Staff Report #7 – Specialized Service Scheduling System Implementation Update

Staff Report #7

February 26, 2025

To All Commissioners

Re: Specialized Service Scheduling System Implementation Update

Recommendation

The report be NOTED and FILED.

Background

At the January 29, 2025 meeting, the Commission received a detailed update report on the implementation of the specialized service scheduling software replacement system (see Staff Report #9, dated January 29, 2025). This report provides an update on progress over the past four weeks.

System Parameters

As indicated in the January report, an error in the initial trip parameter settings resulted in trips being adjusted beyond what would be expected, which resulted in confusion for customers in the initial days of operation. Over the past number of weeks, administration has worked with the vendor to adjust these parameters to maximize service efficiency while at the same time adhering to all trip policies. The schedules being created by the system by mid-February were achieving both goals to the satisfaction of administration.

Trip Notifications

The handout provided to customers onboard vehicles in late January has significantly reduced the customer calls to the booking line for questions, and has resulted in a number of customers signing up for trip notifications, each of which is described below:

• Night Prior – reminder of the trip as it was scheduled with a call taker
• Day Of – 20 minutes prior to bus arrival – based on real time information
• Arrival – driver has arrived at the designated pick-up location
• Trip Booked/Changed – notification that a previously non-accommodated trip has now been booked (noting this option is only active for customers who have confirmed they want it).

Subsequent to the launch of the trip notification feature with the new system, a marked increase in trip cancellations that would have historically been a no-show or late cancellation has occurred. Customers cancelling a trip that is no longer required the evening prior will allow the system to identify and schedule other trips that had previously been unaccommodated. Future communications to customers will encourage the cancellation of any trip that is no longer required with as much advance notice as possible.

Trip Booking/Delivery

In the initial weeks of operation of the new system, delays were experienced on the booking lines as both customers and staff learned to work with the new system, which in turn resulted in customer frustration. Wait times in the queue exceeded ten minutes and average talk time per booking call exceeded five minutes. This was somewhat expected given the need for call takers to become familiar with the new system, however the trip notification issue mentioned earlier in this report resulted in many more calls to the booking line than normal. Since the time of system implementation, things have, for the most part returned to similar wait and talk times that were experienced with the previous system.

The table below provides a comparison of several measures from a week in early January (the week prior to implementation) using the old system and the week of February 10 (several weeks after implementation of the new system).

All measures have improved significantly since the first two weeks of operation with the new system. With the exception of the average wait time in the queue, every measure has improved beyond the measures from the period when the previous system was in use. These measures are likely to see changes again once the Passenger Portal is launched in Phase II, which will provide customers with the ability to request trips online and also manage their other trip bookings online, reducing the need to call the booking line.

Phase II Implementation

Phase II involves the launch of the Passenger Portal, which provides for the ability to make booking requests online as well as allows customers to manage their trip bookings.

Given the experience with the Phase I launch, the approach for Phase II will be to utilize a small group of registrants to pilot the Passenger Portal in cooperation with administration. This group was identified due to their level of demand trip booking as well as their previous use of the app associated with the previous scheduling system. Administration has completed training on the Passenger Portal and the training for the test group has been scheduled for February 24-26, 2025. Once training is complete testers will begin utilizing the Passenger Portal to make booking requests online and manage their booked trips. Administration will gain experience with the process in which these requests will be confirmed. This approach will provide the necessary understanding of the manner in which the online trip request function operates in order to ensure that a fair process will be implemented to accept both online trip requests and those made via telephone once the Passenger Portal has been rolled out to all customers.

In addition to testing the functionality, this group will provide feedback that will be incorporated into the instructions that will be sent to all customers in advance of the full launch of the Passenger Portal. Access to the Passenger Portal for the wider customer base is anticipated to be granted in phases once testing has been completed with the initial group. The phasing of this launch will ensure that appropriate administrative resources will be available to assist customers in the initial setup and will also provide insight into the number of customers that will choose to utilize this feature so that staff resources can be allocated accordingly between telephone lines and on-line request processing.

Recommended by:

Brandon Goldstone, Manager of Service Integration

Shawn Wilson, Director of Operations

Concurred in by:

Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager