Ticketer has launched a brand-new facility within its market leading Electronic Ticket Machines, which enables drivers to carry out vehicle checks and log them electronically. The new feature not only ensures that drivers carry out the checks in accordance with compliance regulations, but it gives operators real time visibility of the status of their vehicles. The new Ticketer ETM driver checklist function eliminates paperwork, logs faults securely and enables any faults to be addressed in a timely fashion.
Using the Ticketer ETM means that faults can be uploaded to the Ticketer portal and viewed by the operator while the vehicle is still in service. Repairs can be scheduled appropriate to the urgency, reducing vehicle downtime. Unresolved faults are retained within the ETM so that the driver is made aware of any pre-existing issues and the back office maintains a secure and fully searchable record of all reported faults.
The checklist functionality can be tailored by each operator according to their own requirements, and can even be tailored for each vehicle, ensuring all checks are relevant. Operators can set up each individual category, such as door and lights, and drivers are taken through the process using prompts on the screen.
Any faults noted can be graded for urgency, from immediate engineer attention required to logging an overnight repair. Drivers can also be given specific instructions for the repair to be completed, using the driver messaging service.
Operators can tailor the checklist to their own specified timescale, such as the first run of the day or every six hours. To ensure compliance, the Ticketer ETM will not enable the driver to continue logging into the ETM until the checks have been completed.
The Ticketer ETMs can be integrated into the Freeway Fleet Management system to update it in real time. Reading Buses is one of the first Ticketer customers to use the integrated system.
John Bickerton, Head of Engineering and Innovation at Reading Buses, said: “This development is absolutely key to our maintenance process. A former colleague once told me ‘every vehicle is trying to tell us a story’ and this is an essential chapter in that tale.
“As we move into 
an age of increasing data it will be more and more important to pass data between different suppliers and this link between Ticketer and Freeway is great news for us. Ticketer can gather defect information from drivers, categorise it and allow free text to get even more information from the person who has seen the defect first-hand. Freeway integrates this into our normal maintenance process – and because this is all digital, we can give feedback to drivers showing what action we’ve recorded against each defect, at a scalable level. It’s a huge step forward for transparency of our maintenance process and will reduce frustration by improving communication. That’s just as important as ensuring we can’t ever lose a defect card again!”
This new feature is available through a simple system download.
For further information please contact:
Mercedes Llewellyn
mercedes.llewellyn@ticketer.co.uk