Quinte Access Transportation

Quinte Access Transportation is a non-profit transportation provider, serving a large rural population in Southern Ontario. Quinte operates a fixed route system and a paratransit system. Shelly Ackers, Quinte’s administrator, helps lead a small but dedicated team of operators who service their appreciative community. To keep their riders safe and healthy, particularly during the harsh winter months, it’s been important to connect them with their vehicles as quickly as possible. To do this, Quinte needed an affordable and efficient solution to provide passenger information and transit service.

With more seniors surrendering their drivers’ licenses, Quinte has experienced higher demand for public transportation. “Year after year, ridership has increased by probably 16-18%,” says Shelly. This has challenged the non-profit organization’s ability to provide on-time and dependable service for its growing ridership, while still being able to control operating costs. Keeping in contact with drivers (and knowing where their vehicles are located) has been an important issue for Shelly and her team. This has also become a safety concern with the introduction of governmentally mandated “hands free” rules about in-vehicle communication. Before the new rules were enforced, Shelly connected with drivers over cell phones. As this was no longer possible, maintaining essential contact with drivers to ensure that their schedules remained on-time, became another challenge for Quinte. Because Quinte is divided by two bridges, traffic congestion becomes a major issue during rush hour. If a vehicle is caught on the wrong side of the city at the wrong time of day, the vehicle’s schedule and its riders’ trips run the risk of being late. Another area of concern for Shelly has been ensuring that seniors have fast access to transit. Being forced to wait outside in the cold can lead to health-related concerns as well as slip-and-fall issues. Therefore, it’s important to provide these riders with dependable, real time trip information so that they can have more control over their transit experience.

By implementing TripSpark’s paratransit software suite, Shelly was quickly able to transform her operations. New automated scheduling and reporting functionality enabled Shelly to design more efficient routes and draw solid conclusions from reliable data. After introducing a fixed route solution, Shelly was able to take advantage of the real time data and Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) services provided by in-vehicle mobile data terminals (Rangers). In fact, Shelly has completely replaced her communication system with Ranger units, and she can now send and receive text messages and coordinate trip data with drivers without using cellphones. The Rangers also help drivers to speed up their service. Because driver sheets are entered quickly, riders don’t have to wait as long to get going. Upon implementing the MyRide mobile application, riders were able to access real-time passenger information on their devices. Within the app, Riders are informed when their bus is scheduled to arrive, and they can plan their trips from end-to-end and store favorite routes and destinations. Riders are also alerted to traffic problems, construction issues, and if major delays are anticipated. On the paratransit side, Shelly has implemented an automated notification system to be able to provide outbound telephone calls, text messages and emails to riders. This added value service provides them with reminders and updates about their planned trips. Riders are happier having advanced notice about approaching vehicles. Shelly points out, “it gives them that flexibility to control more of their ride.” The AVL capabilities have given Shelly immediate insight into her schedule, which in turn is used to pass information on to her riders. Being able to track vehicles in real time on a map, means that Shelly doesn’t need to talk with drivers directly to acquire their location. Importantly, this enables her operation to be fully compliant with the government’s hands-free communication regulations.

• The TripSpark software solutions allowed Quinte Access Transportation to cut back on their administration costs.
• The new reporting capabilities give Shelly the opportunity to provide robust reports to potential funders and other important stakeholders, allowing access to funds that may have previously gone untapped.
• The MyRide mobile application allows riders to access real-time passenger information on their devices, plan their trips from end-to-end, and store favorite routes and destinations.
• The automated notification system provides outbound telephone calls, text messages, and emails to riders, giving them reminders and updates about their planned trips.
• The AVL capabilities provide immediate insight into the schedule, allowing Shelly to pass information on to her riders without needing to talk with drivers directly.

• Yearly ridership increased by 16-18%.