FEEDBACK FROM JEREMY DUPERRAY, FLEET AND ONBOARD EQUIPMENT MANAGER AT BERTHELET

With over a year of partnership experience with Hubup, Berthelet has won new contracts on which our solution will be implemented, namely the airport shuttles at Lyon Saint-Exupéry since November 16 and the ski resort shuttles in Méribel for the winter season 2022/2023.

Jérémy, could you briefly introduce yourself?

Of course! I am in charge of Berthelet’s Fleet. I handle everything related to vehicle management, including purchases, sales, and a significant part of the onboard system, such as the Operations Control system, Passenger Information system, and the management of video protection equipment, etc.

Can you give us a quick overview of Berthelet and its activities?

We have 5 depot sites, with Genas being the largest one with approximately 100 vehicles. We have our SYTRAL contract with the TCL network, which represents 80 to 90% of the activity, involving around 80 vehicles. There’s a depot in Crémieu where we handle interurban activity, with around fifty vehicles. Another depot at Saint-Exupéry, with about ten vehicles, dedicated to airport shuttles, both on the runway and in parking areas.

Our partnership was established for a specific context at your end. Can you tell us more about it?

Yes, so we started working together on the TCL network, on the renewal of the SYTRAL DSP contact that we obtained in 2020 and implemented in 2021. During this period, we received the specifications, and we thought about a completely new solution with a desire for changes and innovations. The goal was to completely renew ourselves, to make a historic leap forward for the company because we were breaking a bit from the traditional approach. Before, it was really onboard equipment, pure and simple; a control panel focused solely on the Operations control system, managing the passenger information system with some issues.

The activity of Transports Guillermin (a family-owned business acquired by Berthelet in 2019) in Chimilin involves interurban, school transport, and a few urban lines. In Cevins, we manage the Méribus shuttles (now operated by Transdev Savoie) for the Méribel ski resort, with a highly seasonal activity, as well as some school transport contracts in the valley and day trips for the rest of the year.

In summary, we have 70% of our activity in public contracts, including regular school transport and lines for our public service delegation with the TCL network in the East of Lyon, as well as contracts with the region for school transport. The remaining 30% is related to occasional tourism-related activities.

We also have a site in Saint-Genis-Laval for the company N&M, focusing on professional tourist transport.

Regarding the strategy implemented for this renewal, would you say the objective has already been achieved, or are there still things to be done?

Yes, absolutely! We wanted to break the conventions and no longer just focus on the Operating & PI Assistance System but on both Operations Control system and Passenger Information system. Unfortunately, regularly in Operating & PI Assistance System, if either the Operations control system or the PIS breaks down, the entire system is affected.

Now, in case of a breakdown, if the passenger doesn’t have the information, our drivers still have the ability to get assistance from the operation, and vice versa.

Since you have already worked with Lumiplan on interconnections, and we work with them for all passenger information, we were able to achieve intercommunication that provides transparency for the driver. In the end, they don’t realize that Operations control system and PIS are now differentiated.

That’s why we launched a consultation in May or June 2020, and Hubup caught our attention. Digital was really emphasized to meet the requirements of the SYTRAL specifications for this new DSP with many more features.

During your review of the different offers, what made the one we proposed with Zenbus stand out?

Firstly, the technical aspect was a significant leap forward, both on your side and on the side of some of your competitors. The operation of the network is clearly analyzed, with a straightforward yet fully responsive regulatory monitoring. And let’s not kid ourselves; the pricing aspect also played a major role. You were very competitively priced, so that had a significant impact.

Great! So, the implementation was a bit challenging with the Covid crisis and the shortage of equipment that delayed deployments. We transitioned to the Hubup/Zenbus solution gradually towards the end of 2021 for our regular routes and the school segment. The entire fleet was fully transitioned to the new solution by mid-January.

To be honest, that’s somewhat our approach. The idea is to offer something that is functionally close to the robust but financially at the level of the lightweight. How did the implementation go?

How did you perceive the technical support that we were able to provide?

Hubup manages all the interconnections of the Berthelet ecosystem, such as ABC Planning data, Lumiplan Passenger information system, Effitrax telematics, Iris counting cells, etc. Everything went well since we managed to do almost everything. The only thing left is to implement the ticketing system, and then it will be good.

Simple, practical and light.

Can you describe Geolite in three words?

Thank you Jérémy for your feedback, and thanks to the Berthelet teams for their trust! We wish them a smooth journey ahead.