Fleet Leader Interview with Herb Mullen of the Inter-County Public Transit Authority
Inter-County Public Transportation Authority (ICPTA) schedules more than 470 trips per day for paratransit customers within Chowan, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Camden and Currituck counties. Located in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, ICPTA implemented their Paratransit ITS Solution in July 2009. Herb Mullen, Director of ICPTA, shared some of the improvements his agency has seen since the implementation.
1. Were there drawbacks to the manual processes you were using before the ITS system?
A major drawback was man power. The only tools we had to manage routes were communicating with our drivers over the radio, randomly following them, or reviewing their manifest after they turned it in the next day. We had no efficient means of monitoring our drivers in real-time. The major draw back to the radio system was the overabundance of information that was being communicated between drivers and the office. We had drivers and the office talking over each other during busy times of the day; which made it difficult to ensure all communication concerning pick-ups, drop-offs, and route changes were being received by our staff. Implementing the Mentor Rangers solved this problem. Now dispatchers can shoot drivers the information and they can confirm they got it instantly. We don’t have to wonder if they got it, we know they got it. We can now manipulate and move trips around the driver’s manifest without having to involve the drivers, which is nice! It seems we’ve always had a few drivers that would avoid volunteering to assist others if there was a route delay and we’ve always had a few that would over extend themselves trying to assist others with their routes which could cause them to fall behind. Now the decision is made in our dispatch office by looking at our entire operation in real-time. This global, real-time view allows dispatch to evenly disperse trips to drivers throughout the day which improves route efficiency and customer satisfaction.
2. Have you seen a change in how dispatchers and drivers communicate?
Everything is more efficient. For example, before when dispatchers called a trip out to a driver they would announce, “The driver with John Doe, please pick him up at the hospital,” and hope that that driver heard it. That driver may have been on a bathroom break, assisting a client, or unable to hear the call because of other conversation occurring on the radio system. Dispatch would listen for the driver to respond with a 10-4, but they had no real way of knowing if the driver they intended to receive the radio transmission got it or if the 10-4 they heard was in response to another radio communication that could not be heard by dispatch. Now dispatchers send trips directly to the Ranger and the drivers acknowledge they received the trip instantly, which is a real time saver and a real frustration killer.
3. Has the new system affected customer service?
That aspect of the system has been wonderful. Before we would have to put the clients on hold and ask the drivers for an ETA. Now, with the Rangers, dispatchers can use the AVL feature to actually pull up a map of the service area and look to see where the vehicle is. The dispatcher can then say with accuracy,”they are two miles from your house,” or wherever they may be.
4. Where have you seen the most changes in your operation?
Improved communication and decision making. You don’t wonder who’s doing what or where they are. You can look and see where every vehicle is, who’s on board, and how fast they are going. Communication in this business is everything, if we ever get even a minor breakdown in it everything goes to pieces. The Rangers have definitely improved communication and route efficiency. We now have all of the information that used to take days to compile right in front of us in real-time, which equates to the following: better information to make better decisions that enable increased efficiency and, ultimately, improved customer satisfaction.
