Maintenance Technology

    An effective and efficient maintenance program utilizes technology to provide the structure to schedule, track and analyze maintenance performance. Veolia Transportation has invested in the Ron Turley and Associates (RTA) maintenance system, extensively customizing it to meet our standards.

    The RTA software allows us to manage our vehicle fleet, track maintenance and inspections, maintain parts inventory, document fuel usage and vehicle maintenance history, and much more. We can also efficiently manage our back office maintenance shop through our customized reporting features, which produce a variety of useful maintenance-related reports.

    When a service is performed, the computer instantly updates the vehicle file, schedules future service, and resets the Preventative Maintenance Inspection meter. At any time, one can view a vehicle’s life, year, and period-to-date costs in labor, parts, tires, fuel, and a wide variety of other costs.

    RTA’s fueling module enables us to control fuel inventory and consumption by tracking fuel delivered to, or used from, each tank, as well as fuel dispensed from each pump or purchased on the road. The software allows us to automatically calculate fuel taxes. Miles and gallons are used to update PMI schedules and to provide information for vehicle cost reports. Updates to the vehicle cost per mile are calculated by the computer as fueling entries are made.

    The system goes beyond the basics to provide a web-based program to provide managers and technical staff access to performance statistics. We analyze time and material information to design performance-based maintenance plans that correctly balance staffing requirements and projected parts costs. Our system also provides Key Performance Indicators to track progress, highlight deficiencies, and benchmark performance.

    Veolia Transportation operates 9,000 vehicles in the US and Canada. Having such detailed information about the vehicles we operate allows us to calculate a better cost per mile for each vehicle type, and also to understand the various challenges of each vehicle in different climates and operating environments. Our clients get the benefit of all our knowledge and expertise in fleet maintenance and management.

    The goal: to reduce pollutant emissions by 8%.
    Veolia Transportation is committed to sustainable development, a philosophy reflected in our goal to reduce pollutant emissions by from our fleet of buses.

    Our Baltimore Paratransit operation makes 900 trips per day. In addition to providing top-quality service, the goals of Veolia Transportation and our client include reducing our carbon footprint and increasing both fuel mileage and miles between road calls. To support these goals, in 2008 we recommended Dodge Sprinter vehicles to our client, and went on to purchase 29 Sprinter cutaways to replace the existing fleet of 33 vehicles.

    We recommended the Dodge Sprinter vans because they:

    • Achieve 16 miles per gallon (2.5x better than comparable vehicles)
    • Emit 56% less CO2 per vehicle mile than competitive models

    The results were very positive. Fuel economy of the fleet more than doubled, and maintenance costs have been significantly reduced. The client was so impressed with the Sprinter vehicles that another client of ours in the Baltimore area ordered 13 additional vehicles for their second paratransit service, which provides adult day service.