Planning & Scheduling Solutions for Ferry
Integrate your ferry operation into a multimodal transport network and generate optimal planning and scheduling outcomes.
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Improve Ferry On-Time Performance and Passenger Experience
Compared to other transport modes, ferries have their own unique set of working constraints that impact planning and scheduling - such as how many staff are required to operate vessels, on water and dry dock maintenance, and extreme weather events. Each ferry requires a qualified Captain, and its size will determine how many deckhands are required for a safe and reliable operation.
Accurate timetables and rosters create schedules that bring success to a ferry operation. The ability to easily match crew qualifications to your ferry services is crucial. Ferry planning and scheduling must consider several issues to meet regulatory compliance, meet service level requirements, and stay within set operating budgets to deliver better passenger experiences.
With a planning and scheduling software solution tailor-made for ferries and multimodal transport networks, ferry operators and transport authorities can leverage large, comprehensive, and accurate datasets to create efficient schedules – determining running costs, and eventually, business viability. Scenario modelling anticipates and provides a plan for numerous events, which output multiple cost outcomes – delivering data that improves services and increases operational efficiency.
Find out how Trapeze Group helped Donric Group deliver Melbourne’s rail replacement services with our Austrics solution and professional services support.
Work Within a Single Planning Platform
Enhance the ferry customer experience by providing efficient and on-time services. Produce accurate planning and scheduling data which can be transferred into customer-facing apps and information displays to provide a better passenger experience.
The Trapeze Planning and Scheduling software delivers vigorous, purpose-built algorithms that analyse large data volumes quickly and efficiently to generate effective timetables, rosters, and services.
Trapeze Ferry Planning & Scheduling Capabilities
Optimise ferry crew, fleets, rosters and network planning for maximum efficiency and customer convenience.
Route Planning
Create and amend ferry routes and services swiftly based on changing requirements. Define ferry routes with start, intermediate and end stops. Determine the nautical mileage for each ferry service and define important data such as ferry berthing and maintenance/layover locations.
Fleet Planning & Scheduling
The solutions’ capability to effectively schedule your personnel will have a major bearing on the costs of your ferry operation. Easily generate your ferry timetable and integrate operational preferences to produce the best possible ferry schedules. Optimise your fleet and quickly revise ferry schedules based on unforeseen and unplanned events.
Ferry Crew Optimisation
Easily and quickly build ferry and crew schedules according to shift types (e.g. morning, afternoon, evening), pay rules, awards and enterprise bargaining regulations. Integrate ferry schedules with other transport modes like bus, rail and tram to meet scheduling requirements. Set up operational rules for different employees, e.g. Captains, deckhands, maintenance crews.
Roster Planning
Create individual rosters for various staff types such as Captains & deckhands, using different working rules. Develop multiple rosters and optimise long-term costs using interactive modules. Edit and update employee leave automatically or manually. Validate completed rosters and undertake manual adjustments if required. Optimise personnel shift times to create balanced workloads and prevent overlap.
Fatigue Management
Make planning and scheduling outputs comply with fatigue guidelines and legislative requirements - without impacting service delivery or business performance. Incorporate conditions such as shift time and length, meal breaks, vessel qualifications and rosters. Also, meet enterprise agreements and other requirements.
Integrated Data
Work within a centralised platform and eliminate data double-handling. Integrate individual Trapeze modules with your existing systems and operations, or select multiple functions for a complete enterprise system – a single source of truth. Simplify ferry operations and timetables using crew scheduling and rostering tools.
How Trapeze helps key ferry stakeholders
A tailor-made planning and scheduling tool for ferries delivers benefits across multiple business roles.
Scheduling
Automate complex ferry scheduling tasks and react quickly to last-minute changes and incidents. Simplify scheduling tasks by integrating staff preferences, rules, awards, and enterprise bargaining agreements.
Human Resources
Create roster visibility and balanced workloads for crews that meet industry guidelines and compliance thresholds. Easily access accurate rosters to manage staff schedules and source information that is managed digitally, legally verifiable, and auditable.
Maintenance
Leverage planning and scheduling insights to ensure ferry availability for daily operations, including peak services. Take account of maintenance activities for land and water-based infrastructure, including ferries, maintenance barges, mooring facilities, and dry dock overhauls.
Authorities
Provide accurate, up to date information for passenger apps, displays and timetables in real-time. Export data directly to third-party applications and transport operators to meet data management and data-sharing requirements.
Operators
Optimise ferry resources and meet service level requirements. Manage your vehicle deployment levels strictly and understand your nautical mile cost and running costs by vessel type.
Executive Management
Create statistical reports on-demand to gain clear views of business performance that enable major decisions to be made with confidence. Undertake analysis to identify ferry fleet performance improvement, and opportunities to introduce efficiencies and innovations.
Customer Testimonials
“We saved somewhere around $100,000 a year by looking at our schedules, moving a few things around and changing relief points, and it was sort of a day’s work.”
Elliott Agate, Planning & Logistics Manager
Howick & Eastern Buses, New Zealand
“I don’t think there’s anything much better out there. It’s a brilliant system and I’d certainly recommend it to anyone in the bus or tram industry.”
Steve O’Callaghan, General Manager Network Planning
Ventura Bus Lines, Australia
“By using Trapeze software we have brought down the manpower cost by almost 4%.”
OP Gupta, General Manager
Brihan-Mumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking, India
“We have been using the Trapeze Planning & Scheduling software and Enterprise Resource Planning system in Western Australia and South Australia for over 20 years.”
Jonathan Cook, Managing Director
Keolis Downer, Australia
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