MENTOR ENGINEERING WINNER AWARD TO BETA SITE FROM I In the mobile communications world, forging successful relationships with like-minded vendors often separates great companies from average ones. ese are the relationships that expand horizons, deepen knowledge and set the stage for future growth. The relationship between Mentor Engineering and Metro Bus in St. Cloud, MN began in the late 1990s. at was when Mentor brought their Mobile Data Computers (MDCs) to Metro Bus’ paratransit fleet and ushered in a new era of productivity and organizational efficiency for this Midwestern transit agency. MENTOR STREETS ® BOOSTS EFFICIENCY FOR ST. CLOUD’S METRO BUS
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M e n t o r e n g i n e e r i n g�
M e n t o r e n g i n e e r i n g
WinnerAwArdto
Beta SiteFrom
IIn the mobile communications world, forging successful relationships with like-minded vendors often separates great companies from average ones. These are the relationships that expand horizons, deepen knowledge and set the stage for future growth.
The relationship between Mentor Engineering and Metro Bus in St. Cloud, MN began in the late 1990s.That was when Mentor brought their Mobile Data Computers (MDCs) to Metro Bus’ paratransit fleet and ushered in a new era of productivity and organizational efficiency for this Midwestern transit agency.
Mentor StreetS® booStS efficiency for St. cloud’S Metro buS
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FFast forward to 2004 and technological changes were sweeping the transportation industry. Mentor had just launched the Beta version of Streets®, an all-in-one fixed route transit package that included software modules for in-vehicle mobile computing, Computer-Aided Dispatch and Automatic Vehicle Location (CAD/AVL), incident management, report generation, trip building, and scheduling. And Tony Kellen, Director of Operations and Technology at St. Cloud Metro Bus was searching for a technological solution to move the fixed-route side of his organization to new levels of customer service and efficiency. The business relationship between Mentor and Metro Bus represented the perfect blend of need and opportunity.
One of the first Systems Engineers Mentor assigned to the St. Cloud site was Shubh Sidhu. He knew there was a great deal of work ahead and hit the ground running to implement the best system possible for Metro Bus.
“At the beginning, there was an emphasis on learning how St. Cloud conducted business as a fixed-route operation,” says Shubh. “Much of our early development work was based on identifying the functionality required by this particular fixed-route operation. As a team of interdisciplinary software developers and system engineers, we had to align what we were building technically to what St. Cloud needed in a business environment. The key questions were ‘What will the application look like?’ and ‘How does it process changes to a fixed-route schedule?’” The answers would transform St. Cloud Metro Bus into an award-winning organization in the years ahead.
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beween MenTor
and MeTro bus
represenTed The
perfecT blend of need
and opporTuniTy.
the power of
Mentor StreetSAnd cAd/Avl functionAlity
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MenTor sTreeTs iMproves and expediTes public TransiT operaTions by enabling TiMely and wireless coMMunicaTion beween in-office and in-vehicle personnel
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“The single biggest impact for our organization is knowing where our vehicles are,” says Tony. “It’s important to make our drivers aware of their on-time performance and running their routes closer to schedule. For us, information is the key.”
The AVL module of Streets® gives dispatchers the ability to know where their vehicles are at all times without having to look at a chart. Dispatchers have a screen that shows them any vehicle they choose, what route they are on, and who the driver is at any time.
The process of talking to a driver directly used to be much more complicated before Streets® was introduced. The dispatcher had to complete about five steps and there were reams of paper to sort through. The process is more streamlined today.
“With Streets, you look at the screen, you select a vehicle, you see who’s driving it; you know where they’re going and where they’ve been. It’s all about efficiency.”
Serving the faSteSt
GroWinGmetropolis in minnesotA
TThe City of St. Cloud is located approxi-mately 60 miles northwest of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN. With a population of just over 250,000 people and a large university contingent, the public transit system is a critical part of the community. As you would expect, people use transit to get to work and school. But the system also must provide service to the elderly and disabled. It’s a tall task and those at St. Cloud engage forward thinking and technological solutions like Mentor Streets® to meet the demands this organization faces day-to-day.
