West Oxfordshire District Council Benefit From Quartix’s Tracking System

Quartix has helped a council that uses their system to run their fleet of vehicles win an award from the ‘Energy Saving Trust’. West Oxfordshire District Council won the award because they have reduced their CO2 emissions by an estimated 17%, amounting to approximately ‘368 tonnes of carbon’ according to the Fleet Hero Awards 2011 judging panel.

West Oxfordshire District Council is a small local authority based in Witney and the reductions that have been made are particularly impressive considering their size. Fleet managers at the council decided to analyse in detail the ways that they could reduce their outgoings, in line with government cuts.

It was discovered that the council’s fleet was accounting for a high percentage of their carbon footprint, and with 91 vehicles, shrinking the carbon footprint would help the environment and help the council to spend less money.

These efficiencies have been made through a combination of the journey planning function on Quartix’s vehicle tracking system and through driver training programmes. Journey planning helps fleet managers to direct vehicles to the quickest route to their destination so less fuel is used and fewer emissions are made. Driver training programmes make employees aware of how their actions affect fuel efficiency and will hopefully prevent the appearance of ‘negative’ driving behaviours such as excessive speeding, braking and idling.