Metroline Ltd, a leading bus operator in London, has started to deploy GIRO’s HASTUS software to meet all Metroline’s scheduling needs. The company employs more than 5,000 people and operates around 100 routes across the UK’s capital city. A subsidiary of Singapore-based ComfortDelGro, one of the world's largest passenger land transport companies, Metroline chose HASTUS as the result of a competitive call for tender to identify a flexible, complete optimization solution for scheduling, adapted to the London market.

As bus routes in London are regularly put up for tender, Metroline must compete on efficiency. The ability to use HASTUS to explore what-if scenarios and quickly produce efficient process-oriented solutions when tendering for routes was persuasive. Metroline also based its decision to adopt HASTUS on the software’s functionalities to automate scheduling and provide rapid, flexible, optimized solutions and all the tools needed to make final adjustments to schedules as required. The fact that HASTUS is a tried and tested solution that has been relied on by other members of the ComfortDelGro Group for many years, notably in Singapore and Australia, further supported Metroline’s decision, but the solution’s fitness for the London market was the primary consideration.

The contract was awarded at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, whose effects on passenger demand and travel patterns made the ability afforded by HASTUS to explore what-if scenarios and implement rapid, flexible, optimized scheduling solutions all the more important for Metroline. As the pandemic-related restrictions made on-site visits impracticable, Metroline and GIRO's teams adapted quickly to the need to carry out every aspect of their collaboration remotely. GIRO adapted its training sessions for new HASTUS users by making them more interactive to ensure effective exchange of knowledge in the virtual training environment.

“We are excited to use HASTUS and anticipate it will provide efficient and flexible solutions for our complex automated scheduling needs when operating in the competitive London environment,” said Andrew Hunter, Group Performance & Commercial Development Director of Metroline.

“We appreciate Metroline’s confidence in GIRO and our solutions to meet the needs of their London scheduling processes,” said Mohab Abla, GIRO’s Senior Director of Product Management, Expert Advisory Services and New Markets. “We firmly believe that HASTUS can be a competitive advantage for operators in optimizing their processes for responding to a high volume of calls for tender.”