
Progress towards future
The implementation of the system is ongoing. By September 2017, the entire network of stops was fully mapped. With all the useful data per stop as input, TenForce software helps De Lijn permanently improve the quality of its network in a (cost) efficient way and optimize communication to passengers and other partners. Partners like municipalities or advertising agencies (Decaux, Clear Channel) receive very specific instructions or notifications.
The practical applications are many:
- The exact GPS position of each stop makes it possible to communicate travel times to the driver and passengers in real time.
- At any time, planners and coordinators can filter exact data from all reports.
- Real time consultation between stop crew and coordinators.
- Marketing and Communication Specialists at De Lijn can inform travelers with the most up-to-date information.
- The technical department can immediately see on the tablet where it needs to work and what the priorities are.
- Used materials and supplies are carefully kept up to date.
Once the 36,000 stops are monitored, the route planner is updated. In addition, each bus stop with good accessibility is explicitly indicated with an icon, so people with limitations can see where to get on and off without any problems. A big plus is that the mobile platform always stays up to date.
In a next phase, De Lijn used big data from the system and the TenForce software to monitor punctuality, make an inventory of bottlenecks, monitor construction sites and register the use of stops. These analyses should further optimize the network and boost passenger satisfaction.