Mobility-on-demand updates: The Routing Company
TRC, the city of Gainesville and MTM Transit have launched mobility-on-demand transit services in their respective communities.
TRC is partnering with the city of Whittier, Calif., and its transit operator, the Parking Company of America (PCAM), for the firm’s first deployment in Southern California. TRC notes the partnership establishes its seventh in the state of California, joining forces with FAST, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, the city of Vacaville, Solano Transportation Authority, Plumas Transit Systems and Lassen Transit.
The city of Whittier, a community located 12 miles southeast of Los Angeles, spans 14.8 square miles and serves a population of just under 100,000. The city operates dial-a-ride and microtransit services managed by PCAM.
TRC says the 16-vehicle on-demand pilot service, which includes 15 shuttle vehicles and one shared with La Habra Heights, will deliver responsive dial-a-ride service in English and Spanish. Service is anticipated to launch early spring 2025. The pilot aims to enhance mobility solutions for the city’s residents while aligning with the city’s long-term transportation and sustainability goals in its 2021-2040 Envision Whittier General Plan, which outlines significant investments in mobility and infrastructure.
"The city of Whittier and PCAM's vision for transformative and accessible transit perfectly aligns with TRC’s mission to deliver innovation, efficiency and unmatched support to agencies and their communities,” said TRC CEO James Cox. “This partnership demonstrates the strength of our Pingo platform and its ability to adapt to the unique needs of both urban and suburban settings. We’re proud to be a part of Whittier's mobility journey and look forward to helping the city achieve its long-term goals of sustainable, multimodal transit."
TRC notes that after successful completion of the six-month pilot, PCAM has the option to extend service for an additional three years.
"Accessible and responsive transit plays a vital role in enhancing the quality of life for our residents while fostering a robust local economy. This partnership directly supports Whittier’s 2021-2040 Envision Whittier General Plan by enabling a connected, responsive and multimodal transportation system,” said Whittier City Manager Brian Saeki. “This service also addresses our goals of reducing traffic congestion, improving first-mile/last-mile access through Pingo’s Transit Connect feature and advancing environmental sustainability. Together with TRC, we are paving the way for innovative mobility solutions that will benefit all our residents and workers.”
TRC says the service will leverage its Pingo™ platform, encompassing a rider-facing app, a driver-facing app with real-time routing, an operational tool for managing daily transit services and comprehensive data analytics and reporting.
Pingo Analytics™ is TRC’s next generation customer transit analytics and reporting tool that offers customer data access, with self-serve data and reporting tools available to help partners create reports to meet U.S. Federal Transit Administration's National Transit Database requirements or to generate any report an operator needs, whether in real time or based on historical data.
TRC notes the Pingo™ platform, which includes the Drive Pingo™ and Ride Pingo™ apps and the Pingo Dashboard™ operations tool, has powered nearly two million trips to date, helping agencies deliver efficient, flexible and scalable transit services.
