Objectives of the service
Transport operators managing contracted bus, coach and shuttle services face a common operational challenge: the tools available to them provide vehicle location tracking without any analytical layer. Operators rely on basic GPS and telematics tools that show where vehicles are but offer no ability to identify patterns across trips or routes. The result is reactive, manual decision-making that consumes significant operational time and provides no systematic basis for service improvement.
The AIPASS feasibility study investigated whether RideTandem's operational data, accumulated over five years of managing contracted shuttle services, could be transformed into actionable analytics outputs through a scalable platform. The study also assessed whether such a platform would address genuine operational needs for the SME transport operator segment, and whether a viable commercial model could be defined.
The study was structured progressively: building and validating the analytics infrastructure internally, refining outputs through internal testing with RideTandem's operations and account management teams, engaging external transport operators to assess commercial relevance, and developing a commercialisation strategy based on the combined findings. The feasibility phase concluded with a validated product direction, a production-ready analytics infrastructure, and confirmed interest from external operators in the commercial product.
Users and their needs
The primary customer segment identified through the feasibility study is SME bus, coach, and minibus operators managing contracted commuter and student shuttle services. These are typically owner-operated or family-run businesses with limited in-house technology capability, relying on basic GPS and telematics tools such as Questar, Teletrac, and Wabco, which provide tracking but limited analytical insight. The geographic focus is the United Kingdom and Germany, reflecting RideTandem's existing operational presence, with planned expansion to other European markets.
Engagement with operators during the feasibility study identified a consistent set of needs:
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Structured insight into performance over time and root causes of underperformance, rather than manual trip-level review
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Clear, interpretable outputs that can be used without specialist analytical skills
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A preference for post-trip analytics to support planning and service improvement over real-time delay prediction, which offers limited opportunity for operational intervention
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A single integrated platform that consolidates fragmented tools for tracking, performance monitoring, and operational oversight
Three external operators participated in the feasibility study's pilot and engagement programme: Endeavour Coaches, Charlise Executive Travel, and Weavaway Travel Group. All three confirmed that the platform addresses genuine operational needs and that they would consider paying for a solution of this type.
Service/ system concept
The AIPASS platform enhances RideTandem's existing Hub web application by transforming GPS vehicle location data and historical operational records into structured service performance insights for SME transport operators.
Users can access dashboards covering a range of metrics, including delays, operational issues, timetable adherence, booking patterns, and driver performance. The system enables drill-down from overall service performance to individual routes, schedules, trips, and drivers, allowing operators to identify recurring issues and opportunities for improvement. It also supports analysis of historical operational data to identify trends and inform route and timetable optimisation.
The platform supports proactive shuttle management by focusing on post-trip analytics, enabling data-driven service improvement.
How the System Works:
The platform ingests GPS location data from driver smartphones, along with route configurations, boarding data, timetables, and vehicle and driver information. Each day, the system processes data from completed trips, validating journey timestamps and location data, and generating performance metrics. These outputs are stored in an analytics database and used to produce service performance reports and insights, which are delivered to operators through a web application.
Space Added Value
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology plays a crucial role in RideTandem's platform by providing accurate location data from vehicles in real-time, serving multiple critical functions.
Real-time service monitoring uses location data gathered from the driver's mobile application, enabling accurate tracking of trips against scheduled times. This data is shared with passengers and operations teams via the Hub application. The application implements data buffering and synchronisation processes to store location updates locally and transmit them when connectivity is restored, ensuring continuity of tracking information even when drivers pass through areas with limited network coverage in the small towns and semi-rural areas served.
Location data is an essential input for the analytics, enabling pattern recognition across different routes and conditions. Archived location data enables detailed analysis of routes and drivers performance, providing the foundation for recommendations and alerts. The historical dataset includes five years of operational data from services operated across the UK, containing location data matched against scheduled routes and times, along with vehicle types and capacity information which can be used to identify service performance patterns under various conditions.
Current Status
The AIPASS feasibility study completed in June 2026. The following summarises the project outcomes.
The end-to-end analytics infrastructure is operational and processing daily operational data. The ETL pipeline, analytics database, and Analytics API are in place, with further development focused on optimisation and integration into the customer-facing Hub platform.
External operator engagement indicated that post-trip analytics, particularly route and driver performance insights, are the most commercially relevant capabilities for the operator segment.
External pilot and engagement activities were conducted with three operators — Endeavour Coaches, Charlise Executive Travel, and Weavaway Travel Group — across February to May 2026. All three operators confirmed willingness to consider paying for the platform and provided commercially relevant intelligence on pricing expectations and adoption behaviour.
Commercialisation planning is underway. Pricing strategy development and market entry planning are the final outputs of the project. The platform is being prepared for commercial deployment through RideTandem's existing operator network of over 500 transport operators across the UK and Germany.
Prime Contractor(s)