Mentor Streets® improves and expedites public transit operations by enabling timely and wireless communication between in-office and in-vehicle personnel. It sounds simple, but the impact of real-time communication on an organization like Metro Bus, is anything but simplistic. Tony has noticed improved office morale, a significant decrease in customer complaints, and improved clarity around operations. Ultimately, this translates as better allocation of funds, an increased ridership, and better-managed resources. As a result, Streets® gives management the capability to take the pulse of the organization at any given moment. With 44 Metro Bus vehicles operating at any given time, combining fixed route and demand response services, Streets® acts as the hub to real-time decision-making within the organization.
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St. Cloud understands that technological innovation is the means to operational efficiency. In 2004, Metro Bus implemented Mentor Streets®, (a fully integrated wireless communication solution that includes software applications for computer aided dispatch/automatic vehicle location (CAD/AVL), incident management, and mobile computing. The single biggest consequence of Streets® technology on Metro Bus is efficiency. Its impact is experienced across the board. “Knowing where our vehicles are makes our drivers aware of their on-time performance, and helps them run their routes closer to schedule. It gives dispatchers the ability to know, all the time, where the vehicles are without having to look at a chart. Our supervisors can pull up a vehicle any time and see where it is. The dispatch center has a screen which shows a vehicle, what route the vehicle is on, and who the driver is, at any time,” explains Tony.
technoloGyThe AmericAn Public TrAnsPorTATion AssociATion (APTA) nAmed sT. cloud
meTro bus The #1 TrAnsiT sysTem in norTh AmericA in 2007 And 1990.
meTro bus wAs AwArded These indusTry AccolAdes becAuse of Their
commiTmenT To sAfeTy, significAnT ridershiP increAses And Their APPlicATion
of TechnologicAl innovATions.
inventing SolutionsTony Kellen and his son Tyler have moved St. Cloud technology further by developing MetroNet. MetroNet ties into the various back-end databases used by St. Cloud Metro Bus. “We have a secure gateway through our firewall, so MetroNet allows users to log on to the system from any computer, anywhere in the world,” says Tony. MetroNet features a Forms Management System, which allows for extensive reporting capabilities. This system streamlines paperwork for employees and management. When it comes to filing accident claims, Tony receives the information he needs instantly. As Tony explains, “ The supervisor populates the claim form through MetroNet, and as soon as they save the claim, an email is sent to me telling me all the essential facts of the accident as I want them. It’s customizable.” This ease of access to information and operational efficiency delivered by technological innovation allows Metro Bus to focus on their winning dedication to quality of service.
Mentor Streets® CAD Window
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When Erin Brook, another member of Mentor’s systems engineering group joined the St. Cloud Metro Bus project in 2006, the work dealt with in-vehicle environments, and Erin chalked up hundreds of unbilled Beta hours integrating Ranger® computers and Mentor Mobility, the accompanying mobile application, with its in-office CAD/AVL software counterpart. The job tested both Erin’s wireless expertise and the stability of XGate, Mentor’s immutable middleware which links office to vehicle over virtually any network.
“By the time I became involved, we had a good process in place for managing issues as they came up,” says Erin. “With Streets® Dispatch, I had little to do in terms of fixes or work arounds, which is good.”
With so much technology being added to the organization in a relatively short period of time, it would have been understandable if there was some
eaSy
makingtechnology
resistance from the drivers and dispatchers. But St. Cloud was prepared for that scenario.
St. Cloud recruited four of its lead drivers to test Ranger® in the pilot phase. These were seasoned drivers who had recieved Department of Transportation training and Transit Ambassador training. “It builds a little anticipation with the other drivers who ask ‘how come we don’t get to use those?” says Tony.
The lead drivers became comfortable with the new technology and provided valuable feedback to St. Cloud about the reliability of Ranger®. Then the second phase of implementation began.
