Linburg Bus & Coach, who have been using Merridale’s fuel management system since 2013, have credited its usability when reflecting on their transition to digital reporting. Before the systems were installed at their depots in Sheffield and Derby, they relied on handwritten accounts of their fuel usage.
“We kept paper on each coach for drivers to log fuel purchases and odometer readings. We’d manually calculate overall costs and MPGs, but it was time consuming and open to human error because we usually only had diesel-soaked scraps of paper with blurred ink to go by.” explained company director John Hadaway.
As part of the upgrade, which included a Merridale Auditor GX management system and vehicle mounted vLink identification, Linburg chose to use Merridale’s web-based software FuelWorks. With this, users can access data from any device connected to the internet and export reports as spreadsheets if required.
“Initially, the thought of moving to FuelWorks was almost intimidating but I quickly found it simple to use and navigate. I only needed a very short time to see that I wouldn’t really need instructions at all. It’s so easy to use!”
FuelWorks allows multiple users to report on and monitor their environmental impact, fuel usage, costs and vehicle performance across multiple sites or tanks. It also has the capability to monitor tank levels and predict low stock, with email alerts being sent in such events.
“I can’t think of a time I’ve looked at our reports and wished FuelWorks could tell me something more. It seems to cover everything. It’s great having access on any device too, rather than being limited to a single computer. Since making the jump from a written log, I can’t see why any company with a fleet of coaches wouldn’t have a Merridale fuel management system in place.”
