Management of a fleet of public service vehicles
With its 3,000 employees, it manages a fleet of 700 vehicles (including 60% of car-sharing vehicles and 40% of business vehicles). Despite the apparent sufficiency of this fleet, agents regularly expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of vehicles and their inadequacy to meet needs.
Faced with this recurring problem, the mobility manager initiated an on-board telematics project in 2014 on a fleet of 100 vehicles, thus avoiding the systematic deployment of personnel in the field to monitor each vehicle.
Deployment of the solution
Implementation can be quick, but requires a methodical approach. Emphasis was placed on communication with employees, to encourage acceptance of the solution.
Once the debate is over with social partners and users, the solution becomes a tool that is fully integrated into daily fleet management. It must be said that this was facilitated by the installation of SoFLEET boxes, which went well during deployment at the end of 2023.
Faced with the growing complexity of public markets, the Lille Metropolis has chosen to go through theUGAP. L'Union of Public Purchasing Groups (UGAP) is a public industrial and commercial establishment (EPIC) under the supervision of the Minister responsible for the Budget and the Minister responsible for National Education. First "public purchasing center" in France, a player in the implementation of responsible purchasing policies which stands out for its objective and measurable CSR commitment and its operation in purchasing for resale (wholesaler role).
When you have a contact like UGAP, who has already done the job and done it well, you can be sure of reliability and comfort." This decision led to the choice of FATEC, GAC Technology and SoFLEET as complementary partners.
Multi-service use
On a daily basis, the solution serves both technical and administrative teams. The former ensures remote monitoring of vehicle data for maintenance and anomalies: “We make the vehicles talk directly!”. Managers, for their part, correlate this information with use cases and reservations.
This analysis revealed that a site had a quantity of underutilized fixed assets. Indeed, even if all the equipment was present, only 51% of uses were allocated to them, meaning that this equipment was largely underutilized.
Results and outlook
It is still recent, but it is certain that the uses that we make of it platform are valuable. In the future, we will be able to be more predictive than operational, by cross-referencing on-call schedule data with reservations, for example.
Based on his experience, he recommends a one-off deployment, rather than a gradual one: "We have to go for it! […] if we test on a sample, we spend a lot of time examining what happens on a few vehicles, and we don't make any progress." He also highlights the importance of having a person dedicated to analyzing indicators to transform data into concrete actions.
The place of eco-driving
The solution also allows the monitoring of theeco-driving, now a legal obligation in the same way as the road risksThe Mobility Manager, himself a trainer, is particularly sensitive to this aspect: "Personally, I practice eco-driving, and I had the chance this year to become a trainer. […] It is an approach that goes beyond economy and respect for the environment: it is also a safer way of driving, which reduces accident-prone behavior and therefore road risk."
The next developments?
There geolocation represents the next evolution envisaged by the Lille Metropolis. This functionality will serve three objectives:
- public policies (such as monitoring snowplows, for example),
- optimization of administrative resources,
- and improved operational management for more efficient allocation of teams and vehicles.
The final word
Thanks to the on-board telematics, we have succeeded in optimizing our vehicle fleet, improving the use of our vehicles and reducing unnecessary downtime. This project, deployed methodically and in collaboration with our partners, is now fully integrated into our daily management. It opens up promising prospects for us, such as the integration of predictive and new functionalities to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
About Lille Métropole
The European Metropolis of Lille (MEL) is a leading public institution in France, bringing together 95 municipalities and more than 1.2 million inhabitants. A major player in regional planning, it works in a variety of areas such as transport, the environment, economic development and the management of public infrastructure.
With 3,000 employees and a fleet of 700 vehicles, the majority of which are car-sharing vehicles, MEL places innovation and sustainability at the heart of its actions to improve the daily lives of its residents and meet the challenges of tomorrow's territories.
