News 2008

FirstGroup Chooses Quintiq Resource Optimisation Solution

's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, June 19, 2008

Quintiq, a leading provider of advanced planning and scheduling solutions, today announced that it has won the contract to provide a comprehensive resource optimisation solution to FirstGroup, the world’s leading transport operator. Partner of Quintiq, ICT-solutions provider Ab Ovo, will play a significant role in the implementation of the solution.

Following a successful pilot with First ScotRail, Quintiq’s resource optimisation solutions will be implemented at all four of First’s rail passenger franchises, First ScotRail, First TransPennine Express, First Capital Connect and First Great Western.

The Quintiq solution will allow First to improve efficiency, costs and customer service by highlighting the optimal requirements for train units, drivers and crew. Quintiq’s knowledge based planning system allows operators a complete understanding of operational needs and constraints. For example, the system will, at the touch of a button, inform users: which drivers are authorised to operate on particular tracks; driver and crew contract and shift patterns, including driver breaks; and train unit characteristics such as passenger capacity.

“Having such information readily to hand is invaluable,” explains Victor Allis, Chief Executive at Quintiq. “When making decisions about routes, timetabling, staffing, trains and the cost First’s planners can use the Quintiq system and immediately test the quality of their possible solutions. The system is particularly useful for tactical and long term planning and indeed operational planning when revisions have to be put in place due to engineering works, for example.”

Leo Goodwin, Commercial Director at First TransPennine Express, said: “First searched long and hard for a single advanced planning and scheduling solution that best enables each train operating company to become more efficient. We were very impressed with Quintiq’s professionalism, delivery and ability to adapt to the specific needs of each of our train operating companies. Quintiq’s solutions will help each company deliver improved reliability and we look forward to a successful partnership.”

Victor Allis added: “We are delighted that the Quintiq solution was chosen by First as it offers yet another validation that our unique approach is adaptable not just to any industry, but also to multiple needs within an organisation. By combining our expertise in addressing complex planning problems with First’s planning teams’ years of professional experience; we have come up with a world class solution.”

Allis continued: “The competitive pilot deployment proved that Quintiq is uniquely capable of handling the complex business rules of any railway company. The Quintiq solution gave First’s planners complete control of the planning process, enabling interactive optimisation that combines advanced software with planners’ own skills to drive the best possible scheduling.”

About Quintiq
Quintiq provides advanced planning, scheduling and supply chain management solutions. The fast-growing Dutch company, established in 1997, offers software for planning and optimizing complex business processes throughout the enterprise. The company’s headquarters is located in the Netherlands and it has subsidiaries in Germany, UK, Finland, Malaysia, China, Australia, and the USA. For more information: www.quintiq.com.

About Ab Ovo
Ab Ovo is a fast growing IT-service provider that supports clients with high-minded services and products in order to improve their competitiveness. The company is an authority in the area of planning- and optimization solutions and offers innovative IT solutions based on ‘best of breed’ software’ or their own development technology TET. Besides this an impressive track record has been built around managing complex, large-scale and in many cases troublesome projects in past years. This is why the company motto is: “With our help, it can be done” Among its clients are companies and state institutions such as KLM, Schiphol, the Dutch ministries of Housing and Internal Affairs, Achmea, INHOLLAND University and several European railway companies like the Railion Group (the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark), National Express Group, First Group, EWS and ProRail. For more information: www.ab-ovo.com.

About FirstGroup
FirstGroup plc is the world’s leading transport company with annualised revenues of over £5 billion a year. We employ approximately 137,000 staff throughout the UK and North America and transport more than 2.5 billion passengers a year.

UK Bus
- The Group is Britain’s largest bus operator running more than one in five of all local bus services. A fleet of nearly 9,000 buses carries approximately 3 million passengers a day in more than 40 major towns and cities.

UK Rail
- The Group operates one quarter of the UK passenger rail network, with a balanced portfolio of intercity, commuter and regional services, carrying almost 275m passengers per annum.

- The Group is the UK’s largest rail operator with four passenger franchises - First Capital Connect, First Great Western, First ScotRail and First TransPennine Express - and one open access operator, Hull Trains.

- The Group operates rail freight services through First GBRf and operates the Croydon Tramlink network on behalf of Transport for London carrying over 26 million passengers a year.

North America
- On 1 October 2007 the Group completed the acquisition of Laidlaw International, Inc. the leading operator of school and intercity bus transportation, a supplier of public transit services and Greyhound, the only national provider of intercity coach operations in North America.

- In North America the Group has four operating divisions: Yellow School Buses (First Student), Transit Contracting and Management Services (First Transit), Vehicle Fleet Maintenance and Support Services (First Services) and intercity bus services (Greyhound). Headquartered in Cincinnati, FirstGroup America Inc. operates across the US and Canada.

o First Student is the largest provider of student transportation in North America with a fleet of approximately 60,000 yellow school buses, carrying nearly 4 million students every day across the US and Canada.

o First Transit is one of the largest private sector providers of transit management and contracting, managing public transport systems on behalf of city transit authorities. It is one of the largest providers of airport shuttle bus services in the US and also manages call centres, paratransit operations and other light transit activities.

o First Services is the largest private sector provider of vehicle maintenance and ancillary support services in the US. Providing fleet maintenance for public sector customers such as the Federal Government and fire and police departments it also provides support services such as vehicle maintenance, logistics support and facilities management to public and private sector clients including the US Navy and Air Force.

o Greyhound is the only national provider of scheduled intercity coach services in the US and Canada. Based in Dallas, Greyhound provides scheduled passenger services to approximately 3,100 destinations throughout the US and Canada carrying approximately 25 million passengers annually.

- In mainland Europe we operate some 150 buses in south-west Germany and, from January 2009, we will operate, with our partner DSB, the Øresund rail franchise which includes routes in and between Denmark and Sweden.