Transport Products

Sizing the Fleet Package

This is a process adopted by L&A in organisations which combine a relatively predictable demand profile with the need for rapid response in a proportion of cases. It has been implemented in several police forces to provide the correct number of vehicle resources to match demand.

The challenge has been that, traditionally, fleet numbers in most Forces have been allowed to rise with each new operational requirement. Each group or department with its own allocation of vehicles understandably prefers to resource for the peak of demand. There is rarely a mechanism for sharing of like-specification vehicles between groups. Overall, this can lead to significant under-utilisation of vehicles which is now more and more being challenged as the need for efficiency and savings has grown. A risk-based approach can maintain or improve performance producing significant savings in overall fleet numbers.

L&A provides software to support the following process:

  • Understand demand in detail by hour and by location at Sub-Divisional/Safer Neighbourhood Team/Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership level
  • Model the response policing requirement first
  • Understand risk and variability in the demand profile
  • Take into account other policing requirements
  • Size the Fleet at District/Basic Command Unit level
  • Choose the most efficient transport option
  • Decide the type of vehicles required to undertake the duties

Once the initial adjustments to fleet size have been made, monitoring of resource movements within the iR3 decision-support package has the ability to lock in the savings over the longer term

Movements Management

L&A developed this package for organisations with unused capacity in their core transport fleets. It allows the fleet manager to become a transport manager, co-ordinating the use of spare capacity and saving significant amounts in short-term vehicle hire, in personal user mileage allowance, and in ad hoc travel using taxis or public transport. It provides clients in the organisation with a service desk and a variety of ways to book vehicles, with service level agreements for the provision of transport, and detailed reporting on their use of transport. If combined with the iR3 decision support package, it allows the transport manager to monitor the efficient use of the core fleet across the organisation.

Fleet Benchmarking

National Association of Police Fleet Managers
In 2003 the National Association of Police Fleet Managers took an initiative to implement blind benchmarking across the UK Police Fleets. It wanted a comprehensive group of key performance indicators from which the whole life costs of all types of vehicles in the police fleet could be calculated. It wanted detailed reporting down to the level of the individual vehicle, and the identification of best practice. L&A won the original contract, and won the re-tendering in 2008. The initiative was so successful it allowed the Police Inspectorate (HMIC) to consider using the benchmarks in the place of formal Best Value Reviews.

Web-based Benchmarking
L&A can offer a web-based service for an individual industry sector. Organisations can upload sets of data in standard format and L&A will provide feedback against industry norms.

PCO Decision Support

L&A provided a series of strategic assessments for the Public Carriage Office between 2006 and 2009.