Council tracks cleaning vehicles

Return on investment expected in one year

Aberdeen Council will track its vehicles in real time

Aberdeen City Council expects to see a return on its investment in just one year after installing vehicle tracking technology in its waste collection and street cleaning fleet.

The council is installing the technology in all its vehicles to improve the efficiency of route planning and increase the productivity of its employees.

The rollout follows a six-month trial in which the council identified potential savings of £300,000 year in productivity savings.

It will also install data analysis software to identify trends over days, weeks and years, says Aberdeen City Council business analyst Mark Ansell.

‘Our operation has expanded in the last five years because we are now focussing on more issues than ever before, such as recycling,’ he said. ‘Because of this, we have had to bring in more vehicles with different capacities and capabilities.

‘We needed a system to ensure the service we are providing is of the highest quality.’

The trial proved that the council could reduce operational costs by enhancing the productivity of the fleet through more efficient scheduling and route optimisation.

The council manages refuse and recycling pick-ups in the city, including residential and commercial properties, so the co-ordination of all routes is critical.

‘The drive to improve overall service quality is something that runs council-wide,’ said Ansell. ‘For the refuse and street cleansing departments, this means increasing the efficiency of our operations and also reducing the cost.’

The council chose Fleetstar-Online vehicle tracking technology from Cybit, an internet based system that provides real-time vehicle tracking, exception reporting, customised reports, mileage information and live traffic information.

Vehicles are fitted with a small electronic in-vehicle-unit, which is tracked by GPS in real-time and then transmits data to Cybit’s online control centre. Information can be accessed via a standard web browser.