Optibus announced the launch of the Optibus Calendar, which makes it accessible for transportation agencies and operators to view and manage all of their operational plans, according to the company's news release.

With the Optibus Calendar, the company said its users gain greater visibility and insight into their operation and services. The interface offers a view of operational plans, special service days, and total key performance indicators (KPIs) such as costs, deadheads, distance, and more for their desired time frame. Service plans and operational details can be analyzed at all levels, be it a monthly or quarterly overview or a more detailed day-to-day view.

“With the Calendar, there is no confusion about services. It's all right there in front of us. It is simple and easy to use, which is just what you want,” said Paul Borthwick, operations and systems supervisor at West Coast Motors.

By viewing everything in one place, users take immediate action to improve services.

"The Calendar allows us to quickly see which schedules are linked to what we're going to export, which is super helpful for troubleshooting. Also, being able to just click the day, change the schedule, and go - that is a far simpler approach to special service days. This Calendar will really help our operation. I can't wait to use it,” said Joe Berry, data communications technician at the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA) in Pennsylvania, USA.

Users can extract data and plans using Optibus’ Calendar API and use that information to build reports and operational assessments.

"The Calendar is going to save us a lot of time and work by replacing our manual operational planning process," said Duarte Cunha, planning and operational control manager at Transportes Sul do Tejo (TST).

"The Calendar will allow us to improve the way we share schedule information in Optibus within the business and across departments. It gives other users access to the correct schedules and data, avoiding the need for the schedules team to always have to provide this data," said Alastair Willis, head of commercial at Abellio London.

Optibus said the Calendar was designed with operators and agencies in mind with the help of design partners and beta users worldwide, including Abellio (London, UK), Transportes Sul do Tejo (Portugal), Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority - LANTA (Pennsylvania, USA), and West Coast Motors (Scotland).

“People on the ground using the product are the ones who should be heard and involved in making the software. It has been great in every kind of way to be involved in Optibus' product development and shape the future,” said Paul.