“Once the overall system was in place, we invited the drivers to play with
Ranger®. At the same time, we told them to expect issues,” says Tony. “We conditioned them to expect a few basic problems in this initial phase. We do that with all of our technologies. With Mentor there
in The seven years we’ve used MenTor’s xgaTe Middleware To Move inforMaTion back and forTh beTween drivers and dispaTch in our dial-a-ride service, we have never had a coMMunicaTion probleM
“”
WWhile Streets was implemented in St. Cloud in 2004, Mentor had other technical innovations to add to the Metro Bus fleet. In March of 2006, Mentor replaced the MDCs in Metro Bus’ fleet with Rangers®, its rugged, multi-functional Windows CE in-vehicle devices, to give the drivers in the Metro Bus fleet a platform to operate Streets®.
ImplementatIon
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simplified by the interface which Streets® presented. The schedule, for example looked similar on screen as it did on paper which made the learning environment comfortable. That was just one aspect of the learning curve that Metro Bus faced.
Learning Streets® wasn’t an issue for those at St. Cloud. “It’s actually been pretty easy,” says Tony. “Most of the employees are using the basic functionality and they know how it works. They can locate where the vehicles are, find out who is driving them, and see what their on-time performance looks like. That tells you something right there.”
Metro Bus has built a reputation as an organization that embraces leading-edge technology. The use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to plot bus stops and geo-code them onto a linear map is just one example of St. Cloud’s advanced technological mindset. Purchasing their own 800 MHz transmission tower in 1998 to operate the Metro Bus wireless communications network is yet another example of how St. Cloud embraces technology and anticipates business requirements years before their implementation.
Metro Bus uses Mentor’s wireless middleware
product, XGate®, to bolster the effectiveness of the Metro Bus fleet. XGate® middleware makes real-time communication between drivers and head office easy and efficient. XGate® provides the communication medium that enables Streets® to
in The seven years we’ve used MenTor’s xgaTe Middleware To Move inforMaTion back and forTh beTween drivers and dispaTch in our dial-a-ride service, we have never had a coMMunicaTion probleM
were pleasant surprises,” says Tony. “Ultimately, I’d have to say our drivers are hooked on Mentor Ranger®,” he continued.
Ranger® has become so ingrained in the lives of Metro Bus drivers, group sentiment borders on revolt if their key in-vehicle device isn’t installed in their assigned bus.
With implementation handled effectively by both Mentor and Metro Bus, the drivers and dispatchers then learned about Streets® and its functionality. On the dispatcher side, the transition from a paper-heavy environment to a virtually paper-free one was
XMM automatically and intuitively catalogs all the mobile devices in St. Cloud’s fleet. It generates a comprehensive list that shows which hardware and which software are in each vehicle. And when it’s time to update, XMM™ makes this process simple. XMM greatly compresses each data package, using the smallest amount of bandwidth possible. Previously, updating software meant sending someone to each vehicle equipped with a laptop, which is a time-consuming and inefficient task. Now, the data and the vehicles receiving updates can be controlled from Metro Bus headquarters.
send route, schedule and pattern information directly to each Ranger® unit before each driver’s day begins.
“In the seven years we’ve used Mentor’s XGate® middleware product to move information back and forth between drivers and dispatch in our Dial-A-Ride service, we have never had a communication
iT’s acTually been preTTy easy
“
”problem,” says Tony. “That’s one of the reasons we chose to extend the XGate and Streets® product to our fixed-route operation.”
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Successful change requires more than a new process or technology: it requires the engagement and participation of the people
involved. With St. Cloud Metro Bus being a Beta site for Mentor Streets®, Tony Kellen, Director of Operations and Technology, allowed change management to provide him with a framework for managing not only the technology, but the people side of this transition as well. To ensure successful change management with this new technology, Tony’s role was to interpret, communicate, and enable—not to impose new technology on an unsuspecting audience and merely hope for the best. Throughout the implementation of Streets®, Tony worked directly with all strata of staff—from bus driver to maintenance worker—in order to engage them around Mentor technology. In Tony’s words, “This allows them to see what the technology does, how it works, and what its value is.”
