Bus Service Management Platform
How we built a fleet and route management system for a regional transportation operator — tracking 50+ vehicles across 200+ routes in real time via AWS.
01 — The Problem
A transport operator running 200 routes with no digital system
A regional bus service operator managing inter-city and corporate shuttle routes had grown to 50+ vehicles and 200+ routes — but was coordinating everything through phone calls and physical timetables. Route changes were communicated verbally. Seat bookings were taken by phone. Drivers had no digital manifests.
Passengers frequently arrived at stops with no reliable information about when their bus would arrive. The operator had no way to see where any vehicle was at any given moment.
"We were running a modern transport business with 1990s tools. If a driver called in sick, we'd spend an hour making phone calls to find a replacement."
— Operations Manager
- No real-time vehicle location tracking for dispatch or passengers
- Seat bookings taken manually via phone — overbooking a regular occurrence
- Route scheduling done on spreadsheets — error-prone on changes
- No driver assignment system — replacements found through phone calls
- Passengers had no way to check real-time bus location or arrival time
02 — The Solution
Fleet management, booking, and live GPS — all in one
- Real-Time GPS Tracking
Each vehicle transmits location via GPS device to AWS IoT, feeding a live map in the admin dashboard — showing vehicle position, speed, route adherence, and ETA to next stop. - Route & Schedule Management
Admin panel for creating and editing routes, stops, timetables, and fare structures — changes propagate instantly to all driver apps and booking interfaces. - Passenger Seat Booking
Online booking with seat selection, fare calculation, and booking confirmation — with capacity management ensuring no route is overbooked. - Driver Assignment Engine
Route-to-driver assignment with availability calendar, replacement request workflow, and automated notification to the assigned driver. - Passenger Tracking Page
SMS-delivered link lets passengers track their specific bus in real time — seeing vehicle location on a map and estimated arrival at their stop.
03 — Tech Stack
Laravel + AWS IoT + GPS API + MySQL
04 — Timeline
11 weeks from brief to fleet deployment
Week 1–2
Route Architecture & GPS Setup
Route and stop data modelling. AWS IoT configuration for GPS device telemetry ingestion.
Week 3–7
Core Platform Build
Admin panel (routes, schedules, drivers, vehicles), booking engine, live tracking map, and passenger notification system.
Week 8–10
GPS Integration & Load Testing
Connected GPS devices on 10 pilot vehicles. Tested real-time tracking accuracy and AWS IoT throughput at scale.
Week 11
Fleet Rollout & Go Live
Equipped remaining 40+ vehicles with GPS hardware. Full route and booking system went live.
05 — Results