Overview
Abellio UK takes measures to upgrade its data analytics, digital tracking methods, and demand for electric transport.
Background
Each day, Abellio UK delivers rail and bus services to over 1.2 million passengers in Scotland and Englandâkeeping well-worn travel routes running smoothly. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, forced the company to pursue rapid digitalisation.Â
âThere was very much a change in directionâ, Graham Davies, Head of Transformation, said. âEverything shifted with passengers locked down, commuters not travelling, and nobody going to the officeâ.
The Digital Transformation Challenge
Davies originally started out in finance. After working in multiple European and international accounting operations, however, he took charge of Abellioâs digital transformation, a role Davies sees as an extension of his previous role.Â
âFinance is always part of transformationâ, he said. âFinance is always looking at making things better and creating change. For me, it was a natural step of moving away from the month-by-month processing of accounts and moving forward to the long-term business changeâ.
Many leaders get caught up in the minutiae of damage control and managing day-to-day operations. Yet Davies has managed several very large, successful strategic initiatives, such as overhauling Abellio Busâ entire financial department from budgeting to reporting.
Whatâs the secret to success?
On Communication During Transformation
âWe hear a lot about leading from the frontâ, Davies said. â[But] I think itâs critically important that you listen to all the individuals who are going to be affected by the changesânot just the senior management teams, but the employees on the groundâ.Â
For Abellio UK, a company thatâs 16,000 employees strong, he added, âitâs definitely a mindset to listen to those people and think about how things could be done differently. Instead of hearing complaints, we should listen for challenges and opportunitiesâ.
This mindset seems to take centre stage in Abellioâs operations. Instead of accepting corporate confusion as part of the pandemic, the company strives to eliminate ambiguities that stand in the way of effective digital transformation.Â
Enabling Data-Driven Change with Optibus
With Abellio, Davies notes, heâs taken a data-focused approach to improving workflows and increasing long-term profits. What remains critical is a âsingle, data-driven view of the truthâ.Â
Often, companies waste hundreds of hours comparing data from sources that seem identical but display differing numbers, metrics, and conclusions.Â
âSomebody understands something one wayâ, Davies said, âand somebody else understands it another. We canât run businesses like that. We need to have consistencyâ.Â
As a leader who has worked across international boundaries and cultural norms, he knows firsthand the importance of a common language.
To centre Abellioâs operations around trusted data, Davies developed and implemented a strategy to provide level-two data analytics within the companyâs operations, engineering, and performance departments.Â
âWhat weâre really aiming forâ, he told us, âis not just the backwards-looking descriptive analytics, which say, âThis happened yesterday.â We want the diagnostic level, which answers, âWhy did this happen yesterday?ââÂ
For example, the Abellio team recently analysed the attrition rates of their bus drivers. In their industry, especially during a global pandemic, it remains highly difficult to retain employees.
 âWe looked at what affected those attrition ratesâ, Davies said, âto try to find out what commonalities the leavers hadâ.Â
While correlation does not imply causation, the company found that bus drivers who lived further away from the Depot left much more frequently than those who lived closer. This enabled Abellio to target its recruitment efforts, effectively mitigating driver losses before further issues emerged.
In addition, Abellio leveraged real-time APIs that were available through Transport for London (TfL) and used cloud storage through Snowflake. The company put visualisation through Tableau, used Python for select processes, and relied on a broad suite of robotic process automation (RPA) tooling.Â
Yet Davies is a big believer in low-code solutions.Â
âItâs a horses for courses situationâ, he said. âThereâs no one tool to rule them all. You have to find the right solution for the right problemâ.
Working on Optibusâ Cloud-Based Platform
At Abellio, Davies is continuing to eliminate contradictory and confusing data analytics. To do so, heâs designed data flows from source to storage to visualisationâ obtaining quality data from individual silos and aggregating it in one place.Â
âWe put our metrics into a single storage space at the centre of our cloudâ, he explained, âand then we link those data sets together. We might talk about a bus over here, and a driver over there, but if weâre not joining them together, weâre losing both insight and valueâ.
Beginning the Digital Transformation Journey
Davies emphasised that the trajectory of a companyâs digitalisation depends on its situation. He pointed out that many transport companies are legacy companies with many manual processes.Â
âItâs all too easyâ, he reminded us, âto think, âOh, Iâll plan out this wonderful digital transformation thatâll include predictive and prescriptive analytics because thatâs the futureâ. But if you donât have your level one descriptive reporting in place, how are you ever going to make those changes?â
After all, as the pandemic has taught us, entire companies, countries, and cultures can change in a matter of months.Â
âStart small, but keep goingâ, Davies advised.Â
The Optibus Advantage
In 2020, new pandemic regulations meant that Abellio had to adjust rapidlyâoften on a weekly basis.Â
âWhat was really important for usâ, Davies said, âwas quickly developing schedules that reported when buses were running, how frequently they arrived, and when we needed driversâ.Â
The Future: EVs and Digitalisation
Abellio has no shortage of ideas for the future. Currently, about 55% of the companyâs 800 single- and double-decker buses are hybrid vehicles, relying partly on batteries and partly on diesel. By the end of the year, the company will almost double its pure electric fleet.Â
Said Davies, âweâll increase the percentage from 4% to 8%â.Â
As usual, the task will have its challenges.Â
âOne of the massive difficultiesâ, Davies admitted, âis that weâve got to maintain our charging schedules and build the infrastructure with limited spaceâ.Â
When asked how he thinks digitalisation will impact Abellio, Davies immediately focused on digital transport tracking.Â
âWe want to have buses that are well-connected not only to enable passengers to understand that they donât have to wait outside in the cold or the rain at the bus stopâ, he said, âbut also for operators to be able to maintain our vehicles at top-notch qualityâ.
Post-pandemic, Davies thinks weâll maintain contactless payments and move towards a cashless society, but that working from home will eventually transition to a hybrid solution: part-time in-office, part-time remote.Â
âI still think itâs critically important that individuals get to spend time face-to-faceâ, he said. âThose micro-conversations that you find in offices are really where the inspiration for ideas comes fromâ.
Why Optibus?
If Abellio UK has its way, those difficulties wonât stand in the way of necessary change. As Davies put it, 175 years of public transport experience has left the company with a social duty to its passengers.Â
As a result, Abellio seeks out dedicated suppliers, like Optibus, who clearly have a passion for what they do.Â
âOur company and our suppliersâ, Davies said, âhave the same aims: to create a sustainable future for public transport, the environment, and passengersânot only for the industry but for society as a wholeâ.
- 6 depots
- 800 Vehicles
- 16,000 employees
- 1.2 million daily passengers
- Modules Used: Timetable, Scheduling, Rostering, and EV