If change finds an organization unprepared, it can be deadly. By consistently engaging his staff around the reality of implementing new technology, Tony Kellen minimized resistance and prepared them to deal effectively with change. Once he knew
they had a workable package, he conditioned employees to expect problems in the initial stages. This allows the employee to move past the problem and focus on learning the solution. This juncture is where Mentor Streets® lends itself to creating meaningful change for St. Cloud Metro Bus. Adopting and accepting new technology is made more seamless with the flat learning curve native to Streets®. Tony believes that learning the Streets® application, especially for dispatchers, “has been pretty easy. I don’t think that there’s really been a difficult time getting the understanding and the ap-titude there.” Emphasizing the positive aspects of Mentor technology has been key to sustaining and reinforcing change. “For example, when introducing new drivers to Ranger®, we talk about how great it is to fill out forms electronically versus keeping pa-per records. We reinforce the benefits of automated schedule adherence prompts so they can focus on their customers and their driving,” explains Tony
Essentially, a systematic approach to change man-agement not only allows change to be realized suc-cessfully on an individual and organizational level, but with Mentor technology in hand, it improved the bottom line for St. Cloud Metro Bus.
A sTrucTured APProAch To orgAnizATionAl TrAnsformATion,
chAnge mAnAgemenT enAbles The TrAnsiTion from A currenT
sTATe, To A desired fuTure sTATe of oPerATion. chAnge mAnAgemenT
for sT. cloud meTro bus meAnT mAnAging The shifT from being
A TechnologicAl innovATor To A TechnologicAl Powerhouse in
The TrAnsiT indusTry.
“dig The well before you are ThirsTy”- chinese proverb
chanGe
management
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DIsorDer anD ConfusIon
Transitions rarely go smoothly or as planned. When an organi-zation implements change, new challenges are faced every day. Normalize surprise.
unClear organIzatIonal IDentIty
Identity is in flux. The company is in the process of assuming a new identity, but it has not yet been established or accepted within the organization. Continue to articulate the benefits of the new system.
DIsorIentatIon, ConfusIon anD anxIety
Everyone faces uncertainty about the present and the future. New roles and responsibilities haven’t been clearly defined, and there is an overwhelming sense of uncertainty. Give people permission to make mistakes.
DefensIveness anD BlamIng
During times of transition, when things feel precarious, it is common to blame others and project one’s own frustrations. Defensiveness is a response to feeling threatened. Provide staff with timely information and engage them around the possibilities and the situation.
chanGe
response
FroM technoloGical innovatorto technologicAl powerhouse
1.
Transition can be a creative time, as former structures are dissolved and former roles are irrelevant. When past processes no longer apply, people can see new possibilities and gain new insights. During transition, people with particular skills and ingenuity may have more opportunity to play important roles and demonstrate abilities that are newly valuable.
2.
3.
4.
5. lettIng go anD HangIng on
People undergoing organizational transition try to cling to a familiar environment as they go through this process. Until new identities and roles are established and defined, it is natural to hang on to what one was, and what one knows. Defend your path to change and stand firm around the process of transition. Articulate expectations of staff.
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ATransit Association (APTA), who named Metro Bus the 2007 #1 Transit Agency in North Ameri-ca in the category of 1 to 4 million trips annually.
“We won this year because APTA looked at our track record for the past five to seven years,” says Tony. “We were the second system in the nation with the Odyssey Validation Fare Collection system. St. Cloud worked with Mentor to develop its wireless capabilities. The wireless capabilities of Mentor XGate, Ranger® and Streets® worked together to make our organization more efficient. The award was the result of a combination of our successful initiatives.” Metro Bus also won the award in 1990.
