Facilitating Creation of Rural Transit System Technology User Groups
Record Type: UTC

In conducting work on a related project regarding best practices in dispatching demand response services, researchers have discovered that a significant segment of rural transit providers have obtained software to support trip scheduling and dispatching. However, many of these agencies are using the software primarily as a record-keeping system, not as a management tool. Rural providers have shared concerns that their staff is not sufficiently familiar with the software’s capabilities and therefore the agency is not receiving a good return on their technology investment. This project creates user groups for rural providers utilizing scheduling and operations support technologies. The user groups enable operators to share and gain from their mutual experiences and to leverage their mutual concerns and interests with the software vendors. Small urban providers are also being incorporated into user groups and may serve as mentors to rural providers as appropriate. These user groups will provide rural agencies with an important additional tool for improving the efficiency of their services.
Start date: 2009/1/1
End date: 2010/8/31
Status: Active
Contract/Grant Number: DTRT06-G-0044
Secondary Number: 00029
Total Dollars: 36000
Source Organization: University Transportation Center for Mobility
Date Added: 01/12/2009
Index Terms: Public transit, Transit operating agencies, Technological innovations, Best practices, Demand responsive transportation, Dispatching, Rural transit, Schedules and scheduling, Research projects,

University Transportation Center for Mobility
http://utcm.tamu.edu
Texas Transportation Institute
Texas A&M University System
3135 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-3135
USA
Phone: (979) 845-2538
Fax: (979) 845-9761

Tooley, Melissa S
Phone: (979) 845-8545
Fax: (979) 845-9761
Email: m-tooley@tamu.edu

Texas Transportation Institute, Houston
http://tti.tamu.edu/groups/program.htm?p_org_code=HTM
Transit Mobility Program
Texas A&M University System
701 N. Post Oak, Suite 430
Houston, TX 77024
USA

Arndt, Jeffrey
Phone: 713-686-2971
Email: j-arndt@tamu.edu