The Formula One (F1) night race Singapore Leg is in its third year running since it first started in 2008. In 2008, the event drew more than 40,000 overseas visitors and generated nearly $170 million in incremental tourism proceeds. It also captured international media attention and was watched by about 110 million people world wide. Many still vividly recall Massa driving off with the fuel hose still attached to the car.
Despite all the speed and excitement generated on-circuit, the one thing that concerns the public has been the road closures and disruptions in preparation for the race. In the 2008 race, businesses groused that a 12-day road closure and transport woes discouraged many non-racing fans from visiting the Marina Bay area. In 2009, apart from the shorter 7-day road closure, transport options have also been beefed up. In the 2010 race, the local authorities and organizers manage to minimize the disruptions and see through the preparations with a 6-day road closure.
While SMRT increased the frequency of train services and extending the train schedules, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) continued to offer the popular free shuttle-bus service from City Hall or Bugis MRT stations to the Suntec City and Marina Bay area.
Our client, Bookabus Pte Ltd was awarded the shuttle-bus service contract for the 2010 F1 Singapore race. With the stringent KPIs set by LTA, Bookabus has a mammoth task in managing the operations which runs daily for the duration of the road closures, from 6am to 12am.
“Previously for other projects, we had to call our bus drivers in order to know their location,” said Mr Andy Tan, Operations Manager.
“It was difficult to manage and deploy additional buses if any situation arises, such as breakdowns and traffic congestion,” he said.
“With a Fleet Management System, I can accurately get an update of the location of my buses and take immediate action either by notifying my customers of any delay or deploying another backup bus. Managing my buses is definitely much easier now, especially I can view my buses location via my mobile phone,” he added.
Besides using the regular buses already installed with Covexis tracking hardware, Covexis provided a plug-and-play device for ad-hoc buses which has not been installed with a tracking device.
Having an accurate and reliable real-time tracking system was one of the key contributing factors to the success of Bookabus satisfying the demands of their customer.
Covexis has received feedback from Bookabus and is striving to include additional features that will improve our FireAnts Fleet Management System to better serve the needs of our customers.
Stay tuned for future updates and improvements to our system and service offerings.
The Mobile Column, a crowd favourite whenever it is featured, will be the highlight again in this year’s NDP. This year, there will be more than 200 vehicles featuring the SAF’s 3 Generation capabilities and Home Team’s assets. It will roll pass City Hall and into the heartlands.
Covexis, together with map partner Tele Atlas, is proud to sponsor the tracking of the mobile column for NDP 2010 and also featuring our new Mosaic web map service.