Ferdia Launches AI-Powered Co-Planner Bringing Automated Scheduling for Coach Operations

Ferdia’s platform is helping coach operators plan smarter, reduce dead mileage and boost margins – all with a single click.

Ferdia has unveiled a game-changing addition to its coach operations platform. This powerful new feature has been designed to take the complexity out of coach scheduling by providing automated and optimised planning.

“Co-planner gets to the heart of Ferdia’s dual mission to both simplify operations and help businesses become more profitable,” explains Håkon Sæther, CEO of Ferdia. “Similar systems have been in play for a while in other sectors, such as logistics and freight, and significantly reduce the amount of time to schedule a day’s work, reducing time taken allocating vehicles and drivers by up to 90%.

“Having seen the challenges coach operators are facing, we began prioritising solutions that can help reduce admin time, optimise driver and vehicle capacity and ultimately make it easier to drive profits. This led to Co-planner becoming a key part of our development roadmap.”

What sets Co-planner apart is how it empowers operators to connect sales and planning in a more efficient way. Instead of relying on the traditional linear process, where sales provides a quote and planners later confirm availability, operators can use Co-planner to create a more automated, circular workflow. Availability data can be fed directly into the quoting

stage, enabling sales teams to factor in capacity earlier, adjust pricing accordingly and reduce delays. This approach streamlines processes, improves accuracy and supports faster, better-informed decision-making.
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A New Era of Coach Scheduling

Ferdia first presented Co-planner as a proof-of-concept at Eurobus 2024. This early iteration (Version 1) automatically assigned vehicles to trips, considering core information of the trip and vehicle.
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Taking on board feedback from operators at the event, Ferdia’s developers are currently working to provide additional features such as advanced trip requirements, implementing cost factors and enabling users to choose objectives for optimisation, while ensuring the solution remains simple to use.
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“Technically the variables are unlimited and details are pulled through from the request made by a client at the time of booking, but you can expect to see things like differentiating VIP/executive/standard spec vehicles, and specialist features such as USB ports or Wi-Fi. The system will also recognise things like emissions specification or vehicle livery if this is a specific requirement for a job,” says Sæther.

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Co-planner is currently being used by a number of customers across Scandinavia and the UK, and these early adopters have already seen significant reductions in planning time – from hours to minutes – while maintaining full control and transparency over the generated plans.
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The additional capabilities were rolled out in August, and in the near future Co-planner will be able to plan drivers on both EU and domestic hours. It will also be able to recognise driver absence and vacations, and interact with the Ferdia Co-Driver app to monitor driving hours – the aim being to support compliance by automatically flagging if jobs need to be changed the next day due to trips overrunning and drivers exceeding legal hours.


Benefits for Coach Operators
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• Saves time at scale: Planning that once took hours – or even days – is now completed in seconds, freeing up planners and owner-operators to focus on growth
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• Reduces admin and error: Automating complex allocations cuts down on manual errors, improves compliance and ensures specs are met
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• Improves visibility: Operators can plan further ahead, spot underused assets and identify where subcontracting is needed – all in one place
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• Supports better customer service: With automatic notifications and accurate vehicle matching, customers receive exactly what they’ve requested, boosting satisfaction and repeat bookings
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• Empowers drivers: Early planning gives drivers visibility into upcoming work, helping them manage time and expectations
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• Enables strategic thinking: Insights from Co-planner allow operators to optimise fleet makeup, pricing strategy and operational efficiency
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• Scales with complexity: Whether running 20 vehicles or coordinating hundreds across depots, Coplanner adapts to support multi-layered operations with ease

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Key Features of Ferdia’s Co-planner

• Automated trip planning: With a single click, Coplanner creates fully optimised trip plans across a fleet, factoring in mileage, timing and vehicle availability
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• Manual control and overrides: Operators can accept all, reject all, or tweak specific suggestions – giving them total control over final decisions
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• Visual planning dashboard: A clear interface allows users to view bookings, unassigned jobs and capacity gaps across vehicles and drivers, with drag-and-drop flexibility and toggle views
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• Spec-based vehicle matching: The system automatically considers customer requirements like air-con, USB, Wi-Fi, toilets or emissions class to match trips with suitable vehicles
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• Dead mileage reduction: Co-planner identifies smart trip sequences to minimise empty vehicle journeys
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• Subcontractor support: Highlights where subcontracting may be needed and helps allocate jobs efficiently
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• API-ready platform: Built for future integrations with accounting, driver hours and maintenance tracking systems

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Built for Today, Ready for Tomorrow

Ferdia is working closely with its clients to deliver the full benefits of Co-planner, and plans to develop further integrations that make it even easier and more profitable to run a coach business. But while the Co-planner is a great feature in its own right, what’s equally important is the way it fits into the digital ecosystem of an operator, notes Sæther.

“Our ambition is to develop both Ferdia products and APIs that allow the exchange and flow of information seamlessly through our centralised platform, providing operators with the data, knowledge and recommendations to inform strategic decision making across every aspect of their business,” he says. To see how you can plan quicker and boost margins today, you can book a live demo in the form below.
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"Testing Co-planner this summer has been a game-changer for us. We’ve already seen how much time and effort it can save in daily planning, and the results have been impressive – smoother workflows, fewer surprises and better use of our resources. What excites me most is knowing this is just the beginning. With the upcoming features, I can see Co-planner becoming an essential part of how we run our operations, helping us plan further ahead and focus even more on delivering great service to our customers."

Mathias Højsgaard, Tide
Tide is the largest coach operator in Norway with a fleet of 200+ vehicles.