While many Americans remain drawn to the convenience, comfort, and perceived efficiency of private vehicles, public transit is an essential part of our cities and communities. According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), a vast number of people rely on transit for their daily commute. Public transit offers substantial benefits, not just for individual users but also for society and the environment.
The key to making public transit more attractive and growing passenger numbers lies in improving the passenger experience. Vontas OnTransit provides state-of-the-art technology solutions that increase ridership, boost profitability, and contribute to a more sustainable and connected society.
Palpable Passenger Experience Problems
For passengers looking to get from point A to point B, various frustrations impact their experience. Some of the most common complaints expressed by transit riders include:
Unpredictable Schedules: Unpredictability makes it difficult for passengers to plan their travel accurately, leading to extended wait times, missed connections, and longer travel duration. When people are uncertain when their bus will arrive, or the bus is more than a couple of minutes late, it leads to frustration that can deter them from using the service in the future.
Overcrowding: During peak hours, buses and trains often become extremely crowded, leading to discomfort and stress for passengers. Overcrowding can also make it difficult for passengers to get on or off vehicles at their desired stops.
Limited Coverage: Public transit systems may not cover all areas of a city or region, making it difficult for some passengers to reach their destinations without resorting to other forms of transportation.
Safety Concerns: Some passengers may feel unsafe using public transit, particularly during off-peak hours or in less populated areas. This can include concerns about crime, harassment, or accidents.
Poorly Maintained Facilities: Dirty or poorly maintained buses, trains, stations, or stops can make the transit experience unpleasant for passengers.
Lack of Real-Time Information: Without real-time updates on vehicle arrivals, delays, or route changes, passengers can experience uncertainty and frustration.
In all cases, unresponsive or unhelpful customer service aggravates passengers’ challenges, particularly when dealing with complaints, lost items, or service inquiries.
Delivering a Viable Solution
With Vontas OnRoute, transit companies can make travel easier, safer, and more rewarding. The system works to address these passenger experience problems in several ways.
1. Real-Time Schedule Updates
By providing real-time updates on bus locations and schedules, Vontas intelligent transportation system (ITS) software helps to reduce wait times and keep buses on schedule. Metro Transit Minneapolis/St. Paul demonstrated the effectiveness of this solution. After upgrading to the ITS, bus location updates were sent every 5-10 seconds, compared to every 30-60 seconds previously. This improvement led to more accurate arrival predictions and shorter wait times for passengers.
According to Gary Nyberg, Manager of Technology Systems at Metro Transit Minneapolis/St. Paul, empowering customers with information helps build trust and confidence in the transit system.
2. Enhanced Safety and Maintenance
Bus safety and maintenance are critical factors influencing the passenger experience. If buses are perceived as safe and well-maintained, passengers are more likely to use the service regularly. Vontas OnSite plays a key role in ensuring vehicle safety and passenger comfort. It includes features like integrated cameras, which improve visibility and help reduce accidents.
3. Better Response Time and Accuracy
With safer operations, transit providers can improve their response time and accuracy during emergencies with GPS location, real-time disruption management, and automatic notification to key stakeholders. Accident frequency is reduced with improved visibility via camera integrations. You can also collect data on driver behavior to improve road safety. This supports the APTA statistics showing that traveling by public transit is 10x safer per mile than private transportation.
4. Valuable Information and Infotainment
With real-time information, companies can leverage AVL (Automated Vehicle Location) data and provide riders with accurate vehicle arrival predictions on street signs, onboard infotainment, IVR, web, and mobile applications. This reduces uncertainty for passengers by immediately relaying service disruptions and detour information.
5. Improved Comfort and Convenience
By monitoring passenger loads in real-time, adding service, and automatically informing riders of current capacity, companies manage overcrowding and deliver better rider comfort and convenience. They can achieve seamless and inclusive service by monitoring wheelchair and bike deployments and expanding options for fare collection. This leads to increased customer satisfaction with the service.
Above all, the availability of real-time information empowers customer service agents to handle queries and complaints efficiently.
Boosting Passenger Loyalty the Vontas Way
With Vontas OnTransit, your company can keep bus passengers on schedule and happy to take public transit. Reduce passenger wait times by getting buses quickly on the road and staying on schedule. Improve vehicle safety and passenger comfort with safer, well-maintained vehicles. The improvement in passenger experience will increase customer loyalty and build your reputation as a punctual, dependable service that passengers seek out.