Minibus and coach hire firm Southwest Minibuses has reduced its fuel and maintenance costs by up to £1,000 per month. The savings came after the firm adopted the Fleetmatics Reveal mobile workforce solution to its fleet, claim Fleetmatics.

They say their system has helped Southwest Minibuses reduce idling time by 70% and, combined with route optimisation savings, as well as having a dramatic effect on monthly outgoings while contributing to improved customer service and safety.

Established in 2005, Bristol-based Southwest Minibuses specialises in a variety of corporate and private hire services, ranging from school pick-ups to trips to major events including the Ascot races and Glastonbury Festival.

Southwest Minibuses’ director, Jay Raja explained that when a customer reported a delay and wanted to know where a coach was, the telematics made it much easier for him to pinpoint the location of his vehicles.

“Being able to reassure our customers is so important, especially when it comes to school pick-ups,” added Raja. “We work for councils and handle pick-ups of disabled children and we’re now in a position to let their parents know approximately how long it’ll take for our bus to get there in case of delay and, more importantly, we are able to redirect our drivers to avoid traffic.”

Besides helping Southwest Minibuses improving customer service, Fleetmatics also said Reveal had a major impact on idling. “I must say that, before turning to Fleetmatics, I didn’t know much about idling and didn’t think it could have such a big impact on fuel consumption and costs,” Raja said. “Thanks to Fleetmatics, we quickly realised how widespread idling was: for example, some of our drivers were leaving the engine on just for air conditioning purposes."

Additionally, the company said they have been successful in tackling a common issue among commercial drivers: harsh driving. Poor driving habits, including speeding and harsh braking, not only put at risk the safety of drivers and passengers alike, but they are also responsible for increases in fuel consumption of up to 15% on average, said Fleetmatics as well as causing wear and tear on vehicles.

Raja said: “On one occasion, one of our vehicles’ gearbox broke and thanks to Reveal's driving style summary report we were able to demonstrate that the damage may have been caused by the driver’s excessively harsh driving style,”

“Without Fleetmatics, we wouldn’t have been able to demonstrate this. With Fleetmatics GPS tracking in place, our drivers have become more conscious about their driving behaviour and aggressive driving practices have decreased dramatically with huge consequences in terms of fuel consumption and vehicle maintenance costs.”  he added.

Jay estimated that as a result of improved driving habits, idling reduction and enhanced routing efficiency, Southwest Minibuses has been able to achieve monthly savings ranging from £500 to £1000 by cutting fuel and maintenance costs.

“Especially because we work with councils and schools, it is essential for us to be able to show our environmental policy and health and safety credentials,“ Jay concludes. “With Fleetmatics GPS tracking in place, we’re able to provide show how reducing fuel consumption while enhancing safety are top of our agenda.”