If you’re involved in public transportation, chances are you’ve probably heard some of the buzz about passenger information systems and how they are transforming the public transit experience for riders. Implementing a passenger information system can seem daunting, but with the right technology it is within reach for even the smallest of agencies.
This white paper clearly explains the technology agencies need to run a passenger information system, the various ways to get real-time information to riders, and how the system can be used to not only generate revenue, but improve customer service and satisfaction as well.
Kerr Area Rural Transportation System (KARTS), located in Hendersen, NC, transports more than 160,000 paratransit passengers a year on 42 vehicles. KARTS also provides trips to the cities of Durham, Chapel Hill and Raleigh. Their Paratransit ITS System was implemented in March 2009 and Rob Brink, Director at KARTS, shares some of the changes he’s seen since the implementation.
1. Have you seen a change in how dispatchers and drivers communicate?
It’s really night and day as far as the totality of the communication process has improved from tracking where drivers are and not having to radio them, but also being able to insert trips and cancellations and getting no-shows back. The biggest improvement is just the seamlessness of it. There’s things that can be done now that might have taken 10 minutes that can now be done instantaneously.
2. Has the system affected the complaint resolution process?
Dispatchers are able to focus more on the call, because they don’t have the radio noise in the background. Also, they’re able to give customers better answers when they ask where their vehicle is or how much longer their vehicle is going to be. Also, dispatchers are able to take care of customer’s needs more immediately because if somebody calls and says they are ready to be picked up, the dispatcher can go ahead and just send a message right out to the driver while that customer is still on the phone. This has reduced customer wait times.
3. Has the system affected on your fleet’s on-time performance?
Definitely in the way that we are able to track it. Before we had this system, there was no real-time data to base our on-time performance off of. Also, with the real-time functionality we now can see if the driver is falling behind and assist them in keeping on-time.
4. Have you noticed any environmental benefits to using the system?
We probably use 25% of the paper we were using prior to the system. Before, we were running a detailed manifest for all the drivers which were about 10-20 page documents. We’ve reduced that to trip summaries which are only 1 to 2 pages.
5. Where have you seen the most changes in your operation?
The communication aspect of the system is the biggest benefit. Being able to communicate with all drivers at one time, seamlessly, is very valuable. Not having to key up the radio and announce to everyone on the vehicles what’s going on and being able to send drivers those messages, move trips and cancel trips, has really been the biggest benefit.
Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) transports over 21 million passengers throughout the city of Hamilton, Ontario each year and their 217 vehicles serve over 3,000 bus stops. Recently, HSR implemented ITS technology to streamline operations and comply with an Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) mandate requiring transit agencies to announce every bus stop on every route. Mentor Engineering is proud to have their technology chosen to help keep public transit accessible to all transit riders. Carol Wildeman, Senior Project Management for HSR talked to us about their technology implementation experience.
1. It seems that as a transit agency you really value technology and invest in it. Why is having a good, responsive transportation system so important to your city?
In days gone by, we have been at the forefront of technology, and we were one of the first transit agencies in Canada to have an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. Our previous systems were getting a little elderly so we were at the point where we had to reinvest in our existing system. We found over the years we could reduce a lot of our costs with technology. By adding ITS technology we now have a much bigger focus on the kind of information we can provide to our customers.
2. What features of the ITS system are your dispatchers most excited about?
One of the things they want to do is send our operational notices via text message. Currently, they write them out and post them on the board in the garage, but the problem is that not all of our drivers come into the garage so they never see them. This way, we’ll be able to send our notices out in real-time using text messaging so everyone will be able to read them.
3. What has been the impact of adding a voice annunciator to your transit system?
Certainly, the public likes it. With this technology in place we were able to go to the Ontario Human Rights Commission and say that we have a system, and this is how it works to announce every bus stop. We were able to give a report of how often each driver was on task. We were able to demonstrate to the OHRC that our system is up and it’s working.
4. How much resistance to the system was there from the drivers?
When the system went in the drivers by and large were all for it. They felt that this was being put in to help them, and without it they would be required to announce all the stops themselves. The fact that we made the investment to put in a system that would automatically announce all the bus stops, our drivers really saw this as a benefit to them.
5. What does the future hold for your organization?
I would say that our customers are looking for more information that is easier to access. We’ve been looking at adding wayside signs for our terminals. Customers are going to want real-time information from our IVR system and our website in an easy-to-handle format.
Are you trying to find ways to improve your agency’s on-time performance, streamline operations and increase customer satisfaction? With shrinking budgets and a growing need for paratransit service, it can seem like a daunting task.
