Monheim starts trial operations
Modern operational control thanks to IVU’s ITCS
Following the successful conclusion of the installation phase, BSM (Bahnen der Stadt Monheim GmbH) today began trial operations. Thirty buses and the operational control centre have been equipped with new IVU systems for real time vehicle monitoring and control, for voice and data communications between drivers and dispatchers, and for ticket sales with automatic tariff calculations. The engineers from IVU Traffic Technologies AG installed all the necessary new components in only ten months. Existing systems were integrated into the overall system by means of appropriate interfaces. It is planned to complete the project in the first quarter of 2014.
The town of Monheim, situated on the Rhine, has 40.000 residents, and every year, BSM transports more than 6 million passengers. Many of the journeys connect passengers with the nearby commuter rail services to Cologne and Düsseldorf, so that reliability and punctuality are particularly important. The ITCS system from IVU will in future make a vital contribution here. IVU.fleet collects and processes the real time data of all buses and feeds these into the systems for providing passenger information. By means of standardised interfaces, IVU.fleet also allows easy access to real time data from the two regional transport associations VRR (for the Rhine-Ruhr area) and VRS (for the Rhine-Sieg area) so that it is possible to ensure smooth connections with other services throughout the region.
The real time data for BSM is supplied by the IVU.ticket.box installed in every vehicle. The IVU on-board computer transmits the current position of the bus to the central server by means of WLAN and GPRS. In addition the on-board units also provide rapid ticket sales and transmit data to the devices for electronic boarding control. In the background, the central calculating system IVU.fare guarantees that the on-board computer is always supplied with the latest relevant tariff data and that settlement is possible with each driver at the end of their shift.
The new ITCS augments the planning software IVU.plan introduced in 2009 with additional modules for fleet management (IVU.fleet), operational control (IVU.control), and ticketing (IVU.fare). Other software solutions already used by BSM for passenger information, wage accounting, and bookkeeping can be integrated in the overall system without any difficulties “It was important for us to be able to rely on a tried and tested standard product,” comments Michael Hamann, Head of Project at BSM, explaining why they chose the IVU systems. “With the IVU.suite we have found a solution which could be introduced in only a few months, so that the internal disturbances caused by system alterations and integration could be kept to a minimum. This is also to the benefit of our control personnel, the drivers, and our passengers”.
Madlen Dietrich
Corporate communications
IVU Traffic Technologies AG
Bundesallee 88, 12161 Berlin, Germany
Tel 49 30 85906-386
E-mail: Madlen.Dietrich@ivu.de
www.ivu.com
IVU Traffic Technologies AG has been working for more than thirty-five years with some 350 software engineers to ensure that transport in the world’s major cities operates reliably and on time. People and vehicles in expanding cities are continually on the move – a logistical challenge which calls for intelligent and reliable software systems. The standardised software products of the IVU.suite and tailor-made IT solutions are used to plan, optimise and control the scheduling of vehicle fleets and personnel. Other systems support the choice of branch locations or ensure that election results are determined correctly.
IVU. Systems for vibrant cities.