FEEDBACK FROM MATHIEU TURPIN, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR FOR THE MOOLAND GROUP

Today, meet Mathieu Turpin, Operations Director for the Mooland Group in Saint-Louis on the island of Réunion. Since the end of 2021, CIVIS has equipped its ten operators with Geolite, our ITS.

What is CIVIS?

The CIVIS, or Communauté intercommunale des villes solidaires, brings together approximately 185,000 inhabitants across six municipalities on the island of Réunion. It is the primary actor in the economic, social, and human development of the Grand Sud area of the island, managing ten operators for 180 vehicles.

The Transportation & Innovative Mobility Department of CIVIS organizes public transportation networks, including regular lines, school transport, and extracurricular transport. It has enlisted the services of Transports Mooland, among others, to ensure school services.

Can you present the organization of the school transport ecosystem of CIVIS?

The school transport market is organized into two segments. We have a coordination market led by SEMITTEL and an operational market for which Transports Mooland is the representative.

What is an ITS?

In a few words, it is the link between operations and the bus transport network. It enables real-time management of the transport network, particularly to ensure the regularity of vehicles in operation. The tool has interfaces for drivers, operators, and passengers. It allows drivers to precisely know the bus’s location with advance/delay compared to the theoretical schedules.

The operator, in turn, can visualize the positions of vehicles in their network, perform regulatory maneuvers, and obtain statistics on their network.

Finally, the passenger receives real-time information about positions through various channels (on the bus, at stops, on a dedicated app, etc.).

The consortium consists of eight companies, including a group a taxi drivers who provide school services with nine-seater vehicles. The market operates vehicles ranging from 9 to 55 seats across the entire CIVIS territory.

We transport approximately 10,000 students daily, taking into account those using the urban network, which amounts to around 186 school services across the entire territory.

How did the integration for the Geolite and Inlink solutions go, both for operators and drivers?

Currently, we use Geolite much more than Inlink. The integration was quick, easy, and automatic. We were even surprised, both on our part and yours, by the efficiency and functionality from the start. After that, we chose to internally manage the fleet of smartphones, allowing us to monitor driver connections and deploy any additional solutions, if needed, either at the request of the community or internally based on requirements.

Why did you choose our ITS?

We were awarded this contract in July of last year with the deployment of a vehicle geolocation solution. This solution was intended to provide public access, including real-time vehicle tracking, as well as the reporting of work units in terms of time and kilometers for billing purposes.

The combination of Zenbus and Hubup seemed interesting to us for two reasons. Firstly, for the public tracking aspect, which allows real-time vehicle tracking for the general public. Secondly, for communication with drivers and information feedback.

Despite the distance, were the setup and deployment of the solutions sufficiently adapter and easy?

Yes, the only constraint for us is the schedules. Otherwise, we did not encounter any particular issues with the deployment. Cyprien Moreau and his team are very responsive. On our end, the deployment is gradual because it is a very large market involving many stakeholders, so we are familiarizing ourselves with the tools as we go.

Regarding Geolite, we are raising awareness among drivers about the tool, and for Inlink, we will conduct training meetings. However, since the tools are very intuitive, someone who regularly uses a smartphone will have no problem understanding the functionalities of the tool.

Today, we use Geolite on a daily basis. It allows us to inform parents and students about the real-time location of vehicles, and to address various incidents and anomalies. There are still adjustments and points to review, but the teams will be working on them.

Do you still see the need for the tools?

Thank you, Mathieu, for sharing your experience, and thanks to the CIVIS and Transports Mooland team for their trust! We wish you a smooth journey ahead.