Check out this free webinar and learn how ITS technology can be used to manage your day-to-day challenges while improving customer service and increasing efficiency. In the webinar, our Transit Project Manager will demonstrate real-life examples of how you can save time, improve on-time performance, make easy on-the-fly schedule changes, and reduce operating costs.
Fixed-route transit ITS solutions were created to help transit agencies deal with the unexpected, including everything from sick employees to traffic jams. A thorough solution should keep your agency running smoothly and efficiently, no matter the reason.
To that end, we’ve created a demo that shows how the various functionalities of an ITS solution can keep an agency on track in one of the most outrageous situations we could imagine: an attack by a group of giant lizards. They’ve invaded the town of Quietville and are making life rather challenging for the local transit agency and its passengers.
While this is obviously a touch on the fanciful side, if a mob of oversized reptiles bent on chaos can’t disrupt the Quietville transit agency, what can? Check out the demo and see who wins.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) provides paratransit service to sixty towns and cities in and around Boston. With over 800 vehicles, the MBTA completes more than 1.9 million trips each year. Their paratransit service, called THE RIDE, is contracted to three companies: Greater Lynn Senior Services, Joint Venture TTI/YCN and Veterans Transportation Services. Paul Strobis, Assistant Manager, Paratransit Contract Operations for the MBTA talks about the benefits ITS technology has brought to their operation.
1. What does your company look for in a technology provider? What do you value most?
When we went looking for technology partners for our next five year service contract we wanted to look for stability and the best value for the MBTA, especially in the current economic climate. And with that stability and value, we wanted to be able to provide quality service to the disabled community which is our customer base.
2. How has the system improved how dispatchers interact with drivers?
I think it’s reduced the amount of radio traffic. One-on-one messaging capabilities with the drivers mean that messages don’t need to be broadcast fleet-wide. Using the mobile computers, dispatchers can communicate directly with a driver for same-day orders or manifest changes. I think that’s been the biggest difference.
3. Has the system helped you to more effectively monitor the on-time performance of your fleet?
The information we get back from the AVL technology absolutely gives me a solid feeling about our on-time performance data. Previous to this system, the reporting was being done manually and the MBTA had to take at face value that what was being reported was accurate. Now it’s all uniform, accurate reporting.
This system gives us data so we know when we’re arriving, when we’ve departed, and when we arrive at the drop-off location. All of that data can be collected and reported on, which allows us to see where the problems are. Our scheduling folks can assess this data and are able to tweak the schedule and improve it.
4. Where are you seeing the most benefit?
We are seeing the most benefit in the accuracy of reporting and improved customer service by being able to tell the customer where the vehicle is instead of guessing. I would imagine that fleet utilization and driver utilization is more beneficial to the vendors, as they can keep their man power down by accurately knowing what their slack time is, where their holes are in the schedule, and by being able to dispatch on-the-fly versus sending out paper manifests.
5. At this stage in your company’s growth, what would have been the impact of not equipping your operation with this new technology? How would your customers/staff have been affected?
If we didn’t have this ITS system I would imagine chaos, so I don’t think about that. We’d probably need to hire more staff to be able to handle what is now mostly automated.
Prior to this ITS infrastructure, we used an old Windows 98-based product. We did have an AVL system but it was spotty at best and all the reporting had to be done manually. When we implemented the new ITS technology we saw a swing in reporting where some of our percentages really skewed in the first fiscal year because it was based on the AVL technology and the data coming out of the system versus manual reporting.
The improvement in customer service has been huge. Instead of getting the old ‘Where’s my ride, oh it’s five minutes away, ten minutes away, right around the corner’. Now it’s ‘Your vehicle’s on Smith Street, three minutes away ETA’. Because we really do know where the vehicle is today.
This video highlights the great new features of the Purchase Area Regional Transit’s (PART) groundbreaking Travel Management Coordination Center (TMCC) in Western Kentucky. PART is a cooperative effort between four transit providers in Western Kentucky: Paducah Area Transit System, Easter Seals West Kentucky, Fulton County Transit Authority and Murray-Calloway Transit Authority. They have implemented an ITS solution to more efficiently manage the transportation and information needs of those living in the Purchase Area region of Western Kentucky.
The four transit agencies are connected through a centralized computer network which increases dispatching efficiency. Using Computer Assisted Scheduling and Dispatching (CASD) and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL), dispatchers can keep track of all trips and vehicles. AVL constantly sends every vehicle’s precise location to the central dispatching computer network so that PART dispatchers always know the nearest vehicle to a caller.
