Complete Paratransit Scheduling Software Dispatching and Reporting System

The vendor is required to provide a complete paratransit scheduling software, dispatching and reporting system for the agency main paratransit operations (road runner).
• Provision of support services during the implementation process as well as after launch 
• A robust training program for dispatchers, drivers, and administrative staff for both software usage and for national transit database (NTD) reporting 
• Customer training and marketing materials · ability to interface with mobile fare payment systems 
• Ability to have multiple agency logins to manage and schedule individual fleets and service areas. 
• Automated trip confirmations via phone and email
- User needs – customers
• Multiple communications channels
o Interactive voice response (IVR) with voice and touchtone functions
o Short message service (SMS) – text
o Website
• Smartphone application
• Trip-booking platform
o Customer-friendly
o Allow third-party booking (with authorization)
o Reserve, cancel, reschedule, confirm trips
o Provide no-earlier-than feature for pickups and no later than feature for drop-offs
o Generate more than one viable trip option without having to restart booking process or enter new times
o Confirm and add one PCA
o Confirm and add at least one companion
o Check and add/confirm mobility aids
o Enter addresses manually or using a dropdown menu
• Trip confirmations and cancellations
o Trip confirmations need to be robust and offer various options to do so, including trip confirmations by phone or online to eliminate and reduce need for customers to speak with an authority representative to check on confirmed trips and to cancel or reschedule trips
• Ability to reschedule same-day return trip pickup time when appointments are running late
• Trip tracking
o Provide accurate and real-time updates when vehicle is in route
o Enable riders to track their assigned vehicle in real time on map
▪ Specify how your software can meet the need (IVR, text message, application tracking)
• Customer app for day of service should integrate with advance reservation app
• Fare administration and management
• Customer profile information will be available to the customer to view and update, as needed. eligibility information and space-type related information will be viewable but not editable.
• Alert customer of any pending service interruption (service suspension, eligibility expiration) while interacting with the system, using their preferred contact method specified in the system
• Automated eligibility reminders
• Electronic purse for contactless payment
• Integration with existing fare payment methods
• Support for multiple languages (english, Spanish, etc.)
- User needs – authority staff
• Remote access
• Trip booking
o Streamlined and robust trip-booking platform
o Multiple trip-booking/confirmation options such as website, IVR, text, email, app.
o Ability to automatically distinguish between passenger types to ensure compliance
• Scheduling
o Automated and batch scheduling
o Trip planning with fixed-route service options
o Automatic trip assignment
o Robust frequent destination feature
o Subscription templates for standing orders
o automatic process to inform drivers of their daily report time
• System needs and tools
o Scalable to increased operational size (trips, vehicles, clients) demonstrated through a scaling plan
o Ability to handle future services such as same-day scheduling, on-demand trips and micro-transit
o Integration with other apps via APIs (third-party, other providers, paratransit booking app, etc.)
o Clearly displays service area maps and service spans with ability to automate service policy changes, showing which addresses are inside outside the service area
• Dispatch screen and tools
o late trip ticker, real-time traffic, and integration of known events
o Track vehicles and road supervisors in real time
• Integrations, system settings, and scheduling parameter adjustments
− Permit adjustments to system settings for:
▪ Scheduling windows
▪ Trip time parameters
▪ Travel speeds
▪ Anticipated road closures
o Offer customizable system settings
o Intuitively designed rider database and CRM integration
• Fare management
o Ability to work with fare collection systems if desired in the future 
– Currently the authority is not collecting fares due to a state pilot plan
• Driver and dispatch communications
o Easy method of communicating with dispatch to verify and approve no-shows and for other needs
o Streamlined and robust t (see customer requirements)
• Maintenance
o Vehicle availability tool that allows for maintenance to update vehicle status prior to day of service
• Reporting
o Reporting and analytic tools, including data visualization or dashboards
o Easily exportable into spreadsheets for additional analysis
o User-customized reports
• Training and implementation
o Provision of support services during the implementation process as well as after launch
o A robust training program for dispatchers, drivers, and administrative staff for both software usage and for NTD reporting
o Customer training and marketing materials.
- Other key requirements
1. Information technology (it) 
• Software suite compatibility (e.g., MS office)
• Approach to hosting
• Testing environment
• Information security, including multifactor authentication
• Database structure
• Data migration
• Data management, access, logging and retrieval
• Customer support
• Updates and upgrades
2. Data communications 
• Wireless communications
• Wireless local area network (WLAN) data exchange
3. GIS and mapping 
• Map source
• Built-in GIS support
• Spatial layer management, special attributes, and geocoding
• Other GIS features (e.g., distance computation, special search, printing, etc.)
• Visualization
• Integration of real-time traffic information
• Third-party mapping (e.g., google, Bing, apple, etc.)  
4. Scheduling and dispatching 
• Client registration and data management
• Agency resource management
• Bidding and rostering
• Run management
• Reservations
• Scheduling
• Dispatching
• Billing and reporting
• Customer service
• Mobile data terminal (MDT) interface
5. Customer and rider system requirements 
• General
• Self-service communication channels
• Eligibility-related communications
• Night prior reservation confirmation
• Day-of trip update
• Trip status
• Cancellations
• Rider and account information.