Q&A
A Navistar dealer service manager reviews the OnCommand Connection Fleet
Dashboard that provides overviews of vehicle fault codes and service records.
Uptime Trish Reed, vice president and GM of IC Bus, discusses the importance of vehicle diagnostics for maintenance staff
I
n December, Forbes published an article that looked at how Saratoga Springs City School District in upstate New York is us- ing fleet telematics to increase student safe-
ty. And as a result the district is saving money by increasing vehicle up-time by monitoring vehicle performance in real-time. Saratoga Springs uses the OnCommand Connection solution from IC Bus, where “uptime” is a company credo. OCC is one of many tools now available to fleet managers when purchasing new school buses, no matter the brand. We recently caught up with Trish Reed, vice president and general manager of IC Bus, to discuss what telematics and real-time trans- mission of fault codes mean for the next-generation of school bus maintenance.
School Transportation News: IC Bus launched On- Command Connection at the STN EXPO last summer, and it was made standard for free on IC Bus models, correct? What kind of feedback is Navistar receiving
44 School Transportation News • FEBRUARY 2016
from customers on the enhanced ability to troubleshoot engine or vehicle issues without added downtime? Trish Reed: Tat’s been only a short time,
but we still have over 5,000 buses connected. Te biggest impact through feedback thus far is the ability for customers to know what is going on with their fleets via remote diagnos- tics without being on the lot (i.e., low voltage in the winter), and if a bus has some fault code appear to be able to quickly determine, via suggested actions related to fault code, if the driver can continue the route or if a substitute bus needs to be provided. Since IC is focused on remote diagnostics that support vehicle uptime and on-time delivery, this is an inexpensive solution to smaller customers or customers currently not using telematics. We also currently offer a rebate program for new telematics customers. When we launched the OCC in late July 2015 we offered and in December we renewed a program that offers new telematics users and
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