Transit Authority of River City (TARC): Bus Stop Management
Download PDF"Trapeze Bus Stop Manager has helped TARC streamline a number of processes. We can now track work orders and assure that the assigned tasks are being completed in a timely fashion. We can follow up with specific complaints and assure our customers that their opinions are valued. We have a comprehensive internal database in place, and should concerns be raised that certain items are missing, we can quickly determine what items were supposed to be at the stop."
Craig Gosselin, System Manager, Transit Authority of River City (TARC)
Background
The Transit Authority of River City (TARC) provides public transportation in the Greater Louisville area with bus routes in Jefferson, Bullitt and Oldham counties in Kentucky, and Clark and Floyd counties in Indiana. TARC operates 51 bus routes with a fleet of over 200 vehicles and maintains 6,500 bus stops.
Challenges
Before adopting Trapeze Bus Stop Manager (BSM), TARC employees used a wide range of methods to maintain bus stop inventories. This rather unsystematic approach proved to be flawed in that inventories often were out dated. Data was incomplete or inaccurate.
TARC employees were aware that there was potential for special funding based on certain bus stop characteristics. In order to secure this money, TARC would have to create an accurate and up-to-date inventory of all of their 6,000+ bus stops.
There were more reasons for TARC to upgrade their bus stop management to a more comprehensive system: TARC planned to implement several software applications requiring complete bus stop information. New traveler information systems, automatic vehicle location (AVL) and Wayside displays could only be installed with more reliable bus stop data.
| Snapshot | |
|---|---|
| Type of service: | Public and Paratransit Transport |
| Number of vehicles: | 275 Fixed Route Vehicles, 108 Paratransit Vehicles |
| Number of bus stops: | 6,500 |
| Trapeze products used: | Bus Stop Manager, FX, INFO products, OPS, Wayside, among others |
Solution
TARC installed Bus Stop Manager, Trapeze’s browser-based solution for the management of bus stops and other location based assets. This highly customizable application allows surveyors to geocode locations, record and update amenity lists and attributes as well as create work orders for maintenance.
TARC utilized BSM and performed a complete survey of all bus stops in their service area. The surveyors recorded essential information, including exact bus stop position (GPS location), amenities (bench, shelter, trash can, etc.), attributes (stop condition, shelter type, etc.), and images of each bus stop.
Results / Conclusion
TARC created a complete inventory of all bus stops and amenities and now has one single repository in place for all bus stop information.
The agency used BSM’s built-in reporting module to justify additional funding based on specific bus stop characteristics. After the survey, TARC had all the information in place they required to support other systems, such as their call center, web based applications, interactive voice response, Wayside signage, and their AVL system. For better customer information, images of bus stops were uploaded to the TARC website.
We are looking forward to continue our partnership with TARC for many more years to come!
