Introducing a New Way to Dispatch
Dispatchers do it all. It isn’t easy to keep a bus network running on time. It’s up to dispatchers to make sense of everything that a particular vehicle is doing at any given time.
Where is bus X? Where should it be? How many people are on board? Does that driver need a lunch break? Why did that stop get skipped? How long will it be until the next bus arrives? Multiply that by 5, 50, or 500 buses on the road, and it’s enough to make you dizzy just thinking about it.
Orchestrating perfect transit trips often means checking lots of different of tools, each providing bits and pieces of information. Dispatchers could save a huge amount of time and effort by being able to use one consolidated dispatch tool to view trip, vehicle, driver, and passenger information. We know because our clients told us.
In that spirit, we are (very) happy to announce the launch of the new GMV dispatch portal: Sync.
Sync builds on what we know about reliable software, but redesigns it with user flow in mind. This approach means simpler navigation, so that the highest priority tasks are organized in a menu built especially for your role in a transit agency. It means modernizing transit software with text search, dynamic tags, and data visualization. And finally, it opens up the possibilities for more advanced reporting, data visualization, and other useful features in the near future.
The inset map helps dispatchers locate vehicles quickly.
The Dispatch List acts as a centralized source of information for every vehicle, providing real-time answers to dispatchers’ questions. Each vehicle has an expandable module showing all the details about its current trip, including exact location, speed and heading, as well as on-time performance and passenger load.
With this data readily available, it is easy to see, for example, when drivers are not following their route or to check if they are on detour or deadheading.
Tags on the route name show if a vehicle is off route or deadheading to or from it, so you know exactly if each bus is where it should be.
So what happens when a dispatcher wants to take action?
Action cards allow a dispatcher to perform a variety of actions all in one place, from messaging the driver to checking on connecting buses. They are the control panel for the dispatcher, allowing them to manage vehicles on the road and help maintain the accuracy of the arrival information for riders.
Dispatch List currently offers three action cards:
Upcoming Stops
Message Driver
Assign Vehicle
The Upcoming Stops Action Card shows potential missed connections.
The Upcoming Stops card displays down-route arrival predictions for the selected vehicle and for vehicles on other routes. Missed connection alerting gives dispatchers a tool to smoothly execute transfers. The Message Driver and Assign Vehicle cards save dispatchers time when communicating with drivers or devices in their system.
Over time, GMV will release more Action Cards, helping dispatchers to access live cameras, manage wifi signals, and more.
Searching for and identifying a vehicle with an issue can delay and disrupt workflow. Sync revolutionizes this process for our dispatchers by enabling search and filters. We can now use vehicle name, route, status, driver and more to quickly find exactly what we’re looking for.
If Dispatchers are alerted to an issue, but aren’t sure where it is, they can use the Vehicle Search bar to find it.
Dispatchers can also perform this search with one click. Status pills at the top of the page group vehicles based on actionable characteristics, allowing dispatchers to check in on vehicles with potential issues.
Status pills allow for quick filtering based on categories of potential issues, such as vehicles that are running early, late, off route, or not signed in.