The delivery of high quality low cost passenger transport in a multiple service delivery environment is a complex process. Many Local Government Authorities provide a range of transport services including Home to School, Special Education, Social Services, Dial-a-Ride and health transport which vary from relatively fixed arrangements to demand responsive transport services. Not surprisingly, transport provision is traditionally organised to reflect the different service types, with separate departments specialising in providing transport for each service type based on local staff knowledge aided by an array of ‘home grown’ or service related IT systems. This fragmented approach to transport provision provides little opportunity for coordination and improvement.

APTS, the leading DRT and special needs passenger transport system, includes the latest MUST (MUltiple Service Type) technology. MUST technology takes account of the different requirements, protocols and restrictions for each service type. APTS reflects the latest thinking in integrated transport strategies, centralised transport offices, shared services and cooperative working by providing support for Health, Social Services, General Education, Special Education, Dial-a-Ride and other transport services on the same IT platform. Using proven DDA technology, a unique passenger database schema and user defined service protocols and attributes, APTS allows all service types to be organised and administered, without conflict, on the same IT system. APTS is designed to reduce transport and administration costs through shared IT resources, common database structure, improved journey scheduling and optimised resource usage.

New MUST features at a glance:

• Handles Ambulance, Social Services, General Education, Special Education, Dial-a-Ride, Courier and other transport services.
• User defined service criteria, protocols and attributes.
• Can be configured for shared multi-organisational use, centralised facilities management or brokered operations.
• Proven DDA technology for distributed operations.
• Single or multiple Call Centre operation.
• Web booking, enquiries and reporting.
• Passenger pre-registration.
• Multi-level journey eligibility criteria by service type.
• Single or multiple advance bookings.
• Passenger number recall and copy features for rapid booking.
• On demand planning and journey scheduling.
• Integrated mapping, routing and route optimisation.
• Automatic journey mileage and timing.
• Driver journey route instructions.
• Service quality recording.
• A single passenger may be active on one or more services (eg. Health, Social Services and Education).
• Journey costing and charging, fare records and payment tracking.
• Extensive reporting and geographical analysis.
• Reporting Wizard.
• On-board mobile communications and vehicle tracking interfaces.