The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority announced that it has partnered with RouteMatch Software to provide riders of its Xpress commuter coach service real time information of bus location and arrival times through a mobile app on their smartphones or through the GRTA web site. The new technology will be deployed across GRTA’s entire service and should be available to customers by early 2016.
“We want to encourage new riders to use Xpress and give our current riders an easy-to-use way to personalize their commute and make their transit experience more convenient,” said Chris Tomlinson, GRTA executive director. “The number one question we get in customer service is ‘Where’s my bus?’ This new technology will give riders a tool to quickly spot where their bus is or be notified of route or schedule changes or other news that might impact their trip. We are very excited about what these changes will mean for our customers, and we are pleased to have a respected Georgia-based company like RouteMatch as our partner in taking the Xpress service to the next level. ”
RouteMatch will outfit GRTA’s 166-bus fleet with a mobile tablet-based computer aided dispatch (CAD) and automated vehicle location (AVL) system. With these tablets in place, GRTA can track its fleet in real time, improving safety and driver-to-dispatch communications. The data retrieved from the tablets will allow GRTA to more accurately measure service quality issues such as on-time performance and schedule adherence and make improvements to the reliability of the service. In addition to using the mobile app to get real time arrival and departure information, the system will allow customers to go online and track the buses in motion along their routes thus allowing customers to see where they are in relation to bus stops and the buses themselves.
“We are thrilled to be working with GRTA and their visionary management team to serve Georgia’s transit riders,” said Chris Campbell, vice president, RouteMatch Software. “Many of our company’s employees rely on Xpress every day on their daily commute to work. As both GRTA’s business partner and customer, our entire team at RouteMatch is ready to see our technology in the vehicles.”
