The Routing Company expands to third California agency with new five-year contract from Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit
March 2, 2023 – New York, New York, USA: The Routing Company (“TRC”), a global on-demand vehicle routing and management platform partnering with cities to power the future of public transit, today announced it has received a three-year contract from Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (“SMART”), the North Bay’s newest passenger rail serving Marin and Sonoma counties. The contract includes two one-year options, for a total of up to five years.
SMART’s current 45-mile system is responsible for nearly 500,000 passenger trips annually and includes stations in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Petaluma, Novato, San Rafael, and Larkspur. TRC is partnering with SMART to offer accessible on-demand service and transit connections – ultimately providing first-and-last-mile solutions for North Bay residents. The service is beginning with the Sonoma County Airport Station with the potential to expand to remaining stations.
“TRC’s partnership with SMART embodies our mission to power sustainable cities for all,” said James Cox, Chief Executive Officer, TRC. “Increasing access for over half a million people to a rail system that connects them to their places of work, learning, commerce, and housing – and doing so sustainably – is right in our wheelhouse. We’re also thrilled to expand our presence in California: this is our third contract in the state, and our first with a rail provider partnering with transit agencies.”
Anticipated to launch in spring of 2023, SMART’s deployment will use TRC’s full Pingo suite including the Ride Pingo™ app for riders, Drive Pingo™ app for drivers, and the cloud-based Pingo Dashboard™ for fleet operators. Features include Transit Connect™, which uses real-time data to guarantee transit connections for riders, and Pingo Journey™, a breakthrough in-app product that allows riders to plan end-to-end multi-modal journeys and hail on-demand transit, all in one place.
Transit Connect™ was an innovation stemming from TRC’s partnership with King County Metro, in a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. A need existed to improve the rider experience and guarantee a connection to onward transit modes, and as a result TRC developed Transit Connect™ to meet that need. This innovation will now be leveraged by SMART to guarantee transit connections, thereby enhancing the rider experience.
“We look forward to expanding rider access to SMART’s rail system using TRC’s Pingo technology and improving connectivity to major hubs like the Sonoma County airport,” said Eddy Cumins, General Manager, SMART. “The needs of our community are evolving, and this new service will help bridge first- and last-mile transit gaps. We are thrilled to implement this new transit service in the coming months.”
SMART follows deployments with Lassen Transit and Fairfield and Suisun Transit (FAST) to become TRC’s third agency partner in California. Today, TRC’s Pingo technology powers transport for thirteen communities across four countries, including The Netherlands, Andorra, and the United States.
Launched in October 2022, Pingo Journey™ integrates TRC’s real-time routing technology with public transit infrastructure, allowing riders to hail on-demand transit rides and plan multimodal transit journeys all from one app. The feature makes Pingo the world’s only app offering on-demand transit and end-to-end journey planning in one place and can be used alongside the Transit Connect™ feature, which guarantees connections for riders to fixed route networks.
TRC’s award-winning and patented Pingo platform – powering the Drive Pingo™ and Ride Pingo™ apps and the Pingo Dashboard™ management tool – has moved over 200,000 people to date, and is available to public and private operators around the world. To learn more, visit theroutingcompany.com/products.
About TRC
Founded by MIT researchers and rideshare industry veterans, TRC is a global on-demand vehicle routing and management platform that partners with cities to power the future of public transit. Leveraging proprietary and unrivaled artificial intelligence, TRC delivers routing from multiple points of demand to one vehicle while enabling greater transit equity, accessibility, cost efficiency, and sustainability. Its leading product, the Pingo app, offers on-demand or advance trip requests and can operate in on-demand, flex, fixed, or paratransit mode.
With a team spanning eight countries, TRC directly supports international operations and customer growth through hubs in Australia, Canada, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Learn more at theroutingcompany.com.
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James Cox
Chief Executive Officer