The centralized computer network communicates with all the vehicles of the four transportation providers through in-vehicle mobile computers. The in-vehicle units keep drivers aware of all pick-ups and drop-offs, and dispatchers can send messages directly to the driver’s in-vehicle computer if there are changes to their schedule.
Customers will be able to access the TMCC by phone or via the PART website to make or modify travel plans. Customers will be able to receive information not only for transportation, but for health and human services and general governmental and educational information as well. For more information about PART, and their exciting new project, click here to visit their website.
Because of the large volume of calls WMATA’s MetroAccess Paratransit receives every day, management wanted an automated scheduling system to improve the efficiency of the call center. Real-time, accurate fleet data was also needed to effectively measure the performance of the fleet. And MetroAccess was also looking for technology that would improve system productivity with instant driver-dispatcher communication.
To improve their operations WMATA choose to implement a Paratransit ITS solution. Christian Kent, Director of MetroAccess, says: “The immediate benefit of the system is that we know exactly where our vehicles are and can examine this data either in real time or after the fact. This increases our credibility with the customer and makes it possible for us to give quick and accurate information on trip status, or to facilitate the investigation of a customer service complaint. For example, if a customer tells us that a driver didn’t show up at the scheduled pickup time, we can review the AVL data and confirm. With this objective data, we can respond to the customer’s concerns with greater certainty.”
Keystone Excavating Ltd., of Calgary, Alberta, is regarded as a leader, not only for its strong hold on the excavating market over the past 30 years, but for its decision to implement a mobile workforce solution. They wanted a solution that would let them streamline job costing, billing and timesheet management. The chosen solution includes in-vehicle computers installed in their more than 250-pieces of heavy equipment, which work together with mobile resource and process management software.
The Challenges
Before installing this new technology, Keystone’s manual paper processes and radio communications were no longer making the cut when it came to managing workflow in relation to employees, hours, clients, locations, and equipment. As Holly Goulard, Keystone’s Controller, explains, “When I started at Keystone, one timesheet was handled 11 times before being filed.” In another example, truck tickets and timesheets could be lost or submitted after the client was billed for the job, and Keystone would have to absorb those costs.
The Results
Since installing the mobile workforce solution, Holly says that one of the biggest benefits is the ability to capture real-time information. “We see real-time hours and know where every piece of equipment is. We’re billing the real deal. Our HR department knows who worked when and can verify that information.
In addition to reducing the number of people reviewing job codes and hours worked, Keystone has also been able to downsize scheduler staffing requirements, removing four full-time scheduler positions.
It was originally thought that this technology would save about 20 minutes per piece of equipment each day due to better time management, so each operator would get to their next job 20 minutes earlier. In reality, Holly believes the system is exceeding this number. She has also seen a quick return on investment. “The money we invested in this technology was expected to be returned in three years, and it has been returned in one. That isn’t even accounting for the overtime hours we’re saving.”
Because subcontractors make up 30 to 40 percent of Keystone’s business, Holly hopes that round two of this technology implementation will include these subcontractors adopting electronic devices in their vehicles in order to improve efficiencies in this segment of the business as well. But for now, mobile workforce management technology is helping Keystone streamline its operations and minimize its staffing requirements in order to remain competitive, regardless of the economic climate.
The Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority, otherwise known as LYNX, operates 290 fixed-route buses in Florida’s busy tourist cities. With their existing dispatching processes, LYNX had no way of knowing the exact location of their buses or if buses were running on schedule. This impeded their ability to improve on-time service rates.
To meet this challenge LYNX implemented a Transit ITS solution. Since the implementation, LYNX can now provide quick and accurate answers to “Where’s my bus?” questions. In addition, David Burnett, Deputy Chief of Operations at LYNX, says that: “This technology helps us deal with the rising price of gas by reducing idle time for drivers. For example, if there is an accident on the expressway, dispatchers can instantly see which buses are going to be affected by viewing the AVL map and can re-route those drivers so they aren’t stuck idling.”
A blog for those of us who live and work in fleet management. Topics include engine diagnostics, driver safety, mobile workforce management, CAD/AVL, vehicle maintenance, truck distribution, global computing, work order management, and field services.
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With driver distraction being a leading cause of vehicle accidents, selecting an in-vehicle computer for your fleet that lets you control when drivers/device interaction is crucial to your fleet’s safety, as well as your bottom line.
