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In a traditional scheduling environment, you take all your trips and perform a batch scheduling process the day before the actual trip, either manually or with the help of software. You build your schedule, deal with the outlier trips that don’t fit and optimize to the best of your ability. This is the best your schedule could ever get. Once service hours begin, however, realities of transit their ugly heads. It’s a minor miracle that every vehicle gets out on the road at all, much staying on time amidst heavy traffic, inclement weather, cancellations and other unexpected delays. In a traditional environment, an agency is completely dependent on the dispatcher to keep the schedule from falling apart.
Ecolane’s scheduling works differently with demand response software. With Ecolane, the day before the trip, process is established to show a virtual schedule based on best case scenarios. We know the day begins, anything can change (and it will). As the day progresses, Ecolane monitors vehicles that are on the road in real-time. It automatically changes the schedules and the specific trips in response to active, changing conditions. If a vehicle is falling behind schedule, the Ecolane software distributes upcoming trips to alternative nearby vehicles in order to release the pressure and to maintain the original desired schedule. In the case of no-shows, schedules are updated automatically based on that event. If a cancellation is requested, the Ecolane software automatically removes the cancelled trip from the schedule and attempts to fill the gap with other trips from another manifest.
All on the fly. All automated. All in real-time.
What’s it all mean? It means that Ecolane customers most often see their rides per hour (RPH) productivity increase on the day of service. This results in the decreased costs because fewer miles are driven, less fuel is used, and loss of headcount during the day is mitigated. Ecolane is the only environment where customers will regularly meet or exceed their productivity for the day. That’s the Ecolane difference.
About the Author:
Rachelle Jezbera serves as Ecolane’s Senior Director of Business Development. She is responsible for all aspects of pre-sales and post-sales activities on behalf of our prospects and customers. In addition, she collaborates with public transportation general managers and executives by managing Ecolane’s new Partner Relations Program. She has 15 years of experience in public transportation, which included management at the American Transportation Association (APTA).