City of Peterborough Uses RouteMatch Scheduling Optimizer and Tablet Solution to Attain 93% On-Time Performance

ATLANTA, GA and PETERBOROUGH, ON--(Marketwired - Mar 23, 2016) -  Approximately 77 miles northeast of Toronto, the City of Peterborough transit system serves a community of approximately 82, 000 people, including a university and growing tourist industry. Over the past year, Peterborough Transit was able to report a 93% on-time performance rate after adopting RouteMatch Software's intelligent transportation systems (ITS) solution for demand response operations along with tablet technology.

Peterborough Transit performs approximately 155 trips per day, with 11 vehicles and 771 active riders. In 2011, the City of Peterborough evaluated the existing software platform that Peterborough Transit was using for scheduling and manage trips and found it lacking -- from both a technology and support perspective. After a review of potential partners, Peterborough Transit chose RouteMatch's demand response technology, along with their Notification Module tool which places automated call out reminders to customers and mobile data via tablets for manifest tracking and driver and dispatch communications. This new transit technology allowed PT to increase trips performed by over 30% without any increase in vehicles or driver time.

"With RouteMatch's scheduling optimizer, we are able to locate and fill in the gaps in our schedules," explains Barry Wakeford, Operations Supervisor at Peterborough Transit. "Now, if we have a cancellation we can replace that trip immediately and transmit that information to the driver with the tablet."

The agency now uses tablets and mobile data on their entire fleet. The transition from manual schedules to a tablet manifest required some adapting for drivers. "Now we just tell our drivers to 'follow your tablet', and they realize that ultimately, it makes their jobs easier," explains Barry.

The Notification module, which provides night-before and day-of trip reminders to riders via phone, has also enabled the agency to grow and better serve their riders. "Our customers appreciate the second phone call about their return trip home, and we think this is an ideal tool for our riders with a cell phone," Barry says.

RouteMatch Customer Support has also been a crucial link in making these new technology transitions possible and successful for Peterborough Transit.

"I don't think RouteMatch Customer Support can get any better," states Barry. "The product has been great, what it does is great, and then customer support just takes it to another level with their responsiveness and willingness to work on any problem."

"And this year was our first time attending the annual User Conference, which was highly beneficial. We had a one-on-one sit down consultation about our use of the technology, and that was enormously helpful," explains Barry.

"Peterborough Transit has done a remarkable job rolling out a new technology platform. Their on-time performance numbers speak to a true understanding of how schedule optimization and tablet technology go hand-in-hand to become more efficient and better serve riders. We are thrilled to partner with them and help them grow," says Pepper Harward, Vice President of Transit Solutions at RouteMatch.

About City of Peterborough Transit
Peterborough Transit serves the City of Peterborough in Ontario province with demand services within the city limits. Riders must complete an application and submit to the eligibility office in order to ride. Peterborough Transit is owned and operated by the City of Peterborough. The Greater Peterborough Area is home to approximately 135,000 residents.

About RouteMatch Software
RouteMatch Software is the leading provider of passenger transportation technologies and mobility management solutions. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, GA and works with more than 600 transit agencies across the U.S. and internationally, providing quality software and customer service. Partnering with public and private sector passenger transportation providers, the company's products address routing, scheduling, dispatching, billing, reporting, fixed route, CAD/AVL, demand response and fixed route integration, traveler information services, mobility management, business analytics, and automated fare collection. Additional information about RouteMatch's ITS technologies are available at www.routematch.com or by calling RouteMatch toll-free at (US) 1-888-840-8791.