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Does Your Agency Level the Playing Field for Demand Response Passengers?

Jun 13, 2016
Last updated: Jan 19, 2017
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Bus
Mobility-on-Demand
Traveler Experience

Last updated January 2017

A big part of a Demand Response service’s success has to do with passenger service, which in the modern world means providing paratransit passengers with an easy way to plan, schedule, and pay for their trips. These sorts of basic web sites and apps are common, even essential to service fixed route ridership, so why not for Demand Response passengers?

The answer is in the numbers.

Paratransit brings about 1% of transit agency revenues but can account for up to 15 or 20% of the budget. As a result, finding extra dollars to improve DR passenger experience can be tough, even though there are multiple benefits for both passengers and agencies that do make the investment.

Compliance, convenience and better efficiencies

Part of how some transit agencies interpret the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is that we need to offer Demand Response passengers something comparable to what you offer for fixed route. Namely, a good self-service web and mobile experience gives passengers control by letting them book and manage their own trips on their desktops, tablets and mobile phones that are compliant, easy to use, and state of the art. The benefits for agencies in providing this experience for agencies include:

  • Off-loading volume from the call centre with a cost-effective, automated solution
  • Strengthening stakeholder communications with accessible information services
  • Enabling instant schedule updates to reduce cancellations and wait times
  • Capturing data for analysis to improve operations (e.g. failed bookings, number of bookings, number of cancellations, etc.).

Add the passenger and agency benefits up and the spend required to get a white-labeled web and mobile experience in place for Demand Response is nominal – and that’s what our PASS-WEB application does.

It levels the playing field for Demand Response passengers as compared to those already enjoying a good web and mobile experience for fixed route services.

Our long-time client, Joe Watkins of NORTA (New Orleans), who’s just retired, summed up the value of a proper web and mobile experience for DR passengers pretty well in recent conversation:

“We’re going to get some of those people that we missed before. People who will book for themselves, those that assist the elderly and disabled, young people who are tech savvy and want to help their parents and grandparents use DR services to get around . . . When you build something for paratransit passengers, all other passengers can use it, too. It doesn’t usually work the other way around.” - Joe Watkins, NORTA (Retired)

Improving Demand Response bookings with self-service

Using new, intuitive web-based applications, Demand Response passengers can book and cancel their own trips and see where their imminent ride is. That’s what the newest version of our PASS-WEB application does.

By allowing Demand Response passengers to book and cancel trips online, you'll:

  • Reduce pressure on your call center
  • Allow passengers the ease of making changes in a heartbeat
  • Meet visually and impaired accessibility standards

I hosted a webinar with Andrew McKechnie, Product Director - Traveler Information, where we show you how agencies are using Trapeze Group’s new and improved PASS-WEB application (with a brand new interface).


 
Bruce’s 25 years of experience in building, designing, and implementing Traveler Information solutions for the Public Transit Industry have afforded him a rich and diverse industry, solutions, and technical background. Bruce develops the strategic vision and detailed plans for the Trapeze Traveler information suite, makes important contributions to the design and functionality of the products and he ensures that the ongoing development of is driven by customer and market needs and demands.
 
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