When we board a bus, tram, subway, or paratransit shuttle, our immediate focus is often on the vehicle and the driver who navigates it.

Yet, behind the scenes, an intricate network of professionals work tirelessly to ensure that our commute–whether using a fixed route, on-demand or a combination of both–is smooth, timely, and safe. Among these are the unsung heroes of public transit: dispatchers. They labor in the shadows, making critical decisions that directly affect the efficiency and quality of service paratransit and microtransit riders receive.

From manually reassigning trips due to vehicle breakdowns to maintaining paratransit schedules that are in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), their role is indispensable to the daily functioning of transit agencies. In this blog, we aim to shed light on the complex, high-stakes world of transit operation teams and how innovative technology, like Spare Platform, is not only helping to make their day-to-day a little easier, but are setting new standards in the paratransit and microtransit industry.

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A different framework: From reactivity to proactivity

At Spare, we often think about building the Spare platform to be operations-first: meaning, it’s designed to help dispatchers react as effectively as possible – aka, respond to day-of scenarios.

The proactive vs reactive framework is what we've used to build tools that ultimately help transit management and dispatch teams problem-solve and make swift and often high-stake decisions.

At a high-level:

1. A reactive approach focuses on addressing challenges as they arise.
2. A proactive approach involves anticipating issues and planning ahead to manage them.

For long-term success, a balanced strategy that incorporates both is best.

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1. React & respond: Addressing operational challenges as they arise

Modern dispatching solutions give dispatchers the context and insights they need to make real-time routing and scheduling decisions, pivot their plans in the event of issues or traffic delays, and respond precisely to customer questions.

When combined into a single modern reservations, scheduling and dispatch platform, the output is an operations-first technology, layered on top of an advanced routing engine that unlike legacy platforms that use batch scheduling methods, instantly schedules trip requests and maximizes fleet productivity in real-time.

Meaning, it continuously optimizes pickups, drop-offs, and routing while dynamically updating riders, drivers, administrators, and dispatchers with real-time information. So whether it’s a 1 or 100+ vehicle service, passengers will always be automatically assigned to the best suited vehicle–and group passengers headed in the same direction–into highly efficient shared (pooled) rides.

With Spare, transit management and dispatch teams can be confident knowing that multiple seniors leaving a medical appointment from the same building will be grouped into the same vehicle, unless there’s an explicit reason for them not to!

So modern on-demand transit solutions are productive. But what does it mean to be an operations-first platform?

Let’s take a look.

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Spare platform gives dispatch teams full visibility on service health.

View vehicle movement in real-time on an intuitive Live Map

Spare's Live Map empowers dispatchers to view their paratransit and microtransit operation in real time. Whether it’s vehicle movement using automatic vehicle location, or staying updated on vehicle lateness, dispatch teams have a ‘bird eye view’ of the transit system at all times.

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Spare platform optimizes in real-time, but not at the expense of manual control.

Every day is different when it comes to running public transit–unplanned scenarios happen. Spare empowers dispatchers with a fine balance of real-time optimization (aka letting our routing engine do its thing), and manual control as the day unfolds.

Manually override the system

Spare Engine is constantly helping you fill extra capacity and create more efficient manifests. But sometimes, dispatchers may need it to take a rest and manually override the system due to emergencies or local knowledge that only they have.

It is in those critical moments when dispatchers need to tap into their superpowers the most.

Spare’s manual intervention tools give dispatchers unparalleled control and flexibility, empowering them to handle the unpredictable nature of paratransit and microtransit operations with confidence. With one centralized hub for managing engine overrides, dispatchers can assess capacity in real time, see exactly which trips are affected, and make informed override decisions. For example, the Lock to Duty feature allows dispatchers to lock specific trips to a vehicle, ensuring passengers share a ride for accessibility or efficiency. Meanwhile, Unmatched Requests lets dispatchers remove trips from a manifest to make room for urgent or stranded riders, working seamlessly with Pause Optimization to give even more manual control over the day-of operations.

While Spare Engine is one of the best in the industry, we understand that running these services requires a balance of automation and human intervention. By integrating manual capabilities as a second layer of defense, we’ve built a system that adapts to dispatchers' expertise and keeps operations running smoothly, even in the most unpredictable scenarios.

Sometimes, dispatchers simply need to take a breather to deal with a stressful situation. Using Pause Optimization, dispatchers can pause Spare's routing and optimization engine to ensure that no trips are automatically added or taken away while dispatch teams work to resolve the situation at hand. And once that's done, simply press play to get the show back on the road!

Communicate with drivers

Driver communication is vital for dispatch teams, especially if they just so happen to be in the middle of solving a sticky situation.

When dispatchers need to get a hold of a driver, Spare's Live Messages is your go to! Choose from a variety of canned messages used in common situations and chat with drivers directly, alerting them when it's safe to respond.

Automatically re-match broken down vehicles

A lot can happen out on the road, and unfortunately that can include a vehicle breaking down. If there are customers on the vehicle, this can turn a situation from bad to worse very quickly! Fortunately, Spare’s Vehicle Breakdown Wizard will automatically re-match in-progress trips to other vehicles, automatically setting the pickup location nearby to where the vehicle broke down. A tricky situation can be solved in a matter of a few clicks!

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2. Get proactive: Anticipating issues and planning ahead to manage them

Spare platform helps dispatchers zero-in on areas of their operations that need special attention.

Are unmatched trip requests or delayed drivers impacting your on-time performance? For paratransit, are there pre-scheduled trips still waiting to be assigned to a driver? With Spare, every key metric critical to your operation is refreshed in near real-time, offering insights in an intuitive tabular format. From identifying issues to taking immediate action, the platform makes it easy to stay on top of your operations and address challenges as they arise.

Spot every issue before it becomes a problem

Spare equips dispatchers with powerful tools to proactively address operational challenges before they escalate. Within the Live Requests tabular view, dispatchers can easily spot trips that are struggling to find a match or running behind schedule, allowing them to quickly identify and resolve problem areas without leaving the screen. This module provides a comprehensive, real-time overview of daily operations, including current and predicted on-time performance (OTP), broken down by hour, driver, service, or fleet. Dispatchers can analyze trends, monitor delays, and take immediate action to prevent disruptions.

For deeper planning, they can review past and future days to identify capacity needs or explore "what-if" scenarios using Optimization Insights to replay routing with historical data. These features empower dispatchers to maintain smooth, efficient operations while staying ahead of potential issues.

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Stay tuned for more superpowers

We know dispatch teams have a lot going on throughout the day. Regardless of the size and scale of your ADA paratransit or microtransit operation, we’ve been in your shoes.

These are the many tools we're building for your operational toolkit to alleviate frustrating moments, allow dispatchers to respond more effectively to urgent scenarios, and ultimately, begin to carve out space to get more proactive. These features are really only the tip of the iceberg – stay tuned for even more superpowers!

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If all of these tools for dispatchers are keeping you on the edge of your seat, then we can’t wait to show you even more tools we’re building each week to improve the user experience for dispatchers and more. Sign up for our newsletter to get company and product updates straight to your inbox.

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