Motus Rostering: a graphical tool for bus drivers management

Bus drivers have an extremely flexible working schedule, with shifts potentially differing from each day to the other. Unlike office schedules that are mostly 8 hours long, from morning to afternoon with a lunch break in between, a bus driver shift can start at any time in the day, have any number of breaks in between and have any possible duration, from a few minutes to a few hours. Driving vehicles full of passengers is a serious responsibility and making sure the driver is in the best possible shape is an obligation of the employer, in compliance with the current regulations about rests. Nowadays this planning task in several companies is carried out by hand when possible and with huge excel sheets for more complex schedulings. The goal of this thesis is to describe the process of developing a graphical tool that assists bus companies in planning a fair and clean schedule for their drivers. This tool will also automatically validate drivers' resting times, duties distribution and coverage, overtime hours and fairness to evenly balance the daily and weekly workload, preventing some drivers to (unintentionally) have lighter or heavier shifts than others. Ensuring for drivers the best possible environment to work in is a solid starting point to have safe and on-time bus rides.