TRC launches Pingo Access™ for paratransit applications

The Routing Company (TRC) introduced Pingo Access™, a platform designed to help provide paratransit services, improve operational efficiency and enhance the paratransit rider experience.

Pingo Access is live in California with Fairfield and Suisun Transit, the city of Fairfield’s transit system in Solano County, Calif. The service was first announced in November 2022 and launched on July 1, 2023.

Pingo Access™ is a feature within the Pingo platform that seamlessly delivers Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit services in multiple modes. It has the same user interface while integrating settings and constraints optimized for paratransit, including:

• Manual Reassignment, which allows dispatchers to intervene algorithm decisions and reassign trips to different vehicles.
• Trip Editing, which allows seamless editing of any trip detail in real time for dispatch.
• Overflow Trip Management, which allows the agency to save and perform overflow trips.
• Appointment Bookings, which allows riders to make guaranteed prebooking requests, with pre-scheduled arrival time for their appointments.
• An operational dashboard that improves paratransit elements, such as shift scheduling.

Additional features will be integrated this year, such as commingled transit services (meaning vehicles can be used for both paratransit and regular on-demand services at the same time), which is anticipated to launch this September.

“With Pingo Access, we are focused on delivering an exceptional dispatcher experience, supporting them through the deployment process and providing the tools and flexibility to also provide an unparalleled rider experience,” said TRC's CEO James Cox.

Pingo Access™ focuses to achieve gains in three areas:

1. Efficiency
2. Human involvement
3. Local control

TRC notes current simulations show Pingo Access™ leads to significant operational cost savings while delivering consistently high utilization rates.

The “human involvement” aspect allows dispatchers to gain access to rider information, have the flexibility to intervene on top of schedules generated by TRC’s algorithm (to better accommodate rider preferences and vehicle change assignments) and cater to unique rider needs through detailed notes to drivers, the creation of subscription trips and requirements to deliver riders on-time to appointments.

Pingo Access™ also provides local control through full system configurability, meaning local knowledge is applied to TRC’s automatic algorithm to customize, edit and adapt to changing behaviors of riders and drivers.

“Pingo Access is a partner driven innovation, where TRC works extremely closely with the transit agency to best understand and accommodate local rider needs, operational nuances and environmental challenges,” said Niko Rekhviashvili, director of product management at TRC. “With a partnered approach, we are able to deliver program success while empowering riders and providing dramatic quality of life improvements via responsive paratransit service.”

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