Monticello, Ill.-based Piatt County Public Transportation (Piattran), a demand-response operation that provides door-to-door service with a fleet of paratransit buses and smaller vehicles, selected a joint technology solution from CTS Software and Mentor Engineering.

Piattran chose CTS Software to supply Trip Master Enterprise Edition (TMEE) paratransit management software. TMEE provides a complete package of routing, scheduling and reporting functionality. Seamlessly integrated with TMEE and installed in each vehicle are Mentor Ranger rugged mobile computers. The joint solution allows Piattran to easily make on-the-fly schedule changes and collect accurate data for operational planning, while providing greater flexibility in all areas of their operation.

With the new CTS/Mentor system, dispatchers always know where each vehicle is and how many seats are available, making it easy to rearrange and update the schedule in real-time without needing to use the radio, since the ride details automatically appear on the driver's Ranger. Piattran is also able to complete more rides each day.

"We are able to meet nearly all of the same day requests that we get," said Tia Blakeman, finance manager, Piattran. "Before, we always tried to accommodate same day requests but seeing where they could fit into the schedule could be difficult. Now we have the necessary knowledge to easily see where the most effective placement will be and seat almost every request that comes in."