Since its founding in 1996, the modest, family-run charter and tour firm Beeline Tours have slowly expanded its presence in Seattle by increasing its fleet to serve an expanding clientele. Beeline Tours, which now has a fleet of more than 25 tour vehicles, is committed to giving its clients the finest experiences possible and fostering enhanced teamwork via effective communication.

As this company expanded, the management team looked for a means to streamline fleet maintenance, improve DVIR compliance, and lower maintenance costs to give clients safe and enjoyable trips. Well, Beeline Tours can now perform fleet safety and inspection checks, retain an accurate record of inspections for DVIR compliance, and enhance fleet uptime thanks to Samsara and Whip Around’s fleet maintenance software platform.

With Samsara and Whip Around assisting with their fleet management requirements, the Beeline Tours company aims to drive development throughout the company and continue to flourish in Seattle. We spoke to Jeffry Brennan, Director of Safety and Human Resources at the company, to help uncover how Samsara and Whip Around have streamlined their fleet management and increased their fleet uptime.

Beeline Tours Company History

Initially established in 1996 to offer daily shuttle service to nearby ski resorts, Beeline has grown into a full-fledged charter. They offer their custom touring business with a fleet of over 30 cars and a transportation staff of 24 drivers. Beeline is strengthening its roots in Seattle by providing various transportation services and solutions.

It maintains a strict family atmosphere in our corporate culture where all workers are treated with respect and appreciated for their contributions to the firm, even as we adopt and apply the most modern business processes and practices to assure our competitiveness and innovation.

The Challenge: Maintain Fleet Uptime, Reduce Maintenance Costs, and Improve DVIR Compliance

Although fleet inspection and maintenance have always been a crucial component of Beeline Tour’s operations, they carried out safety inspections and fleet management manually with Big Roads and numerous DVIR sheets before using Samsara and Whip Around’s fleet management platform. This tactic had been successful for them before, but it was obvious that it had lost its effectiveness. It became apparent that the company’s approach needed to change as it expanded.

An excellent starting point was seeing how fleet management software might simplify the procedure. However, Beeline Tours believed they needed to look at other options to reduce expenses while enhancing fleet efficiency. To help their clients, they sought to improve how they inspected, maintained, and recorded their data for DVIR compliance.

The Tools: Samsara and Whip Around’s Fleet Management Software Platform

The results were immediately evident when Beeline Tours took charge and overhauled its fleet management process. They found it much easier to keep every fleet maintenance and safety process in-house. Thus, providing efficiency and little overhead costs.

Beeline Tours can now simply sync and import cars and other assets through both platforms. They can also capture, manage, and assign DVIR defects and faults for compliance. They can then utilize all of this information to customize and schedule maintenance inspections thanks to the integration between Samsara’s IoT-powered Connected Operations Cloud and Whip Around’s Fleet Management Software platform.

That way, safety management personnel like Jeffry can monitor vehicle fleet hours and predict maintenance checks while maintaining fleet uptime. They can also carry out safety inspections much earlier, detect faults or impending faults and repair them before they morph into catastrophic and expensive repairs.

Beeline Tours and Whip Around Today

Today, Beeline Tours uses Whip Arounds fleet management software platform as its DVIR system. They are able to eliminate the difficulty of handling your DVIR compliance procedure with ease. With reports that have been time, date, and GPS-stamped, drivers can now stop slapping their pencils. Whip Around’s platform is built to comply with the FMCSA’s criteria for DVIR. This includes necessary signatures, the presentation of the latest inspection reports, and the closing of the loop to the driver regarding fixed problems. 

Additionally, Beeline Tours can instantly see where the risk is and simply locate any gaps in their DVIR history. Thus, enabling them to take the necessary steps to remain compliant. The platform also sends notifications and reminders to the business and its drivers to ensure that inspections are completed.

On the other hand, Beeline Tours uses Samsara for its vehicles’ ELD compliance and onboard video systems. They receive HOS and duty status records, GPS tracking, Wi-Fi hotspots, sensor data, DVIRs, document capture, and more with Samsara. Samsara’s Driver App adds ELD functionality to Android or iOS smartphones without needing expensive proprietary e-logging gear, lowering Beeline’s maintenance costs.

The Results: Reduced Maintenance Costs, Reduced Duplications, and Improved Fleet Uptime

To make sure that all of the tools the safety and management team utilize are integrated, Whip Around also takes advantage of Samsara’s API. According to Jeffry, one of the platform’s standout characteristics is its robust API, which enriches data, lessens the need for duplicate DVIR compliance records and documentation, and ultimately enhances the maintenance process. He also says that having the data mechanics and drivers on one platform creates a more precise starting point.

Samsara and Whip Around have helped Beeline Tours conduct its fleet management in a specialized and effective way. Compared to the prior paper-based procedures, these platforms enable Beeline Tours to manage its 30 vehicles. Also, they maintain DVIR compliance in half the time and with lower expenses and, in the process, increasing fleet uptime. 

With the aid of Whip Around and Samsara, Beeline swiftly learned about mechanical problems that needed fixing. Then, they can immediately create a repair order. With the speed and ease of a smartphone, they can quickly and conveniently transfer information from drivers to repairs. 

The Road up Ahead

Samsara’s and Whip Around’s platforms have been highly beneficial for Beeline Tours. There is still enthusiasm around the possibility of developing a thorough grasp of its fleet and designing unique, enjoyable excursions. The team at Beeline Tours is only beginning, but it already has grand plans to increase its presence in Seattle and offer efficient client experiences with a top-of-the-line fleet. 

Contact us today for more information on how you can also integrate Samsara or Whip Around’s platform into your fleet.