CAMERA SYSTEM BOOSTS ECONOMIC BUS TRAVEL

THE commercial transport industry is facing unprecedented challenges right now. Not since the Great Depression of the early 1930s has global enterprise been so suddenly and fundamentally shocked.

In South Africa, the ripple effects of the current global financial crisis are beginning to impact on employment levels and consumer spending, trends that will without doubt negatively affect revenue generation within the local commercial bus industry.

With these pressures coming to bear, along with an unpredictable diesel price, it is imperative that bus operators implement cost-cutting measures to reduce overheads and shore up cash reserves. “The old cliché, ‘cash is king’ has never been more pertinent,” says Thomas Hemmerich, CEO of MAN Truck and Bus SA. “Any bus operator wanting to buy new vehicles will need to meet the banking sector’s increasingly stringent lending criteria, most notably, increased deposit percentages on vehicle financing.”

Maintaining healthy cash-flows when business is slow is no easy feat but the most expedient route to adopt is to lower operating expenses. “For bus operations, consolidation of existing assets, both mechanical and human is essential if they are to survive these troubled times,” says Louis Swart, managing director of Drive Report, a leading South African driver behaviour management company. “This means delivering a safe and efficient service to customers, be theycommuters or tourists. Achieving this entails diligent maintenance of vehicles, market-friendly fare pricing, enhanced vehicle utilisation and driver skills development.”

Surviving to win

Fleet management systems and on-board vehicle technologies continue to mature year-on-year, delivering increasingly accurate data on both vehicle and driver performance. However, there’s a general lack of transparency within the transit industry when it comes to the skills and behaviour profiles of individual ‘professional’ drivers, adds Swart.

“The fact that vehicle owners cannot witness first-hand what every fleet driver does when on the road in a company vehicle exposes the operator to a wide spectrum of risk, from road accidents, to hijackings, to onerous levels of fuel consumption, ‘mystery damage’ and vehicle wear and tear,” says Swart. “The single most important component in the profitability equation of any road fleet is the driver. Ultimately, it is the attitude, driving proficiency and motivation of the driver that will determine both the lifecycle cost and profitability of the mobile asset.”

With the 2010 FIFAWorld Cup on our doorstep, increasing international attention will be cast on our local transit infrastructure, Safe profit - commuter buses carrying precious cargo need sharp driver management Palm-size video camera saves money and lives especially from a safety perspective. Bus operators wishing to partake in the lucrative ‘event’ will have to ensure that they have embedded ‘best practice’ policies and procedures within their operations, most importantly, that their drivers are duly skilled and equipped to pilot people-carrying vehicles.

“The 2010 Cup Final has created demand for people carriers but at the same time, the global economic squeeze is restricting the transformation of South Africa’s bus industry, particularly when it comes to the procurement of new vehicles,” Swart explains. “It could well transpire that many bus operations will fold in the months to come and only the truly professional operators, those who proactively manage every aspect of their organisation and retain healthy cash reserves, will be able to capitalise on the transit needs of the world’s largest sporting event.”

Talking video

Bus owners can effectively improve driver behaviour while reducing on-road risk and running costs by installing an in-vehicle video camera called DriveCam, distributed locally by Drive Report, Swart explains.

“It has been proven that human beings perform better when they know they’re being watched. DriveCam however is not a surveillance or disciplinary tool but rather a driver-coaching system designed to pinpoint risky driving behaviours as they happen. The palm-sized video camera mounted on the bus windscreen has two lenses – one on the driver and passengers, the other on the road ahead of the vehicle. Therecording mechanism is ‘exception-based’ and is triggered by excessive gravitational forces affecting the vehicle, be they from a collision, harsh braking, swerving, unsafe cornering or excessive speed over rough roadways and speed bumps.”

Each camera is capable of storing around sixty 12-second video clips (with sound) which are downloaded via aWiFi link at the bus depot. These clips are then analysed by the fleet manager (or by DriveCam traffic analysts in the USA, if the operator opts for the outsourced option) and linked to driver-profiling software.

“DriveCam has a tried and tested driver coaching methodology that improves relations between drivers and management.With ongoing driver coaching and incentive programmes, DriveCam has helped hundreds of fleets around the world lower their running costs by as much as 30 percent,” Swart continues. “Apart from dramatic reductions in accident rates, drivers who are proactively managed using DriveCam also drive with more ‘empathy’ and foresight, significantly reducing vehicle wear while lowering fuel consumption.”

Insurance boon

The ability DriveCam has to lower on-road risk has not gone unnoticed by local insurance companies who are not only lowering insurance premiums for vehicles fitted with DriveCam but are able to help clients avoid paying hefty excesses in the event of an accident.

According to Tim Allen of Absolute UnderwritingManagers, “we have seen as much as a 90 percent reduction in risk exposure at some of our customers since installing DriveCam. This benefits everybody and as a result, in our low-risk fleets, we’re able to subsidise the camera units.What’s especially useful in these tough financial circumstances is the ability the camera has to prove beyond dispute who is liable in the event of an accident.We were able to save a client R80 000 in excess charges on presentation of the video footage to the third party insurer.”

While many operators may baulk at the idea of spending cash on technology, others are successfully reducing their operating costs by investing in DriveCam. “When one considers all the benefits the system can bring to an operation, it could be said that it’s the only product on the market that actually pays you to buy it,” concludes Swart.