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Article Excerpt
Can mass transit customers be connected to buses like friends on the popular social Web site Facebook? Can bus runs become more efficient with computerized real-time route management? What if a public transit organization is managed like a private enterprise, having to balance customer-derived revenues, advertising cash flow and service efficiencies? These unconventional notions led Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA) executives in 2006 to pioneer a bold $22 million technology-driven initiative aimed at a deliberate introduction of operational change to elevate customer service.
Since its conceptual inauguration in third quarter 2006, Technology Initiatives for Driving Excellence (TIDE), has been credited with simplifying public transportation, improving route efficiencies and increasing ridership for this midsized authority. The change also made way for measurably heightened customer loyalty. Even more notable, TIDE was so successful in across-the-board enhancements, just ahead of its half-way point in 2008, the authority was able to institute an unprecedented fare reduction.
Staffing, funding and execution of timing, as well as actual software and hardware choices, could make a program of this magnitude seem insurmountable. RGRTA executives and TIDE team members will tell you the outcome of a project like TIDE is well worth the equity--financial and sweat. Besides, strategies developed by RGRTA to define, fund and staff TIDE are all detailed here, along with insights about how unique partnerships were leveraged--most notably with ACS Transportation Management Solutions Group (formerly Orbital TMS) and the Rochester Institute of Technology--to boost the program's impact. If your organization is looking for operational change, this article will help.
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IN THE BEGINNING: CHAOS TO CLARITY
In the summer of 2006, transit...
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