Optibus' OnSchedule equips transportation operators for the era of Electric Vehicles with seamless integration of electric buses into existing fleets

TEL AVIV, Israel, March 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Optibus, the leading provider of real-time operations and planning for mass transportation, announced today the launch of OnSchedule EV, a solution for the rapid and efficient deployment of electric buses, assisting municipalities and transportation operators in addressing the challenges of integrating electric buses into their existing fleets.

As cities throughout the world increasingly introduce electric buses into their fleets, they face significant logistical challenges – including time and frequency of charging and range. For example, a diesel bus takes on average 5 minutes to refuel and can travel 135+ miles on a single fuel. An electric bus, however, takes on average 3 hours to charge and may need to be charged at least twice a day to manage the same distance.

"It's not as simple as taking a diesel bus off the road and replacing it with a shiny new electric one," says Amos Haggiag, Co-Founder and CEO of Optibus. "Cities want to run more electric buses but are unable to implement as fast as they would like, due to the challenges of deployment. Municipalities and transit operators find themselves ill-equipped to address these new requirements as their existing planning methods are outdated, and often manual."

Optibus' OnSchedule EV ensures that operators reap the benefits of reduced capital and operational costs by optimizing battery charging times and locations. Optibus' proprietary algorithms factor in unlimited types of batteries, chargers and charging locations to create optimal battery usage for fleets. The solution integrates electric buses into the existing routes and schedules without negatively impacting drivers or passengers, and seamlessly compliments the existing transportation plan without any additional installation or IT resources.

"Electric buses and autonomous vehicles will rapidly change the transportation industry and scheduling systems will have to undergo a technological overhaul to quickly adapt and take advantage of these new innovations. With our cloud based solution, Optibus allows municipalities and mass transport operators to optimize their planning and operations, while using the latest technologies to enable a seamless integration of EVs into existing fleets," continues Haggiag.

"We're entering a new era of mobility, where new technologies are serving the transformation of public transportation," says Prof. Avishai (Avi) Ceder, author of Public Transit Planning and Operation and Founder of the Transportation Research Centre (TRC). "Electric buses are expected to become the standard within a few years due to their low-emission advantage. Optibus, using its breakthrough technology, is the link that helps traditional and conservative transit companies make the leap to the future in a smooth and cost-effective way."

About Optibus

Operating since 2014, Optibus was founded by Amos Haggiag and Eitan Yanovsky and is the leading vendor of city-wide mass transportation planning and operation. Based on proprietary AI and optimization algorithms, Optibus provides a dynamic platform to enable public transportation and fleet operators to optimize resource allocation and improve the transport experience, while saving their clients tens of millions of dollars annually. Powering some of the largest transit operators internationally, Optibus is developing the future operating system that will control and optimize multi-modal, flexible transportation within cities.

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SOURCE Optibus