As a beta site for Streets in 2004, Metro Bus played a part in the technology development process of the Mentor Streets® software. No system is perfect from the beginning, so once Streets® went live in 2004, Mentor’s engineers installed a number of fixes and software patches to make the system operate as it should.
For Joy Uniat, Regional Sales Manager for Mentor, Metro Bus was an ideal candidate for a Beta site.
“Tony was chosen because he really enjoys tech-nology,” says Joy. “He provided very intuitive and knowledgeable feedback in terms of how technol-ogy works within the transit industry.”
Joy continued: “St. Cloud is an opera-tionally sound transit agency and that is what you need in a Beta site. We knew they’d experienced a few bumps in the road with Streets® as a new technology, so it was important that St. Cloud had their operation down pat. A lot happens in a conventional imple-mentation phase, let alone in the deployment of a Beta product.”
Over the next few months, the staff at Metro Bus began to see the tangible benefits of the CAD/AVL, reporting and scheduling functionality.
Making Metro Bus more efficient has resulted in better customer service and better overall perfor-mance. Metro Bus’ reputation as a leading tran-sit organization has gone beyond the borders of Minnesota to the offices of the American Public
BeneFitSBetA hAs its
less cost But greAt commitment
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North America to install Dial-A-Ride dispatch software that tied that into Mentor Engineering’s mobile computing and vehicle tracking system. A transit signal priority deployment project, fully in-tegrated bar-coded inventory system, and paperless maintenance shop were all to follow. On its fixed-route side, Metro Bus is moving forward with Men-tor Streets®, a leading-edge CAD/AVL solution.
In addition to technology innovations, Metro Bus implemented a program that allows university students to swipe their student ID cards and ride for free. This generated substantial revenue in co-op payments from the university and increased ridership yet again. An enormously successful branding and advertising program rounded things out and made “ The People Picker-Uppers” a household name in St. Cloud.
As can be expected, Metro Bus has no plans to slow down anytime soon. Next on the agenda is the Husky Safe Ride program. Scheduled to be implemented in January of 2008, the Safe Ride program will offer late-night service from the downtown and university districts until 3:00 am.
In 1990, Metro Bus took the stage for its exemplary safety record, modernized fleet, and dramatically in-creased ridership rates—a tribute to its out-of-the-box approach to problem solving. Between 1986 and 1989, Metro Bus realized a 15 to 20 per cent rider-ship escalation per year—no small achievement.
In 1986, Metro Bus took a look at its languishing Campus Clipper route. After some quick thinking, they approached the University with a plan—if the University would start charging for parking, Metro Bus would build a Park n’ Ride facility and offer a shuttle service to the University. As a result, the new and improved Campus Clipper route was born, a fully renovated transit hub put in place, and student pass and ID programs implemented. The revenue numbers spoke for themselves.
Innovative ideas and business driven technologies were Metro Bus’ winning combination for 2007. Positioned at the forefront of technology imple-mentation, Metro Bus was the second agency in North America to install on-board digital video and the state-of-the-art GFI Odyssey validating fare collection system. They were the third site in
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M e n t o r e n g i n e e r i n g
10, 2175 - 29th Street NE Calgary AB Canada T1Y 7H8 • Ph 403 777 3760 • Fax 403 777 3769 • [email protected] • www.mentoreng.com
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Three years after Streets® was Beta technology for Metro Bus, the transit agency is a model for blending committed people and intuitive technology to make transit agencies more efficient.
“Now, St. Cloud represents a perfect transit showcase site for Mentor,” says Joy. “They have a great facility, and they run a very professional tran-sit operation. With Streets® and Ranger® working seamlessly, they are the perfect place to showcase our complete, end-to-end solution for Paratransit and fixed-route operations.”
“I think that Mentor is as visionary as I am,” says Tony. “Mentor is driven to have excellent products that actually function. Your slogan ‘Systems That Work’ is true. I look at other people’s equipment and the problems that they are having with mobile communications. We haven’t gone through any of that with Mentor.”
