GIRO has received a Corporate Innovation Award from the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) for its HASTUS-BidWeb technology. The award is part of CUTA’s National Transit Corporate Recognition Awards — selected by a national committee of transit professionals — recognizing major contributions or outstanding achievement in the areas of safety, innovation, and outstanding achievement/exceptional performance.

The BidWeb module is designed to give transit employees greater control in the bid process. It leverages Web functionality to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of roster assignment bids, vacation bids, and vacation replacement bids. Used in conjunction with the HASTUS-Bid module, BidWeb provides Web access to bid information as well as preference selection tools that give employees the freedom to submit bid preferences from a kiosk or from the convenience of home or another location outside of work.

Key benefits of BidWeb include:

•    Greater employee independence:  employees can view work and vacation availabilities online (not required to be onsite to submit preferences), allowing more time to view and rank preferences before their submission deadline.

•    Reduced administrative burden & costs:  eliminates the need for in-person appointments and costs associated with hiring replacement workers to cover for employees during their bid appointment; work is distributed automatically — manual revisions not required.

•    Greater accuracy:  bid information is automatically updated in the system, eliminating the risk of re-bids due to manual error.
 
•    Reduced paper consumption:  facilitates a paperless process, as multiple printed copies of mark-up sheets are not required.

GIRO’s Director of Technology, David Fabi, was on hand to accept the award during a presentation ceremony held May 18 at the 2010 CUTA Annual Meeting in Ottawa, Ontario. “GIRO is honored to be recognized alongside other innovative transit projects that emphasize Canada’s leading role in this exciting and promising field,” said Fabi.