Microtransit is "flexible transit,” conceptually positioned between private individual transportation (such as personal vehicles, taxicabs, or TNCs) and public mass transit (bus). Transit agencies nowadays are providing customers with more flexible on-demand trips with microtransit services.
MicroTransit is gaining popularity for transit agencies
It’s because of the advantages microtransit provides for both transit agencies and riders:
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Cost-effective: An Alternative to fixed route service on low-performing routes or during off-peak hours
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Increase service coverage: Allows agencies to reach areas that their fixed route buses may not accommodate, without having to dedicate regular service
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Flexible service: Accommodates riders whose schedules may not fit into fixed route service timings (shift workers/those who work during off-peak hours)
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Equitable & Economical: Provide inclusive service and maximize use of resources by facilitating paratransit and conventional riders travelling together in the same vehicles
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Efficient: Pick up and drop off riders at common locations and stops, reducing travel time
Why do you need a software for scheduling and dispatching?
Every state, region, and transportation provider has its own unique challenges, but when it comes to transportation, there are a few common macro-level issues: Some rail and bus infrastructure is perpetually overloaded or underutilized, while other neighbourhoods lack transit or have very limited service. Meanwhile, traffic congestion and vehicle emissions continue to grow, and a personal vehicle is an expensive necessity in all but a few places, rather than a choice. In an effort to solve these challenges, transportation planners and transit agencies are partnering with mobility technology companies and microtransit developers to help eliminate transit gaps. They provide software solutions, popularly known as "Software as a Service" (SaaS), to mitigate the agency’s existing challenges as well as to increase their future efficiency. One of the best examples is QRyde Automated Scheduling and Dispatching Software by HBSS, which has been serving the transportation industry for more than two decades. QRyde enables independent transportation companies and government transit systems to optimize current operations, explore new markets, and compete with newer app technologies and business models.
QRyde helps microtransit providers fill the gaps in transit and provide a mobility lifeline. Over half of non-driving, older adults don’t leave their home most days. This problem could be greatly reduced with available microtransit. Riders need an easy way To book trips – easy to use, on-demand scheduling and flexible routes and same can be taken care by QRyde. It is also a cost-effective solution as Microtransit can help add more fixed routes by offering services on an as-needed basis.
Basic features for Microtransit that QRyde provides
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Global Scheduling Engine: A powerful, real-time transactional engine that locates best possible routes to place a ride and respond instantly with options to the consumer. It takes into consideration timings, location, heading, accessibility capabilities as well as current capacity.
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APP Integrated Real-Time Dispatch: Enables communities to book and monitor the progress of their members' rides. Dispatchers can monitor vehicle locations on a map and track drivers’ work completion, live.
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Mobile APP: Provides riders with the ability to find available vehicles already in their areas as well as book, pay for, and cancel rides electronically, if need be.
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Many other customized features according to the agency’s needs.
How transit agencies get benefited using those features?
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Utilize Existing Routes: Extract available capacity within existing routes to offer lower-cost seats to the general public, enabling the agency to offer more rides to more people.
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Efficiently Manage Schedules: Utilize QRyde to efficiently manage routes, rider, and driver schedules, reducing vehicle downtime and increasing available rider capacity.
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Mobile App: Our consumer app works on iOS and Android and brings to the rider multi-modal transportation options, including on-demand rides, bus rides, commuter rail, and the subway. The underlying technology cross-references data in order to better analyze the complex interdependence of integrated transportation systems.
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Increase Availability: This increases the availability of affordable rides to wellness, which will improve overall health at a community level and reduce healthcare costs, as well as reduce the overall carbon footprint as a smaller number of vehicles will be on the road.
The Takeaway
The next few years might just be the golden era for public transportation. To get there, we must rely on the expertise of transportation professionals who understand their community intimately and support their ability to design mobility services flexibly and nimbly.
