Big Bus Tours Keeps Its Brand and Drivers Protected with Netradyne

Company Overview

Big Bus Tours is the largest wholly owned operator of open-top sightseeing bus tours in the world, with more than 30 years of introducing millions of visitors to iconic landmarks from the top deck. In the United States, the company operates across seven cities with a fleet of roughly 170 double-decker buses and a team of 182 drivers.

Operating almost entirely on dense city streets, those buses navigate constant pedestrian and cyclist traffic, tight turns, and thousands of traffic signals along every route. Because every vehicle prominently displays a recognizable name, each one may also be a highly visible target for claims. That combination of complex urban driving conditions and constant public visibility makes safety central to an operation that is accountable to employees, passengers, and the communities it serves.

Challenge

Big Bus Tours' buses are among the most recognizable vehicles on the road, and that visibility cuts both ways. A minor contact that knocks off a mirror can trigger an outsized injury claim, and a recognizable global brand often attracts opportunistic litigation.  

Before adopting Netradyne, Big Bus Tours relied on a previous camera system that captured footage but lacked the video quality and context needed to confidently reconstruct incidents. Claims investigations often depended on a driver's recollection after a stressful event, slowing decisions and leaving local teams without the objective proof needed to coach drivers or defend against questionable claims.

That technology gap became impossible to ignore. In 2019, as insurance requirements tightened ahead of a policy renewal, the company's carrier recommended a more robust solution. The existing system could not clearly capture critical details such as traffic lights, stop signs, or license plates, limiting the team's ability to establish the full context of an incident. As Kremen explained, "our workflow was more reactive, so we could respond to incidents after they occurred," but identifying trends and coaching opportunities remained difficult.

What immediately stood out about Netradyne was the clarity and completeness of the evidence it provided. On a single screen, the team could view vehicle speed and driver behavior alongside high-definition video that clearly captured traffic signals, stop signs, license plates, and other critical details. Recommended by the company's insurer and selected with input from its own team, Netradyne delivered the visibility Big Bus Tours needed to resolve claims quickly and has continued to expand its value to the organization ever since.

Solution

Big Bus Tours deployed Netradyne across all seven of its US cities, standardizing its North American fleet of roughly 170 buses on one AI-powered fleet safety platform. Each city runs its own day-to-day coaching, with Kremen serving as the liaison who ties safety, claims, and the insurance relationship together across locations.

The capability Kremen relies on most is instant access to relevant HD video for risky driving and incidents. Where the old process meant requesting footage and waiting, she can now quickly pull the exact clip she needs in real time. From there, she can follow the timeline to understand what happened after impact, when emergency responders arrived, and how the scene unfolded. Netradyne's fleet safety solution layers in speed, traffic signals, stop signs, weather, and driver behavior alongside the video, so an incident can be established with certainty rather than reassembled from memory. For Kremen, that hands-on control is the real gain. "Having control over the investigation matters even more to me than resolving a claim quickly," she said, "and the quick resolution takes care of itself."

Big Bus Tours also uses Netradyne to consistently reinforce safe driving, not only to flag risk. The company shifted toward a recognition-based approach, using the platform to acknowledge safe behavior and show drivers it works in their favor. Adoption was not the easiest to sell at first, since the platform captures both video and audio, and many drivers were initially hesitant. That changed as drivers saw the system defend them when an incident was not their fault and support them even when it was. “Their license, their reputation is on the line when they get in these accidents,” Kremen said, “and the footage protects both".

Results

Over the past year, Big Bus Tours has strengthened driver safety, resolved claims faster, and built a stronger culture of recognition across its cities. With instant access to contextual video, the company can review an incident and decide whether to defend or accept a claim the same day.

Key results:

• Fleet-wide GreenZone Score of 906 out of 1,050, Netradyne's recognition-based safety score, across all seven US cities
• Average following distance of 3.9 seconds, a strong safety margin on dense metropolitan streets
• Severe traffic light violations held to an average of around 0.05% across the fleet

The clearest value shows up in litigation. In one incident, the driver of a high-end sports car retained a lawyer almost immediately, alleging the bus had struck his open door and caused injuries. Using the inward-facing camera, Kremen was able to see through the bus and confirm that the driver opened his own door into the passing bus. The footage flipped the claim, and the company's position shifted from defending against liability to protecting the driver and its brand reputation.

The visibility is also changing how drivers work. Drivers press the driver-initiated recording button more, take more ownership of their reports, and operate with a sharper awareness of how their driving is measured. Drivers who were once hesitant about the cameras now count on them to tell the full story when something goes wrong.

“When I can defend a driver on video, or recognize them for something they did right, it turns their minds around. They see the system is there to protect them.”
— Anat Kremen, Risk and Claims Manager for North America

Next Steps

Big Bus Tours is working to lean more heavily on Netradyne across its cities and to integrate the platform further into its safety culture. The company has been actively involving local teams in its meetings with the Netradyne team, a change Kremen credits for the recent improvement in fleet safety. Looking ahead, the team plans to establish clear, measurable KPIs for each city so it can make fuller use of Netradyne's recognition and scoring tools. The goal is to encourage friendly competition between locations while reinforcing its already strong safety culture. The company is also exploring expansion of Netradyne fleet safety solution into its London and European operations.