Case Study: Harrow Council achieves £300,000 annual savings and improved Special Needs Transport with Ordnance Survey

Harrow Council - Customer Case Study

Harrow Council faced an inefficient Special Needs Transport (SNT) service—95 vehicles, 320 staff and extensive use of hired vehicles and agency escorts—so needed to remove unnecessary trips, optimise routes and reduce costs. Working with Ordnance Survey (and partners), Harrow used Ordnance Survey’s OS MasterMap (Topography and ITN layers) alongside transport-planning tools to support a single-fleet, single-workforce approach to route optimisation.

By feeding Ordnance Survey’s ITN and address data into the back-office planning system, Harrow redefined optimal routes, cut the fleet by seven buses, and reduced nearly 100,000 miles driven. The project delivered roughly £290,000 in annual savings (projected £980,000 over ten years), about £11,000 in fuel savings, fewer hire vehicles and agency staff, and lower carbon emissions—benefits enabled by Ordnance Survey’s data-driven route optimisation.

Harrow Council

Ghan Varsani

Programme Director