Creating a Great Work Culture for Bus Drivers at GoBus

Overview

GoBus, a mid-size bus operator on the edge of London and one of the leading independent operators in Kent, faced challenges related to the industry-wide bus driver shortage.

They leaned into a “family-feel” culture with better flexibility and transparency for drivers. However, manual, paper-based scheduling made this flexibility difficult and left drivers with little visibility into hours, payroll, or work-life balance. By implementing Optibus Operations and the Driver App, GoBus transformed manual workflows into a digital-first ecosystem, ensuring every driver has real-time access to their duties and controllers can communicate up-to-date information instantly.

"Using this technology means we can have a far better open communication with drivers and keep them informed and updated... it’s making it easier to work together."

Alastair Willis, Managing Director, GoBus

Challenge

Recruitment in the bus industry has reached its most challenging point in years. For GoBus, the struggle wasn’t just finding staff, but retaining talent in a high-churn environment. Their manual system was a major friction point; duty rosters were pinned to a board only days in advance, often needing to be changed at the last minute. This lack of transparency caused operational conflicts, such as “no-shows” or double-bookings, and prevented drivers from effectively planning their personal lives, leading to disruption and high turnover.

Solution

GoBus implemented Optibus Operations and the Driver App to bridge the gap between complex scheduling and real-world execution. Operations acts as the central control centre, allowing the team to manage daily resource allocations and long-term plans dynamically. The Driver App then connects staff directly to this system, providing them with their shifts, updates, and preferences on their mobile devices.

"That's been the biggest benefit of the system. We can better manage work shifts, we can better communicate it, and drivers can better communicate back if they see things that they want to change. There is that flexibility and that information is all live there in the platform. Drivers can look at it any time, rather than having to wait to look at a WhatsApp message or to check what an A4 sheet of paper says."

Adam Shellard-Dedman, Operations Director

The transition replaced a macro-heavy spreadsheet with Optibus’s cloud-native platform that validates labour rules and certifications in real time. This digital backbone allows GoBus to offer the bespoke flexibility that drivers crave, such as two-day work weeks or dedicated school runs, without the administrative nightmare of manual tracking or miscommunications about shifts.

Results

The move to a digital-first approach with Optibus delivered immediate organiszational and social impact:

"When drivers come in, they already know what bus they've got because they'll see it on the Driver App. It just takes that little bit of stress out for them, as well as the controllers in the office. And if the controller is dealing with something, the drivers can proactively know that, ‘Oh yeah, I'm on that bus. I'll go off and do that’. It does make a difference for people."

Adam Shellard-Dedman, Operations Director

Better shift visibility and a calmer, more flexible work environment: Drivers can now see fixed rotas and days off two to three weeks in advance. This transparency has been cited as a primary retention factor for key staff members.

"Prior to this, everything was done on paper and printed off the day before. But if last-minute changes were made, things could be missing. It gets confusing. Now, all the information is in front of them and allocators can see it live."

Adam Shellard-Dedman, Operations Director

Faster response to disruptions, smoother services: Digitising duties and communication has improved GoBus’s response time and ability to prevent service disruptions before they occur.

"Running the payroll report is so much easier on Optibus. Prior to that we had an old spreadsheet that if it breaks no one will know how to fix it. Payroll is accurate to the minute, and that does make a huge difference."

Alastair Willis, Managing Director, GoBus

"If we are struggling to cover a duty on a day, you can now go to the weekly view and see instantly who's not at work that day. Before, you were trying to go through all different things to work it out. But if you go into the weekly view, you find the day and just literally go down the list and you can start at the top and contact anyone who's off. And that is so much simpler than it was before."

Adam Shellard-Dedman, Operations Director

Payroll Accuracy and Speed: With Optibus, GoBus was able to complete their first payroll report in just 90 minutes (on the go, working from the train!) with minute-by-minute accuracy, drastically reducing driver pay queries. Previously, this would take the team two days of manual data entry.

"Optibus gives the drivers a really clear breakdown by the day of how many hours they worked and the rate they're being paid at for those hours. We're not getting as many queries now because people can see that in front of them. It makes the job easier because there's less uncertainty. It all helps people to be more informed and improve communication."

Adam Shellard-Dedman, Operations Director

Operational Integrity: The audit log and live data have eliminated “he-said-she-said” conflicts regarding duty changes, ensuring the office and the yard stay perfectly synced.

"If drivers are late, we can see that. We've got more reporting. Before, we didn't have an easy way to understand who are our late drivers and who are our high performers. It adds to the quality of operation."

Alastair Willis, Managing Director, GoBus

"I can dive in at any point and see the data in front of me. I don't need to be relying on what someone else is telling me because I can see it in front of me and that is a huge difference. Controllers know that when they go into the system, the information is correct. That makes their life easier."

Adam Shellard-Dedman, Operations Director

100% System Adoption: The entire driving force is now registered on the platform, with 74 drivers actively using the system. Onboarding was simple and fast, and there has been a high rate of adoption and acceptance.

"The best compliment you can get in the bus industry is when no one says anything. It’s gone in quietly, which means people have accepted it and it just works."

Alastair Willis, Managing Director, GoBus

"I just came in early for a couple of days, sat down, recorded everyone's email addresses and sent it out to them. Once a few of the drivers started seeing the benefits, it was relatively quick to get the majority on there. Now we do it as part of our onboarding process. Even the people who don't really like technology have started to go. This is quite useful because I can look ahead at what's happening. Everyone has generally accepted it and welcomed it."

Adam Shellard-Dedman, Operations Director

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