Overview
La Linea, a prominent Italian public transportation operator, is collaborating closely with Optibus to revolutionize their operations in the Venice region and integrate a 100% electric vehicle fleet to create a greener future for their city. This case study explores how La Linea SpA used Optibus’ end-to-end Planning, Scheduling, Rostering, and Operations software products to achieve remarkable efficiency gains (+2.7%), reduce 358 kilometers of daily deadhead mileage, decrease peak vehicle requirement by 14.75%, and pave the way for sustainable transportation while maintaining service quality.
Background
La Linea SpA manages two million kilometers of public transport services in the Venice area every year and also operates in other areas such as Verona, Schio, Belluno, and Trieste. In order to offer the best possible service in the Venice region, it has purchased 21 electric vehicles for a total value of approximately 8.5 million euros, convinced that the time has come for transport services to move towards solutions with less impact on the environment.
Challenge
La Linea SpA faced two major operational challenges: transitioning to electric buses and improving the management of rapid service changes.
Transitioning to electric buses
With 40% of its fleet electrified, La Linea needed help to efficiently and affordably electrify the rest of the fleet and execute its blueprint for substantial fleet expansion in the coming years. In addition to fleet upgrades, La Linea also wanted to optimize the plans and schedules for their two million kilometers of services. Those objectives were out of reach with the manual planning and scheduling methodologies La Linea had in place.
Integrating electric buses into an established public transportation fleet presented a spectrum of intricate challenges. Beyond the initial financial investment, a comprehensive roll out strategy needed to address infrastructure demands, encompassing charging stations, grid capacity, and access to specialized maintenance.
Quickly adapting service plans
As a subcontractor for a public transportation operator, La Linea SpA regularly faces tight deadlines for adjusting services and running the subsequent re-optimizations. Requests for major changes can come with a lead time of as little as one to two weeks, and just one to two days for minor adjustments.
The rapid adaptability required to respond immediately to contractor requests, taking into account dynamic variables such as passenger demand, disruptions and traffic patterns, resulted in excessive costs for La Linea.
Solution
Seeking a more advanced solution, La Linea chose Optibus’ software to introduce new technologies like optimization algorithms, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence that facilitate EV management and increase operational and service efficiency while reducing emissions. The platform’s flexibility, speed, and capacity to seamlessly integrate electric buses into the planning and scheduling processes was a major draw.
Fast, easy onboarding created a streamlined operation
“We are thrilled with the speed at which our staff was onboarded to the Optibus software. Our requests are addressed by the Optibus staff with remarkable speed and precision. We couldn’t ask for more,” remarked Massimo Fiorese, CEO of La Linea.
Using Optibus’ software, La Linea not only digitalized their planning and scheduling departments, but also streamlined and modernized their internal workflows, enabling them to significantly enhance operational efficiency and allocate their vehicle resources in a much smarter way.
Using optimization to reduce mileage and increase vehicle efficiency
Using the vehicle scheduling component of Optibus’ Scheduling product, La Linea was able to optimize its vehicle assignments, routes, and schedules, which reduced deadhead mileage by 358 kilometers each day (an annual savings of 130,670 kilometers) and reduced vehicle usage by nine vehicles, a 14.75% decrease in peak vehicle requirement (PVR).
In addition, vehicle efficiency metrics involving fuel consumption, energy usage, maintenance expenses, and overall performance witnessed a notable 2.7% uptick through the application of Optibus’ robust optimization algorithms.
“Optibus boasts exceptional technology backed by a team distinguished by its technical expertise, business acumen, and industry insights. All of this helps us to work faster and smarter,” said Massimo Fiorese.
Conclusion
With its extensive operational reach, La Linea’s implementation of optimization algorithms and advanced technologies is helping to create a greener future for cities across northern Italy, be it reducing emissions by eliminating mileage and vehicle usage or transitioning to electric buses. These sustainable steps forward are possible when technology and transportation companies collaborate, and La Linea and Optibus are continuing to work together to ensure operational efficiency and service quality while La Linea works towards the implementation of a fully zero-emission fleet.
- 2 million service kilometers per year in the Venice area
- 52 buses (40% electric)
- Decreased PVR by 14.75% using Optibus
- Reduced 130,670 km of annual deadhead mileage
- Private public transportation operator
- Products: Planning, Scheduling, Rostering, Operations, Driver App
