The Routing Company (TRC) received a five-year contract from the Chillicothe Transit System (CTS)  to provide on-demand transportation in Chillicothe, Ohio.

The contract includes 22 vehicles intended to provide fixed and on-demand service.

The TRC, CTS Partnership

The contract marks TRC’s first order through the five-year Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) State Contract announced by TRC in October 2023, and its first deployment in Ohio.

The State Contract named The Routing Company (in partnership with Optibus) to provide scheduling and dispatch software across Ohio. This means transit agencies across the state can use ODOT’s State Contract to purchase TRC products with a streamlined procurement process.

CTS is the public transit system operating in Chillicothe city limits and the surrounding Ross County. It operates fixed routes, paratransit services, county routes, and contract transportation services, supporting over 150,000 trips per year.

"To secure our first order soon after being named to the ODOT State Contract is an exciting point of momentum for TRC. There is great potential to supercharge transit service in Ohio and we look forward to delivering more accessible and efficient transit alongside CTS — a proven innovator and one familiar with on-demand transit,” said James Cox, CEO, TRC.

The New CTS Deployment

CTS will use operational funds from the Federal Transit Administration’s Formula Grants For Rural Areas (5311 funds) to support the service.

The new on-demand deployment will operate within city limits (including the Ohio State Route 159 to Ohio State Route 207 interchange, and Ohio State Route 104 to the Chillicothe Veterans Affairs Medical Center), leveraging TRC’s full suite of Pingo products — including features such as Transit Connect, Pingo Journey, and a shuttle application through Pingo Campus.

CTS will operate the service fare free.

TRC’s Solution

Pingo Journey™ is a multimodal journey planning feature integrating TRC’s real-time routing technology with public transport infrastructure. Using Pingo Journey, riders can book on-demand rides and plan their ongoing fixed-route journeys from the single Ride Pingo app.

Transit Connect guarantees connections for riders to fixed-route networks using real-time data. The feature was developed by TRC as a solution to improve the rider experience and guarantee a connection to onward transit modes. Transit Connect will be used alongside Pingo Journey to connect riders to other transit services in the area.

TRC recently released new Pingo data that shows operators can regularly fill 18-person shuttles with on-demand service. TRC has proven it can deliver a higher utilization of vehicles compared to industry competitors, meaning more riders per vehicle per hour — in turn meaning maximized ride pooling to reduce single occupancy trips, according to the company.

TRC’s award-winning Pingo platform includes the Drive Pingo and Ride Pingo apps and the Pingo Dashboard operations management tool, which together provide on-demand, paratransit, fixed, and flexible transit that enhances ridership of existing transit networks.