Lake Erie Transit
Real-time messaging and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) help LET increase efficiency to provide better service
Challenges
Lake Erie Transit (LET) provides fixed-route and paratransit services to the residents of Monroe County, Michigan. Outdated manual methods used to schedule and communicate with both fixed-route and paratransit buses slowed the service LET provided to its customers. LET needed an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) that would allow them to optimize their operation and expand their services.
Before ITS, the lead dispatcher at LET created schedules manually for both fixed-route and paratransit buses. For paratransit trips, customer information, including rider name and pickup/drop off location, was written on a card and assigned to a vehicle. Drivers would then create their daily manifests from these cards before beginning their run. Drivers and dispatch communicated over the radio, and drivers manually recorded all trip data throughout the day. LET knew these processes were time-consuming and error-prone, which hindered their customer service and prevented them from expanding. LET wanted to automate scheduling and improve communication to increase efficiency and provide customers with accurate trip information.
Solution
For the fixed-route fleet, Mentor Streets® Transit provides Computer-Aided Dispatch/Automatic Vehicle Location (CAD/AVL) capabilities featuring schedule/route adherence monitoring and reporting. Dispatchers can view all fixed-route and paratransit buses through Streets. Mentor Streets Schedule helps LET easily create accurate fixed-route schedules. In LET's 31 vehicles, Mentor Ranger® mobile computers work with Streets and paratransit scheduling software to enable real-time messaging, electronic manifests, and same-day scheduling.
Results
With the wide range of services LET provides Monroe County, they need technology that can increase their operational efficiency to give their customers the best transit experience possible.
Mentor Streets® Transit and the paratransit dispatch software provide LET the technology to take their operation to the next level. The ITS solution enables real-time messaging, simplified scheduling, electronic manifests, and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL).
According to Rania Alkhouri, Dispatch Manager and Scheduler at Lake Erie Transit, the system has significantly streamlined communication between dispatch and drivers: "Dispatch can send text messages to the drivers easily now using Streets. This means dispatch doesn't have to try to relay information to drivers over the radio." This real-time messaging capability frees dispatch time for other tasks.
The solution also gives LET the ability to track both their fixed-route and paratransit buses in real-time using AVL. They can see the location of all their vehicles on an on-screen map and instantly access a vehicle's status to see if it is running early or late. "We use Streets all the time in the dispatch office because it can always show you where the bus is. With this knowledge, we can provide more detailed and accurate information for the passengers about the location of their bus. This has led to a reduction in customer complaints," says Rania.
When speaking to her experience with the ITS implementation, Rania says: "It's been great. If I need any help [Mentor's support staff] is fast to help me, especially if I need answers to a question. I love Mentor's customer service and would definitely recommend working with Mentor to others."
Moving forward, LET will use Streets to plan their fixed-route bus schedules and eliminate their manual processes.
Says Rania: "The scheduling application will give us more information and more details to help us figure out where we have to move our runs, and which areas we don't cover where there are people wanting to ride the bus. This will help our ridership numbers go up."
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We use Streets all the time in the dispatch office because it can always show you where the bus is. With this knowledge, we can provide more detailed and accurate information for the passengers about the location of their bus. This has led to a reduction in customer complaints. 
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