CALGARY, AB — February 01, 2012

Mentor Engineering is pleased to announce that Mentor Ranger®, a rugged-in vehicle computer, now integrates with Trapeze Novus. Mentor is the first and only company to provide transit-grade in-vehicle functionality to Novus clients.

With Ranger, agencies will be able to complete on-the-fly schedule changes which are sent in-real time to the driver’s in-vehicle computer. Electronic manifests eliminate paper and decrease back-office data entry as all information about pick-ups, drop-offs and no-shows is automatically sent back to the Novus software in the office. Additionally, Ranger provides automatic vehicle location (AVL), allowing dispatchers to see the location of all vehicles. This functionality helps dispatchers send the closest available vehicle to a trip, speeding response times and on-time performance to improve customer service.

Built for the transit industry, Ranger is proven to last in the tough bus environment. Ranger meets mili¬tary specifications for vibration and shock, as well as the international standard for water ingress protection. Also, with a life span of over seven years, Ranger considerably lowers the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a mobile computing solution.

"Adding Ranger to their fleet will give Trapeze Novus clients a complete Paratransit AVL/MDT solution,” says Samuel Mahumane, Systems Engineer at Mentor Engineering. “Ranger’s wide range of functionality will help agencies complete more trips each day while lowering costs and improving customer service."

For more information about Mentor Ranger and how in-vehicle computing helps transit agencies improve on-time performance, have a look at our Paratransit Solutions page.