We had a blast at our first United Motorcoach Association (UMA) EXPO. Between meeting new people and seeing good friends, it was a great three days in San Antonio, Texas. A big highlight from the show was talking with customers and seeing how Samsara’s platform solves their specific business problems. Transportation companies shared how Samsara helps them increase operational efficiency, effectively coach drivers to improve safety, and lower insurance costs.

Samsara was invited to the EXPO by one of our customers, David Moody. Moody serves on the UMA board as treasurer and is the General Manager of Holiday Tours, a family-owned-and-operated charter bus company based in North Carolina. The company runs a fleet of 75 motorcoaches that provide private transportation services from short-distance charters to cross-country vacation touring.

Fleet Visibility Increases Holiday Tours' Efficiency

Moody, Metro Magazine's 2018 Motorcoach Operator of the Year, spends a lot of time thinking about the needs of the passenger transit industry and how technology can help transportation companies continually improve. Like many other bus companies who cross state lines, Holiday Tours needed an ELD solution to comply with the mandate. After evaluating several options, Moody chose Samsara to cover his fleet management and e-logging needs.

“I was impressed with Samsara’s interest in my thoughts and experience using their platform,” Moody said. “That shows me that this company is dedicated to hearing out their customers.”

In Samsara’s integrated platform, Holiday Tours has full visibility into their fleet with real-time location tracking, IFTA reporting, driver safety scores, dash cam footage retrieval, as well as the ability to see live engine fault codes and prioritize maintenance needs. Electronic DVIR and maintenance alerts save the team 5-10 hours a week, helping Moody make his operations more efficient. In several instances, Samsara's maintenance alerts have notified the company of a significant issue before the driver was aware of a problem.

“It was exciting to bring Samsara to UMA, and to show others what their platform can do for passenger transportation,” said Moody. “The industry needs to move forward through transformation and innovation, and I’m extremely pleased to partner with Samsara to move our company forward.”

Data Informs ecoShuttle's Approach to Driver Coaching

Lisa Holcomb-Krahl, General Manager and Chief Safety Officer of ecoShuttle Charters & Tours, shares Moody’s enthusiasm about how technology can bolster innovation in the industry. Holcomb-Krahl started looking for ELD solutions a few years ago to make sure the technology was in place and drivers were prepared by the time the mandate went into effect this past December. After researching dozens of technology platforms, her team landed on Samsara.

One of the biggest benefits Holcomb-Krahl experiences from using Samsara is the ability to coach her drivers through Samsara’s Safety Report. After deploying Samsara vehicle gateways across her fleet, she was able to identify drivers who were more at risk for a higher insurance premium and work with them on the specific areas that were bringing down their safety score.

“To successfully run my business, I often need to convince others that I’m making the best decision possible,” Krahl said. “Samsara helps me do exactly that with data straight from my vehicles. It's a plus to be able to track information and progress over time.”

Opportunities for Insurance Savings Attract Interest

A few months later, Holcomb-Krahl showed the significantly-improved safety scores during a meeting with her insurance company and was able to advocate on behalf of her drivers for better coverage.

Holcomb-Krahl’s insurance company, interested in finding out more, came by our booth during UMA to learn about the information captured by Samsara sensors. In talking with insurance company representatives, we learned that their analysts rely on behavioral data to create models for risk, and determine premiums based on their findings. Understanding how we calculate driver safety scores showed Holcomb-Krahl's insurance company how that metric can be incorporated into their algorithms. Not only has ecoShuttle Charters & Tours successfully decreased insurance costs by coaching drivers based on their safety scores, Holcomb-Krahl expects to gain more savings by working with her insurance company and sharing information from her Samsara dashboard data.

Thank you David and Lisa for hanging out with us at our booth, and for sharing your expertise!