Busassist has a fluid design which is highly responsive so it can run on your computer, smartphone or tablet without any glitches. Navigating the system is fairly easy for new timers as it can be done even with little or no training. We have included only the stuff that works and has been crafted to the needs of the bus industry whether you are a big bus operator or a small start-up. Below are some of the comprehensive features included in the Busassist web based system;

Supplier Registration

Creating a supplier account is easy and quick using our registration page that is on the home page of Busassist. The critical fields are the ones marked with an asterisk (*) and if you are in a hurry you can complete the rest when you have logged in your account. After you have completed the registration form, the administrator will verify the information before he can activate your account. The process should take 5 minutes to an hour, once your account has been activated you will get a notification email and you then proceed to login. The process of verifying is important in maintaining confidentiality of information contained in Busassist system.

N.B Suppliers have no access to communicate together in the system as their records are always kept hidden from each other. In cases where a supplier sends a sub hire or empty leg it goes to the administrator who will then share the itinerary details with other suppliers but not the name or contact details of the sender. This is the same case as when a supplier receives a request for a sub hire or an empty leg, it’s the administrator who will then contact the supplier.

The Dashboard

As soon as you login to your supplier account, you will have full access to a wide range of widgets on the left hand side and menu links on the right side that you can use to easily and quickly navigate through the system. All the pages, buttons and widgets are in simple English to make it easier understand their functionality.

Empty Legs

An empty leg is when a bus runs from the drop off point to its original destination without passenger.

• Add empty legs to fulfil your capacity and earn revenue on empty legs-Bus Assist allows you to post those empty legs to other suppliers via the administrator so you’re your bus doesn’t run empty on its way back.
• Bid on filling empty legs for other suppliers-You can also receive empty legs requests that are sent by other suppliers via emails and if you are interested you can respond to them via the administrator stating how much it will cost.

Sub Hires

This module allows you to reserve a bus for your clients even when you know that all your buses are fully booked. Here’s how it works;

• Post sub hire requests to get quotes from other suppliers-If a client calls requesting a bus you can instantly post a sub hire request to the administrator and all other suppliers will receive it so that they can give you their own quotations for the trip.
• Accept sub hire bids in the system-You can also receive sub hire requests from other suppliers who need a bus or buses yet there are fully booked.
• Sub hire allows you to view other supplier sub hire requests to bid and get extra bookings for your fleet

Fleet Manager and Bookings Manager

Effective vehicle / driver scheduling and rostering can have a dramatic impact on your businesses bottom line. If you have expensive assets (vehicles and drivers) sitting idly around, it’s true you are only spending money with no material benefit. Planning your schedules and rosters is therefore of great importance. Busassist makes it easy for you to:-

• See which vehicles are available and which vehicles are currently employed elsewhere and this becomes easy when you use these two module (Fleet and Bookings Manager)
• Amend the roster anytime in case a driver calls in absent or a vehicle requires emergency maintenance or the trip times or dates have been changed by the client.
• The above functionality is typically not suitable for pen and paper or simple excel spreadsheet type solutions. You need something more flexible and robust. Bus Assist has the answer with its fleet and bookings manager modules.

Bookings Manager’s Daily and weekly bookings/ schedules…

Allows you to see which days are booked, by who, to where, the bus and the driver who will be driving. You can then plan ahead knowing the capacity that you are utilising in your fleet, this also gives you a general overview whether you should accept sub hires from other suppliers or considering an empty leg way before the due date of the trip.

SOS SMS

You can send an SOS sms on breakdowns or critical assistance to other suppliers when you are in need of urgent assistance. SOS sends an sms to the administrator of Bus Assist and this will be received by other suppliers as an email, other suppliers in the same area can quickly send you a bus in no time. This service reduces the amount of time that your customers have to wait while you find a bus and get it driven to that location.

The list of message you received and the ones sent are also kept safe in the messages module and you can always refer back to them whenever you need them.

CLIENT MANAGEMENT

Allows you to enter the details of each client that you have. You can also use the contact information to market to your customer base about new services or special offers. Imagine being able to send an email to all of your past customers wishing them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and keep your business in the front of their decision making process for less and a few pence in time and energy.

Hints. We recommend that you get as much information from the customer as possible when they ask for a quote. It not only makes searching for those customers in the future easier but also allows you to build up a picture of your customer bases needs and also a marketing list for the future in case you need to drum up additional business.

QUOTES MANAGER

All quotes are saved and logged in the system and can be recalled at any time through the powerful search tools. You can also accept quotes and turn them into work requests and then assign drivers and vehicles to ensure that all of your work is covered.

Preferred suppliers

Allows you to limit the suppliers who you want to deal with within the system.