Nexus is the Passenger Transport Executive responsible for public transport across the Tyne & Wear region.  Following a recent competitive tendering exercise by Nexus, eSquiggles was selected as the solution for automated data collection, job scheduling and reporting around a number of internal functions.  The Continuous Monitoring (CM) Team within Nexus is responsible for surveying passengers to gather information on travel patterns and concessionary and travel ticket usage. Accuracy of this information is crucial so that over £50m per year can be reimbursed to transport operators for carrying concessionary passengers. Additional data on information and infrastructure audits and punctuality checks is also collected to produce management information and performance indicators.

Previously, passenger information was gathered using legacy scanning technology and paper based methods. The solution wasn’t flexible, was time consuming and didn’t have the ability to expand as Nexus’ requirements grew.  Following a market testing exercise and subsequent tendering process, eSquiggles was selected.

Neill Davy, Head of Operational Support at Nexus, explains the background to the project. “Our CM team captures vast amounts of passenger data, which is not only fed to operators within our network but also to Government.  The use of eSquiggles will allow the data to be captured quickly and easily and has in-built reporting which should save us a significant amount of time per month.  In addition to Concessionary Travel information we had a number of other data requirements currently collected via pen & paper.  eSquiggles is flexible enough to allow amendments on the PDA survey forms and can produce new surveys to facilitate these requirements.  Once fully operational, we have the potential to capture additional information in our existing surveys which will provide far more meaningful information to the organisation and help us meet the changing needs of our customers.  eSquiggles will also be used to collate data and report on areas important to the public such as the accuracy of information, infrastructure checks and service punctuality. I fully anticipate our workload to increase once the product is live and we can incorporate work from other areas of the business that can benefit from quick and efficient data capture not previously available.

All data relating to routes, timetables, services and operators across all transport methods in the region have been uploaded to eSquiggles and trialling is set to commence in the next few months.  We anticipate a quick turnaround in investment and that the project will grow quickly following go live at the end of the year.”