A leading South-Yorkshire-based coach-hire company have credited Merridale’s fuel management system for its usability when reflecting on their transition to digital reporting.
Linburg Bus & Coach, who have depots in Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham, have been using Merridale’s equipment and software since upgrading their systems in 2013. Before this, they relied only on handwritten accounts of their fuel usage in order to track and report on their fleet of over 40 buses and coaches.
“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.
“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.”
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.
FuelWorks has become increasingly popular with Merridale’s current customers. Due to its ability to be accessed through a web browser on any device FuelWorks gives the user complete flexibility and accessibility, eliminating the need for the software to be installed on a limited number of nominated devices. As well as FuelWorks, Merridale also offer other great packages to suit businesses who prefer to work on a closed network basis or only require access on certain computers.
When asked about Linburg’s transition to FuelWorks, John said “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 management system in place.”
