The Routing Company launches new services in partnership with Rochester RTS, city of Vacaville
These partnerships will support on-demand transit, deviated fixed-route transit and commingled paratransit trips.
The Routing Company (TRC) has launched two new partnerships with Rochester Regional Transit Service (RTS) and the city of Vacaville, Calif., to support various public transit services throughout the regions.
Rochester RTS begins five-year partnership with TRC
During the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) TRANSform 2024 Conference, TRC and RTS marked the start of a five-year, 132-vehicle agreement after signing the contract onsite.
“We're very excited to work together. I'm sure it’s going to be a great partnership between CDTA and The Routing Company,” said RTS CEO Miguel Velázquez at the signing.
TRC will support RTS’ weekday demand-responsive transit service that includes microtransit and deviated route service operated from seven properties across all the rural counties surrounding Rochester, N.Y., including Wayne, Ontario, Livingston, Wyoming, Genesee, Seneca and Orleans. Pre-booking will also be available to riders. Together, TRC says the service deployment across these counties marks one of the industry’s largest on-demand deals of the year.
“It means a lot today, Miguel, that you’ve made a bet on us, and I can tell you we’ll continue to do our best to change the lives of riders in Rochester and also make the lives of dispatchers and your team easier,” said TRC CEO James Cox during the signing event. “It’s a 136-vehicle deal where we’ll be expanding things like flexible-route transit, on-demand transit, some fixed-route vehicles all being managed through one platform that again, I think will make your team’s lives easier and ideally get more buts in seats in those vehicles in a range of different types of areas. It's quite a rural area but there are also some zones that have more high throughput so we’re excited for the challenge.”
Service is anticipated to start in late 2024 and aims to expand transit access in rural areas—where many residents are transit-dependent and do not own vehicles—while digitizing and modernizing RTS’ rural transit operation and providing more consistent delivery of service. RTS says it partnered with TRC to enhance its operational efficiency, improve fleet management, leverage comprehensive data insights and analysis and gain real-time tracking and monitoring capabilities.
“A lot of has gone in to get to this moment today and a lot will happen beyond this moment, as we know transit is something where every single day you don’t know what’s going to happen. So already in the time up to this point we’ve learned a lot in our collaboration with Rochester and we’re excited to see where things go,” said TRC Director of Partnerships Dami Adebayo at the onsite event.
The new on-demand deployment will leverage TRC’s full suite of Pingo products – including features such as Pingo Flex™ and Transit Protect™, as well as TRC’s Pingo Analytics™ next generation customer transit analytics and reporting tool. RTS will also rely on TRC’s in-house 24/7 rider support for prompt response to rider inquiries and troubleshooting questions.
The launch of this initiative uses the One Transit operating model that aims to seamlessly integrate deviated routes with on-demand services to create a unified transit system. TRC says its Pingo platform makes it possible to more intelligently deploy vehicles across rural communities, ensuring they receive the spontaneity in transit typically associated with urban communities.
City of Vacaville launches on-demand transit and commingled paratransit deployment
The city of Vacaville has signed a three-year agreement with TRC to provide microtransit with up to 10 vehicles. The contract includes options to extend the contract for up to two additional years, for a total of five years.
Located in Solano County, the city of Vacaville is home to more than 100,000 residents. The city provides public transit through its City Coach service, which operates five local fixed routes, almost all of which begin and end at the Vacaville Transportation Center. City Coach also provides on-demand transit service within city limits, with complementary ADA paratransit services and a local taxi program for qualified riders.
“We are thrilled to partner with The Routing Company. The Vacaville community needs transit that can reach every person in a time and place most convenient for them, which is why improving our current on-demand transit service is so important,” said Lori DaMassa, transit manager, city of Vacaville. “We are excited to launch the Pingo product and are confident in its ability to both strengthen and extend the reach of our existing transit network, and appreciate TRC’s intensive hands-on training and 24/7 customer support. Together, we are improving the quality of life for the people of Vacaville.”
The new contract will enhance the on-demand transit service for City Coach Direct, with a focus on improving and extending Vacaville’s existing City Coach transit network with more efficient, flexible and responsive transportation. The service includes on-demand transit but will also accommodate commingled paratransit rides.
“We know commingled transit works and we cannot wait to see the positive impact it will have on Vacaville,” Cox said. “For some of TRC’s other partners in California – such as FAST in Fairfield – launching commingled services has led to more than double the on-demand ridership within the first month. More importantly, it has dramatically improved quality of life for local residents, allowing the same spontaneity in booking and taking trips.”
Vacaville’s new on-demand deployment will leverage TRC’s full suite of Pingo products – including the Drive Pingo™ and Ride Pingo™ apps, the Pingo Dashboard™ operations management tool, and TRC’s Pingo Analytics™ next generation customer transit analytics and reporting tool.
Pingo Analytics™ is TRC’s next generation customer transit analytics and reporting tool that offers customer data access, with reports customizable to meet Federal Transit Administration's National Transit Database (NTD) requirements. The new reporting features – including new self-serve reporting capabilities and additional on-demand transit metrics – can be used to combine pre-developed reports for NTD reporting or to generate any report an operator needs whether in real time or based on historical data.
Vacaville will also rely on TRC’s in-house 24/7 rider support for prompt response to rider inquiries and troubleshooting questions.
