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New RouteMatch system meeting rider demands
CLAREMORE, Jun 25, 2012 (Claremore Daily Progress - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Pelivan Transit launched the use of RouteMatch, an Intelligent Transportation Software (ITS) on April 9, 2012.
Implementing a new ITS program became necessary due to the growing demand of callers needing rides throughout the cities and counties served by Pelivan.
Pelivan Transit is owned and operated by Grand Gateway EDA and the Northeast Oklahoma Tribal Transit Consortium, which serves Vinita/Craig, Grove/Delaware, Pryor/Mayes, Miami/Ottawa, Claremore/Rogers and Owasso/Northern Tulsa Counties and ten tribal jurisdictional areas for Cherokee Nation, Eastern Shawnee, Miami, Modoc, Ottawa, Peoria, Quapaw, Seneca-Cayuga, Shawnee, and Wyandotte Nations within Pelivan Transit service territory.
"Prior to implementing RouteMatch, we began encouraging our regular riders to start calling in advance to place their reservations," said Pelivan Transit Director Debbie McGlasson. It has become necessary to change our operations to this advance reservation system to enable Pelivan to schedule rides with greater efficiency and to reduce the wait times for riders at their pick-up and drop-off points.
"Most riders know when they have medical appointments or when they need a ride to work or shopping. These are the types of rides that we ask the public to call and book in advance," said McGlasson.
Calling ahead allows the Pelivan Customer Service Representatives and the Dispatchers to effectively organize trips for each driver every day, reducing overlapping mileage and saving on fuel costs.
"Pelivan will continue to allow some time each day for same-day appointments to accommodate unforeseen needs for riders, for example-doctor's appointments, car breakdowns, pharmacy pick ups and those unexpected grocery demands," McGlasson said. Pelivan Transit has grown from a small rural transit system to a mid-sized system, so these changes are necessary for improving the process of communications to book rides.
"We have experienced some technical problems since converting our computer system to the RouteMatch software. The main issue when riders are trying to call in to make reservations they are getting busy signals due to Pelivan Transit's limited telephone access," said McGlasson. Grand Gateway is currently in the process of procuring a new telephone system to address Pelivan's growing demand and to accommodate a new call center that will improve telephone access throughout the entire Pelivan service territory, as well as establish on-line and other media reservation options for mobility management in the near future.
Additional changes on the horizon for Pelivan will be the introduction of Mobile Date Devices in the Pelivans, Deviated Fixed Routes, and Integrated Voice Recorded features, which will assist the drivers in submitting the data directly from their vehicle to the computer system.
"We expect to add these pieces of our technology upgrade within the next year," said McGlasson.
Effective July 1, any rider booking trips in advance will be rewarded with the opportunity to win promotional prizes as tokens of our appreciation.
"We expect to reduce fares in the future for the advance reservations due to the cost savings. We understand that the changes to Pelivan have an effect on our riders, and we truly appreciate their cooperation in helping us accomplish the changes involved in the new ITS program implementation," said McGlasson.
Riders with questions of comments may call 800-482-4594, ext. 33
___ (c)2012 the Claremore Daily Progress (Claremore, Okla.) Visit the Claremore
Daily Progress (Claremore, Okla.) at claremoreprogress.com Distributed by MCT
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