University of Rochester Works Hard to Improve Bus Operations Manually

Filed Under Feature Stories, Transit Management Challenges, Transportation Trends, University Transit

Lack of GPS AVL system makes the work much more challenging than it needs to be

In order to optimize the service it provides to its community, the University made a number of changes including the addition of new buses. According to Campus Times, the school and its partner First Transit were able to make significant improvements, but had to invest a lot of elbow grease and people hours to make it happen.

Many of the issues facing the University transit system were people related. There were numerous difficulties with operator behavior that negatively impacted the quality of service. Initially, the only way to achieve improved operator performance was to monitor manually routes, schedules, buses, and operators.

The Campus Times noted that First Transit assistant general manager, Mario Workman, and parking director, Glenn Sicard, both “monitored drivers on various evening routes. As a result of these case studies, two drivers were replaced.
‘One of the drivers raced through the route, often arriving early and was thus missing a lot of students who were waiting to be picked up,’ Workman said.”
University executive, Richard Pifer “also commented that his department coordinated random spot checks. ‘We put our staff on vehicles to double check the drivers. We will continue to do spot checks - it’s what we do to make sure the vendor holds up their end of the bargain,’ Pifer said.”

GPS automation would have simplified the task

All this hard work paid off but at the cost of lots of human time and energy. A significantly improved solution for the University of Rochester and thousands of schools around the country is to automate their transit systems using GPS systems such as those provided by NextBus.

Had the University been operating a GPS AVL system they would have been able to keep their buses on time and on track easily. They would also have been able to monitor operator behavior automatically rather than having to do personal spot checks throughout the day. Of course, there is the added benefit of a NextBus style system that enables the students to determine exactly when the NextBus will be arriving through the use of laptops, PDA’s or cell phones.

Fortunately, better times may lie ahead. According to the article, the University and First Transit have announced plans to implement a GPS system in the near future.

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