Shuttle Bus Business Overview
Shuttle buses run between
Destinations (eg airport / seaport)
Addresses
The price of the fare depends on the area of the Address
The address may be selected from a list (for example a list of hotels)
Broadly there are two types of shuttle runs
Ad-Hoc - built as bookings are received - common with:
Areas with sporadic bookings
Private addresses
Route - scheduled runs
Some stops are made even if no booking exists
Strict schedule adherence
Bookings can auto-attach easily
Definitions
States of Operation - a shuttle run will normally only travel in a single state
Destinations Serviced - eg airport with address and terminals
Hubs are a grouping of destinations
Areas serviced for the destinations
ie Areas that do have a travel time to the destination chosen are not serviced
Services offered
normally a default service and an alternate service eg( Shuttle or Private Vehicle)
Customer Online booking and Payment
Planning Bus Runs
Drivers Portal marking onboard / missed
Delegations
to others (A need to Pay others)
from others (A need to Collect payment from others)
Customer online Booking and Payment
Customers are individuals making bookings using an online website after authentication
Referring organisations may provide a LOGO image to display to referred customers
The booking screen may be a single page - or setup as a stepped wizard
The customer may make a return booking and pay for it all at the same time
The payment is online and the booking if not paid is not retained by the system
Booking screen
The fields can be arranged in any order or as a simpler stepped wizard easily
Phone number is setup on the host company > Contact Types > Key = CUSTOMERHOTLINE
The customer will then receive a booking confirmation email with an attached invoice
If the customer logs in again and has an existing booking they will see it at the top of the screen - see the green line
The booking will then be ready for adding to a Bus Run
Booking confirmation email template
Email Template for the booking confirmation
Usage context = Booking
System Usage = Order/Booking Payment Receipt
Recipients Role = Customer
Booking Time calculations
Bookings use the following logic to calculate times
The destination must be on the booking
The address must be on the booking with a suburb/postcode
The date must be entered
A time is required
Flight or ship time
Booking changes
The customer has not been allowed to make changes to their bookings - they will need to make a phone call.
If a booking has already been paid for it cannot be changed
it can be cancelled and a replacement booking entered
Bus Runs that are a number of Routes
Bus runs have Legs and each Leg can be a route
Bookings will attach to routes based on time
Bus runs that are Ad-hoc
Bus Runs have Legs and each leg is TO or FROM a destination (or group of destinations where they are linked using a TAG).
Ad-hoc runs do not pickup and drop off at the same time.
Ad-hoc bus runs are common where there is not sufficient volume to have regular cycles. This is very common in the Shuttle Bus industry.
Planning Ad-Hoc Bus Runs
Ad-Hoc runs do not follow a schedule and bookings are commonly manually planned.
The Bus Shift is made up of Runs - TO or FROM destinations.
Bookings can only be appended to legs that support the booking direction and destination
Bus Shifts are offered with a right click on the booking
The logic for finding viable Runs within a Bus Shift
a) the Run is a matching booking type (inbound vs outbound) from the destination
b) the Run has bookings attached
c) the bookings pick up time <= the Run latest drop off time
d) the bookings drop off time >= the Run earliest pick up
e) the booking pick up time falls within the earliest pick up to latest drop off duration OR the booking drop off time falls within the earliest pick up to latest drop off durationif a Run is deemed viable but either the pick up OR drop off time is outside the earliest pick up to latest drop off duration, then highlight this fact to the user but still allow for the booking to be added to the Run
do not allow a booking of incompatible booking type to be added to a Run
A view of the day and bookings shows
Planned Bus runs (a combination of a driver and a vehicle with a from and to time on a date)
Bus Run Legs
Ad-Hoc runs = a group of bookings in a direction to or from a destination
Eg a group of bookings to the airport will be a leg
At the end of the leg the driver will indicate starting the next leg
The following bookings from the airport will be the next leg
Route runs = a route from start to finish
Eg a route may start at a destination (eg the airport) full of people - expecting to later end at a destination (eg the airport) full of people.
Travel around a series of stops
Drop off and pickup during the route
Allocated bookings (bookings already assigned to a Run Leg)
UnAllocated bookings (bookings that need to be assigned to a run
Bookings can be assigned or moved runs anytime
The Drivers Day
The driver uses the drivers portal to:
View their runs today and in the future
Confirm they have done a vehicle check
Start their run
Be shown the next address to go to
Mark passengers on-board / missed / or end of leg
Back to 4 until day is finished
Payment of Referrals
A Referrer is captured on the booking - the referrer is to be paid the % entered on the Supplier Card
Changes to the % requires Secure Features
Changes to the rating require Secure Features
End to End flow of a shuttle booking
The system include full financials (GL/AP/AR etc)
Pricing logic
Each customer may use a different pricing logic - below is an example