RIPTA taps mobility-management paratransit system

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Public Transit Authority is using a mobility-management paratransit software system to improve customer satisfaction and create cost savings.
The system, from Missouri.-based Reveal Management Services, has already helped the transit authority become more efficient, according to a press release.
RIPTA’s previous system was outdated, and the new system is helping it create more efficient routes, improve modal connectivity, improve on-time performance, increase productivity, decrease mileage per trip and substantially reduce the average cost per trip for its riders. This allows RIPTA to expand its paratransit services to more riders without increasing its operating budget.
“Changing software in the paratransit environment can be very challenging and stressful. Working with the Reveal team while implementing Reveal’s technology and workflow processes has been a very supportive and truly a team effort. Reveal’s operations and software experience helped us avoid startup pitfalls the first week,” Mark Therrien, assistant general manager of RIPTA, said in prepared remarks.
According to Reveal, the new system helped RIPTA by decreasing average mile per trip length by 5 percent, and also decreased daily taxi trips by 31 percent, creating annual savings of $350,000.
Scott Schoessel, Reveal’s president and CEO, said that Reveal’s scheduling and dispatching technology made an impact in both customer service and the overall financial responsibility by increasing scheduled on-time performance and productivity, “while decreasing deadhead miles and the average length per trip.”
RIPTA is a quasi-public, independent authority that was established in 1966.