“Although the system looks different depending on a person’s
role within our organization, all our data exists in the same
system,” she said. “That has been really key to getting our teams
on the same page.”
Delivering benefits to riders
In addition to normal CAD/AVL capabilities, Avail offers several
integrated customer-facing applications, including desktop and mobile
apps for myStop. These apps allow riders to track vehicle locations,
check vehicle capacity, and the approximate length of a trip.
Avail provides agencies with application programming interfaces
(APIs), allowing agencies to customize and manipulate the apps to
suit their needs. SolTrans utilizes the API to incorporate real-time
information dynamic mapping on soltrans.org, allowing riders to
access the myStop information from the agency’s front page.
“The biggest question in transit is, ‘Where is my bus?’” said Dietter
Aragon, professional services engineer – business development at
Avail Technologies. “SolTrans is able to quickly identify where buses
are for their customers, and Avail was able to help them present it in a
unique, visually dynamic way.”
“Our riders were not finding the information quickly enough,
despite our best efforts to promote the apps,” Ibrahim added. “So
we rebuilt our homepage to give riders the information they wanted
most – where is the bus, what is the best route for a trip, and what
routes are available.”
Aragon said that the system also interfaces with predictive
departure signs at SolTrans park-and-ride, allowing for signage to
display real-time trip information. These signs are ADA-accessible
with text-to-speech functionality.
SolTrans has continued to upgrade the system’s hardware and
software since the initial 2015 deployment, including a recent upgrade
for 4G capability. As SolTrans has optimized internal operations, the
customer experience has advanced commensurately.
“Our riders have the ability to see their buses in real time, which
has created a tremendously positive transparency which the service
did not have previously,” said Mandi Renshaw, public information
officer at SolTrans. “The two-way communication we now have
with the public has really allowed us to engage our community in a
positive way.”
Dispatching maintenance efficiently
SolTrans maintenance department has also adopted myAvail
system. The maintenance team has a large monitor placed centrally
in its garage which monitors vehicle health for the entire fleet.
The garage also has a station where maintenance techs can use the
system to interact directly with dispatchers.
Ibrahim said that this monitor, which acts as the first alert for
SolTrans fleet maintenance issues, is the first step toward a multitiered
event response powered by myAvail.
“Previously, we had dispatchers hand-delivering paper notes
to technicians,” she said. “Now that techs can use the system to
remotely flag issues in real-time, we are on our way to improving our
real-time response rate and greatly reducing vehicle downtime.”
She added that the maintenance team’s proactive approach
with myAvail has also helped with SolTrans’ pullout management,
reducing the risk of unequipped vehicles leaving the yard or other
potentially hazardous situations. The system allows techs to plan
their preventive maintenance intervals for each day, ensuring that
vehicles are in the garage when maintenance is required.
“Road calls cost quite a bit of money,” Thomas said. “With these
tools, SolTrans’ maintenance team can make judgements about
which vehicles need road calls, and which can wait. By removing the
guessing game, their maintenance technicians can save the agency
thousands of dollars with each decision.”
Further service enhancement
By storing all the agency’s technical data – not just from Avail
applications – under a single software platform, myAvail’s data
warehousing has helped SolTrans immensely in data manipulation,
dashboarding, and analysis. The agency now responds to incidents
simultaneously from multiple organizational levels thanks to
independent, role-based reporting.
Aragon referred to SolTrans as a “super user” of the system due to
the myriad ways the agency takes advantage of its data.
“Not only is SolTrans really effective at internal training to ensure
that the agency’s subcontractors are taking full advantage of the
system,” he said, “but the management team is frequently improving
its services based on data gathered by these recording tools.”
In addition to 4G compatibility, Aragon said, SolTrans’ most recent
myAvail upgrade further enhances features like detour management
and decision support.
Perhaps more than any other benefit, Kranda added, the Avail
system has helped promote a general awareness among the public
about SolTrans service.
“We can see it,” she said. “There is no denying that our community
is more engaged with SolTrans than ever before.”
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