Arrowhead Transit partners with The Routing Company to bring 21st century transit experience to rural Minnesota riders

Arrowhead Transit, a rural transit agency operating in 10 counties throughout northeastern Minnesota, needed to solve a number of challenges when it looked to upgrade its transit scheduling and routing software—starting with route deviation.  

As a rural operator, the state of Minnesota requires the agency to deviate up to three quarters of a mile on its rural commuter routes. Arrowhead Transit Communications Manager Dominick Olivanti says this means the agency can’t set specific stops and times, throwing “a wrench” in the typical technology available on the market that’s used to operating based off of consistent stops and schedules. 

“With the buses moving off of intended road paths and stuff like that, there’s no way that we have technology right now that communicates like Google Maps so you can see what your options are if you’re looking with that behind the scenes technology,” Olivanti said.  

So the agency published a request for proposals to see what, if any, technology could take them from manually scheduling and dispatching service into a 21st century solution. Atfer whittling it down to four final candidates, the agency chose to work with The Routing Company (TRC), who Olivanti says “was more than ready to take on the challenge.” 

“They worked with us on both our paratransit service and then our [rural] commuter route service,” Olivanti said.

The second challenge the agency wanted to solve with its new software was offering more flexible access to its transit services. Previously, anyone who wanted to schedule a ride needed to call the dispatch center. Imagine being a college student having to call a 1-800 number and sit patiently in a long call queue just to schedule a pickup. For an agency that’s focusing on providing more transit access to community colleges, that’s pretty inconvenient.  

“I mean, I can’t even imagine doing that,” Olivanti joked. I conquered.  

Now, anyone can use the agency’s new mobile app to schedule, manage and track their trips. The app is powered through TRC’s Pingo platform but is white labeled under Arrowhead Transit, so riders build brand recognition and understand when they’re using the transit system.  

“That was another big conversation for us, that when our consumers [use the app]... they know that they’re using our system, and it works and talks and does all the things we need it to do with our people,” Olivanti said.  

Introducing real-time arrival information

The app solved two other pain points: eliminating the need for multiple backend software products and rider-facing apps, and providing real-time tracking information.  

Living in Northern Minnesota means regularly white knuckling through negative degree temperatures. Previously, a passenger could be stuck outside waiting for 20 minutes, not knowing exactly when their bus would come. Now, riders can track their buses in the app, receiving live updates if a scheduled pickup was added and push notifications for when their bus is about to arrive. Olivanti says the app can even update riders if their bus is going to be a few minutes later than intended and provide a new arrival time.  

“We have a four-minute notification and then ‘your bus is outside’ notification so that people can get ready appropriately,” OIivanti said, underscoring how this feature helps sell the narrative of “why public transit works for me.” 

Ensuring no one is left behind, the dispatch center remains active and integrates with TRC’s software. Those that use the dispatch call number still receive that critical real-time information. Instead of a push notification, the system automatically calls back on the number that was used to schedule the ride. Riders can also opt for text updates.  

Getting to full-scale rollout

In order to get to this full-scale implementation, the agency began with beta testing the backend, picking up a handful of people around the entire service area to try out the app in its various types of communities—ranging from the rural North Shore to heavier service areas. After beta testing, the agency rolled out the new system in quadrants starting in January of this year.  

“We did that for a couple weeks and then we would add the next one into the system and do that for a couple weeks and then add the next couple counties and then add the next couple counties until we had full implementation,” Olivanti said. 

By April 2026, Arrowhead Transit had fully implemented the backend solution and went live with beta testing the rider-facing app. At the start of this month, all beta testing concluded, and the agency did its full-scale launch.  

While change is always tough, Olivanti notes there have been “great conversations with staff” along the way. Migrating from antiquated systems required changing how leadership communicated with employees. It also required changing their operating structure, particularly for the customer service team. Not only did they have to learn how to explain the app, but they also had to retrain on collecting and updating consumer data to create consumer profiles. This ensures riders get real-time updates. Once the new processes were smoothed out, employees were on board.  

“They’re excited about the new software because of how it changes their job and how they’re doing their job on the backend,” Olivanti explained, saying the drivers are also benefitting thanks to having GPS onboard vehicles.