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Case Study: Capital Area Transportation Authority (CATA)

What we can process electronically in one hour, previously took 10 fold as many hours to process by paper and pencil. Operators have enjoyed having more access to their own information. We even had one operator bid for work when he was on vacation in Mexico! That was unheard of prior to the implementation of the OPS WEB software.

BACKGROUND

When Capital Area Transportation Authority or CATA began in 1972, it operated 14 bus routes and gave 750,000 rides. The number of bus routes has doubled since then. In 2007, passengers took a record 10.7 million rides on CATA.

Looking to enhance the management of its operations CATA was hoping to:

1) Reduce the amount of time necessary to process a bid
2) Reduce the amount of errors that occurred during this process
3) Allow operators greater access to their own information

SOLUTION

Trapeze OPS-WEB was the clear choice for CATA because it integrated seamlessly with their already existing Trapeze products -- OPS, COM, PASS and FX. There were no interfaces to build with third party products.

The comprehensive operational review gave CATA a significant amount of time to discuss business strategies and practices with a Trapeze product expert. They were able to look at those practices and help to configure the product to CATA’s needs.

Having a test environment to learn on and train operators was the most significant success factor. Being able to train and learn on the actual software without having to worry about damaging live data or disrupting daily activities was very beneficial.

RESULTS

Prior to implementing OPS WEB, a second dispatcher often spent 8 hours calling and contacting operators via phone to solicit their bid choices which they would record on a paper form.  They would then turn over that paper form to an administrative staff person who spent about 3-4 hours per day inputting bid information from a paper bid sheet into the OPS program.  With OPS WEB, CATA has cut down those 11 hours of labour down to 1 hour per day.  During the bid cycle which takes 13 days for 210 operators, they are saving 130 hours of labour in processing bid requests.

The biggest impact is in the operator ranks. CATA has smoothly introduced a major technology project and received positive buy-in from the vast majority of operators.  Showing how technology can benefit them provides the groundwork for many other pieces of technology to be accepted by operator ranks in the future.  Instead of technology being feared, it is now a tool that is looked upon with an open mind.

The solution has given operators greater and easier access to their own information.  Operators are now better informed about detours, work assignments, bid results, absence accruals, absence that have been scheduled, etc resulting in fewer errors.  The amount of labour saved in the dispatch office and the administrative office has allowed employees to concentrate on the important daily tasks instead of being distracted with secondary responsibilities. 

CONCLUSION/NEXT STEPS

CATA is looking forward to combining OPS WEB with the soon to be implemented AVL system and Driver Training module to provide individual operators with additional information about bus defects and operating statistics relevant to that individual.