Golden Tours is an award-winning bus and attraction tour operator, offering experiences for visitors in London and various other destinations, including Windsor, Stonehenge, Oxford, and The Harry Potter Studios. The company’s extensive range of tours is designed to showcase the best that each destination has to offer, providing informative and enjoyable experiences for tourists from near and far.
The challenges:
- Need to expand coverage outside of London
- Provide dispatch centre with comprehensive overview of mobile workers
- Adopt a technology that would connect all teams
The solution:
- Group Communication as a Service (GCaaS) solution for seamless roaming
- Broadband push-to-talk devices (BBPTT)
- Web-based Airsys.Cloud dispatch application for coordination, and real-time information sharing
The results:
- Enhanced customer satisfaction
- Reducing carbon footprint with engineering connection
- Increased employee safety
- Remote asset management
Image Credit: Golden Tours
Connecting geographically wide-spread teams.
Golden Tours takes great pride in its commitment to customer service, making continuous improvements a top priority. To ensure the highest levels of service, they consistently invest in staff training and modernising the technologies they use.
For a number of years, Golden Tours Hop on Hop off open top buses had used a traditional digital two-way radio system to provide a connection for their bus fleet and ground teams around London, while their maintenance teams utilised mobile phones.
With the need to expand their connectivity outside of London and the request for their dispatch centre to have a comprehensive, accurate overview of its mobile workers, for both day-to-day operations and during an emergency, they approached their long-term partner, Radiocoms Systems Ltd (Radiocoms), to support their research in implementing a technology that would connect everyone.
A connected workforce.
To meet their requirements, Golden Tours made the decision to upgrade their communication system to a Group Communication as a Service (GCaaS) solution with Broadband push-to-talk devices (BBPTT). The new system, based on Airsys.Cloud with voice recording features, offered increased coverage, improved functionality, and connectivity with their control room.
Their field teams now use the compact and lightweight RugGear RG725 smart device, which supports them throughout their entire shift. The adaptive audio feature allows them to hear broadcasts even in loud environments. Additionally, their fleet of sixty buses are equipped with the M5 mobile device from Telo to support driver communication with the rest of the team. The devices’ display capabilities enable easier and faster ID confirmation and integration of work group contact information.
Both devices offer seamless mobile roaming via provider-independent cellular networks and Wi-Fi, and AES256 encryption to ensure that Golden Tours’ communications remain completely secure.
At their control room in London, the web-based Airsys.Cloud dispatch application is utilised to efficiently locate, communicate, coordinate, and oversee activities through street-level mapping. Real-time information and alerts can now be easily shared across teams, enhancing incident response and maintenance support timeframes.
“For many years we used a traditional digital radio system for our bus fleet and mobile workers. As our requirements evolved the transition to Airsys.Cloud with Radiocoms was seamless, working closely with us to deliver a new cutting-edge communications platform. We have better coverage, and improved efficiency – we would highly recommend working with Radiocoms.”
Kavin Arora, Technology Director, Golden Tours
Improving employee safety and efficiency.
By switching to the Airsys.Cloud GCaaS solution, Golden Tours has experienced improved team communication, boosted efficiency, and customer satisfaction. On a granular level, the BBPTT system has improved their ability to provide an enhanced experience for tourists, as they can now receive real-time updates, share information, and address concerns without delay.
Furthermore, the sales teams and tour guides now have an added layer of security and peace of mind, enabling them to confidently carry out their duties, knowing that help is just a push of a button away. The field maintenance team can also promptly address maintenance concerns and emergencies swiftly and efficiently, ensuring any downtime is kept to a minimum.
The voice recorder feature has proven to be extremely useful for quality assurance and training purposes. With the voice recorder, individuals can easily document important discussions and refer back to them later, ensuring accuracy and clarity in communication. Additionally, they can use the recordings for training purposes, allowing employees to learn from past interactions and improve their communication skills.
Moreover, the mobile devices can be modified and remotely updated, eliminating the need for them to be returned to a central location. This provides a cost saving to Golden Tours while enhancing device security and risk management.
“As their long-term partner, Radiocoms are delighted to have supported Golden Tours in their adoption of this solution. The transition to the Airsys.Cloud system has brought significant benefits to Golden Tours, empowering their ground teams, and heightening their level of security, and peace of mind.”
Terry Staff, Account Manager, Radiocoms
