Westphalia with new multi-client operating and telematics system from IVU

WVG (Westfälische Verkehrsgesellschaft) organises public transport across 88 towns and local communities, covering an area of 9,000 km². Every year, some 57 million passengers use the services provided by the transport companies belonging to the WVG Group (Regionalverkehr Münsterland, Regionalverkehr Ruhr-Lippe, and Verkehrsgesellschaft Kreis Unna). Therefore more than 700 buses and 730 personnel are on the roads every day. In order to ensure that they operate as efficiently as possible and to further increase the quality of the public transport services provided, in early 2013 WVG issued a Europe-wide call for tenders for a new operating and telematics system. The contract was awarded to IVU Traffic Technologies AG, which is now installing all the necessary components of its IVU.suite software system, with IVU.ticket.box, the operational control system IVU.fleet, and the background system IVU.fare. By the end of 2015 all vehicles are to have been equipped with the new on-board computer technology and the companies in the WVG Group will have been integrated in the system.
 
In addition to the multi-client capability, an important feature of the new system for WVG was that it also integrates the functions for operational control (ITCS) and for electronic fare management (EFM). The tender contains the systems to generate real-time data, for the operating desks, and for ITCS, including communications between the drivers and the control centre. In the background, an appropriate back-office system guarantees the supply of data.

In future, the data from all the buses of the public transport companies will come together centrally at WVG. The operational system IVU.fleet will be installed at the ITCS desks, and this will be linked through wireless interfaces with the on-board computers on the vehicles. The multi-client strategy with user and group entitlements guarantees the data sovereignty of the participating companies. In the operational centres, information is only visible if it has been given clearance and is required for operational purposes. Bus services can be displayed for all the public transport companies and the available connections shown. In addition, the data can be centrally maintained in the background system. For the participating companies this considerably reduces the work involved in the introduction and operation of the system, as well as offering a long-term improvement in customer satisfaction.

Work is already beginning this year on the stepwise installation of the IVU.ticket.box on-board computers for a combined fleet of more than 700 buses. As mobile terminals, for example in taxi buses, the IT-9000 from Casio is being installed, together with IVU.cockpit on-board computer software. All the systems include the functionality for e-ticketing in accordance with the VDV-KA standard, and the modern Quad Core processors offer considerably enhanced computing capacity. In addition, the higher resolution of the new display improves usability.
 
“This project marks a further technical milestone for IVU”, comments IVU’s head of project Christian Walter on the success. “Thousands of real-time data reports come together every second in the operational control centres, hundreds of entitlements and restrictions are automatically administered, and the latest Quad Core processors provide a marked improvement in the computing capacity of the on-board computers. In the Westphalia region we now demonstrate the full range of our capabilities.”

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.