Overview
Digitization through Optibus helped Metropoline revolutionize its tender acquisition process, enabling them to make data-driven decisions and secure profitable contracts. With the implementation of the Optibus Scheduling product, Metropoline has successfully won its largest tender to date, resulting in its business becoming the second-largest bus operator in Israel.
Background
Metropoline Bus operates more than 300 urban and interurban routes serving dozens of cities and regional councils across southern and central Israel, including the center and Gush Dan, Hasharon and Netanya, the Negev, and the South.
With the aim of reducing operational costs, streamlining operations, and providing better services that make public transportation more attractive to passengers, Metropoline replaced its previous manual scheduling system with Optibus’ advanced cloud-native, SaaS scheduling solution, which they have been using for the past six years.
As part of the transition, in recent years, Metropoline won several tenders that saw them become the second-biggest operator in Israel. They also grew their hybrid fleet, spanning commercial, city, and intercity buses, as well as zero-emission buses (ZEBs).
Challenges & Results
Initially, Metropoline faced significant operational challenges as they managed all scheduling tasks manually and through spreadsheets. This made it difficult for schedulers to optimize their vehicle and crew schedules as manual work was prone to errors, time-consuming, and caused operational inefficiencies. Realizing the need for a solution that could modernize and streamline their operations, increase scheduling efficiency, and at the same time reduce operational costs, Metropoline turned to Optibus Scheduling.
Faster Onboarding for New Schedulers: From Four to Two Months
Metropoline’s previous scheduling system was highly complex, making the onboarding of new team members challenging and time-consuming. Today, with the intuitive and user-friendly Optibus system in place, onboarding schedulers has been transformed into a much faster, more efficient process accessible to employees of all experience levels.
Winning Tenders With Optibus Scheduling
Winning tenders is not an easy task. Bidding requires running various service scenarios and showing potential results very quickly. Manual work makes this cumbersome and time-consuming and effectively managing multiple tenders simultaneously adds even more complexity. Using Optibus Scheduling has contributed to Metropoline achieving remarkable success in winning two tenders, including their largest tender to date, which has propelled their business to become the second largest operator in Israel.
“Today, with the Optibus Scheduling tool, we have streamlined our tender acquisition process, empowering us to make data-driven decisions and maximize our chances of success in securing lucrative contracts,” said Uri Zigron, Vice President Scheduling at Metropoline.
Adjusting Schedules Six Times Faster
Metropoline has undergone a remarkable transformation in its scheduling operations, transitioning from individual branch task scheduling to managing large clusters. This shift has yielded notable cost reductions and improved overall efficiency.
Through the implementation of Optibus Scheduling, Metropoline has successfully achieved optimal management of their vehicles and crew and full compliance with the rigorous criteria set forth in their tender contracts. This achievement solidifies its position as a reliable and leading transportation provider.
Metropoline's Digital Transformation Recap
Finding the right balance between cost, employee recruitment and retention, operational efficiency, and service quality was a big challenge for Metropoline.
Through a strategic modernization of its operations, the customer has achieved impressive and rapid cost savings while elevating various aspects of its business. The schedulers are now empowered with highly innovative tools to generate efficient and cost-effective schedules. They can run multiple scenarios quickly and prepare winning tender bids within days. Operational efficiency and service quality have increased remarkably through scheduling optimization.
Altogether, these improvements mean Metropoline is making public transportation a more appealing, reliable choice for passengers and positioning itself as an industry leader.
- 336 bus routes
- Grew their fleet by winning two tenders using Optibus
- Won its largest tender to date using Optibus Scheduling
- Reduced onboarding time for new schedulers by 50%
- Working 6x faster
- Products Used: Scheduling
- Public transportation operator
