January 2008 – Brampton Transit (Brampton, Ontario) and the PSTA (Pinellas County, Florida) recently became the first GIRO customers to launch the latest version of the HASTINFO online trip planner, a version introducing enhanced features such as conventional and aerial map displays.
These interactive displays enable HASTINFO users to select origins and destinations by clicking on a stop/landmark on the trip planner’s map. After a trip request has been submitted, the map is updated to show the optimal transit route. This updated map also features pop-up windows, viewable when the mouse is moved over a particular route segment (see below), that display travel instructions for each segment of the route generated by the trip planner.
Aerial view of optimal trip plan generated by HASTINFO.
The conventional and aerial map generated by the HASTINFO trip planner is based on Microsoft Virtual Earth™.
HASTINFO not only provides customers with a quick, accurate ways to receive trip information, it also reduces the number of calls and e-mails received by customer service personnel.
In addition, HASTINFO reduces the time required to train customer service personnel. At the PSTA, it previously required eight weeks of training before employees were comfortable handling calls on their own: after implementing HASTINFO, PSTA personnel are now comfortable assisting passengers after only one week of training.
The PSTA (Pinellas Suncoast Transport System) serves the St. Petersburg – Clearwater area of Florida with 43 bus routes. A GIRO customer since 2001, the PSTA uses HASTUS’ planning, daily operations and customer information modules.
Brampton Transit serves a rapidly growing city of 434,000 just west of Toronto, Canada. Besides HASTINFO, the company has installed HASTUS planning modules (for vehicle and crew scheduling) and daily operations modules, used to register changes such as driver absences or out-of-service vehicles. The company has been a GIRO customer since 2004.
