Volusia County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, and its population is aging. For the residents who depend on VoAccess, VoTran's ADA paratransit service, every trip matters: a dialysis appointment, a shift at work, a weekly grocery run.

Before November 2025, those riders were being let down. On-time performance sat in the low-to-mid 80s. Vehicles were under-utilized, missed trips were common, and phone hold times stretched as call centers absorbed a constant flow of "Where's my ride?" calls. Schedulers and dispatchers spent their days hand-building manifests and manually shuffling trips between routes just to keep things moving. Drivers were put on mandatory overtime for weeks at a time.

The agency's existing software hadn't kept pace with how the service actually needed to operate. As Bobby King, VoTran's Transit Services Director, put it, “the system had not evolved into modernization, and we were trying to make that work. It was clearly not working."

The problem wasn't effort. It was the system they were using: a rigid, outdated system trying to serve a dynamic, growing community.

A full system overhaul done at once

Rather than patch the existing system, VoTran took a different approach. When the agency issued a new RFP for operations and maintenance, it required the contractor to bring modern software capabilities to the table. At the same time, VoTran shifted from a management-style contract to a full turnkey operations model and used the moment to modernize paratransit, add microtransit, and lay the foundation for a true multimodal network combining fixed route, on-demand service, and TNC options like Uber.

VoTran selected RATP Dev USA as its operations partner and Spare as its technology platform. All three partners had to work as one. That made as much difference as the software itself.

Putting people first and technology second

Rolling out new paratransit technology across 1,200 square miles is not a small task. The team was managing roughly 700 daily trips, multiple subcontractor fleets, and a team accustomed to doing everything manually. They had two months to make major adjustments. 

Angela Milroy, Director of Operations at RATP Dev USA, made a deliberate choice to lead with change management rather than software. The team communicated the why of the transition early, ran multiple presentations to share the county's vision, and worked to build buy-in well before anyone touched a tablet.

In the final week before launch, the team ran mandatory training sessions, seven days a week, twelve  hours a day. These days were broken out into sessions that ran two hours each, for drivers, dispatchers, and the call center.  Day one of launch, and the full week beyond, Spare's launch team was on site, riding along with drivers and working through the nuances of real operations. The discipline was intentional. As Angela Milroy puts it, "When you pull the plug, that's it. You can't go back."

An overnight transformation on launch day

Day one of the new system.

On-time performance jumped from an 83% average to 97% and 100% by day two. Angela Milroy didn't soften it when she described what changed: dispatch went from "a dumpster fire" to calm almost overnight. There were days under the old system, she recalls, when staff would have cried if they could.

The shift wasn't only in the numbers. The unmatched-trip bucket, once a constant source of manual firefighting, sat nearly empty most of the day. Mandatory overtime, once running six days a week, was virtually eliminated. Call volume on the radio and phones dropped sharply as drivers and dispatchers shifted to in-app messaging. Drivers who had initially resisted the new routing system came around quickly once they saw it adapting in real time to traffic, detours, and accidents. The team credits this in part to Spare's integration with Google Live Traffic.

Six months of sustained performance

The platform metrics tell a story of consistent improvement across the first six months of operation, not a one-day spike that faded.

VoTran On Demand app bookings as a share of total boardings — adoption climbed sharply after the app launched on December 1, 2025:

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Total boardings per month — paratransit demand stayed steady, then jumped in March 2026 with the addition of VoRide microtransit on the same platform:

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Riders feel the difference

Operational improvements translated directly into rider experience and the community noticed. Call center complaints dropped dramatically. In some months, total valid complaints fell into single digits, with most tied to other modes of service entirely. The monthly complaint report shrank from a workbook to a single page.

The VoTran On Demand app, launched December 1, 2025, and  gave riders something they had never had before: visibility and control. Riders can book without waiting on hold, track their ride in real time the way they'd track a delivery, and manage or cancel trips from their phones. Within five months of launch, more than one in five paratransit boardings were self-booked through the app.

Feedback from VoTran's visually impaired rider community has been particularly strong. VoTran meets with this group bimonthly, and riders have highlighted the ease of booking and the in-app wallet. For a service where reliability is independence, the cumulative effect has been a quiet rebuilding of trust between the agency and the people who depend on it.

Letting the system do its thing

A key mindset shift at VoTran was understanding what automation does and doesn’t replace. The goal wasn't to remove human judgment from dispatch. It was to take routine scheduling and routing off the dispatcher's plate so the team could focus on the exceptions that genuinely need a person.

Behind the scenes, Spare continuously reoptimizes trips based on real-world conditions: traffic, late pickups, ADA requirements, and locally-configured service rules. Dispatchers monitor and manage exceptions and the system handles the volume. As Emily Rulo Spanic, Partner Success Manager at Spare, puts it: "The goal is for Spare to handle the routine scheduling, while giving dispatchers the information they need to step in and solve real-world problems with their own expertise when needed."

That balance turned VoTran's dispatch floor from a daily crisis into a calm, functional operation.

VoRide goes live

The success of paratransit launch gave VoTran the confidence to keep going. In March 2026, VoTran launched VoRide, its new on-demand microtransit service, on the same Spare platform.

VoRide fills gaps in suburban, commercial, and coastal areas of Volusia County where fixed routes are difficult to run efficiently. Stops are spread far apart, trip patterns vary, or demand doesn't follow a predictable path. Riders book same-day, curb-to-curb trips through the VoTran On Demand app. Uber-powered options are available alongside VoRide to expand availability and reduce wait times.

For VoTran, microtransit isn't a standalone product. It's the next layer in a fully multimodal network. Through Spare One, VoTran's multimodal trip planner, riders can plan end-to-end journeys that combine VoRide with the fixed-route bus network,using on-demand for the first or last mile, then connecting to fixed route, all in one trip.

The platform also coordinates VoTran's main fleet alongside three subcontractor fleets (CCT, AVT, and MedOne)  through unified dispatching with role-based access controls. Running every on-demand service on a single platform gives the agency a single view of demand, utilization, and gaps, making it easier to shift resources or expand coverage as Volusia County's needs change. VoTran has already signaled its intent to keep expanding microtransit coverage on this foundation.

Advice for other agencies

The VoTran team's advice for agencies considering modernization is consistent and hard-earned.

Bobbie King, Transit Services Director, VoTran: "Not being afraid to do the unthinkable is my recommendation to others. Do it. Planning is extremely important, and having the right resources and the right partners in place is going to help you be more successful."

Angela Milroy, Director of Operations, RATP Dev USA: "Don't underestimate training. It has to be more than you think you need. Focus on your operations, not just the software. Build the buy-in — they have to trust you enough to trust what you're about to make them do."

Takeaways for agencies considering modernization

• Outdated paratransit software isn't just inefficient. It's costly, demoralizing, and unsustainable as demand grows. The status quo carries its own risks.
• Reliability is a rider's right. When riders can count on their ride, confidence in the service builds and self-service adoption follows.
• The RFP moment is your best window. When a contractor transition is already underway, include software modernization in the same scope.
• Training is the implementation. The technology works when the people are ready for it. Invest more time than you think you need.
• Partnership is the secret ingredient. The VoTran story isn't just a software story,it's a story of three organizations showing up for the same goal.
• One platform running paratransit, microtransit and TNC coordination also means reducing complexity as your network evolves.

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