This article provides an overview of the myAvail in‑vehicle application. Although it's primarily used by vehicle operators, this information is beneficial to anyone who interacts with myAvail in‑vehicle systems. Some of your agency personnel may include:
- Operators who run the application daily
- Maintenance personnel who test and maintain vehicles
- Road supervisors and dispatchers who assist operators
The myAvail system was developed as the core component of an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) for implementation at transit industry properties. As part of our myAvail system, the myAvail in‑vehicle application was designed primarily to assist operators and reduce distractions.
For transit properties without ITS applications like myAvail, operators must manually complete a host of tasks:
- Review their paddle (work assignment)
- Monitor their schedule
- Decide when they need to pause on the route to prevent getting ahead of schedule
- Notify dispatch when they fall behind schedule
- Log onto the farebox and ensure that the farebox fareset is correct
- Change the farebox route information as needed
- Play Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) announcements when necessary
- Change the destination sign at the end of each trip
In comparison, the myAvail in‑vehicle system performs these tasks in the background so that the operator can focus on driving, safety, customer support, and schedule adherence. At the start of a shift, an operator turns their vehicle’s ignition on, which initiates the myAvail in-vehicle hardware system and software application. After the myAvail system completes startup, the operator uses a touchscreen monitor to log on to the myAvail in‑vehicle software application. This will automatically log the operator onto the farebox.
After completing the logon process, the myAvail system continually updates the operator through a visual display on the touchscreen monitor about paddle information, including route, trip, and next stop (or optionally next 3 stops). In addition, the monitor displays stop wait times, how early or late the vehicle is, notifies the operator that it is time to depart a stop, and optionally notifies the operator of upcoming detours. myAvail will automatically set the fareset for each route, make all necessary ADA announcements (for example, stop arrival announcements), and adjust the destination sign as needed.
To assist passengers waiting to board the vehicle, the system can play external vehicle announcements, indicating the current route. The system also provides an easy interface to assist the operator in making predefined onboard safety announcements. Additionally, the myAvail system automatically records and reports accurate passenger counts, provides the operator an easy method for sending predefined text messages to dispatch, allows dispatch to send text messages to the operator, and importantly provides the operator a covert method for alerting dispatch about emergencies.
Along with assisting the operator, myAvail also provides detailed schedule adherence information, and alerts dispatch when the vehicle is not logged on, goes off route, and, if properly equipped, can inform maintenance about mechanical issues. The system performs these functions without involving operators.
For more details about each in-vehicle feature, refer to the articles in this section.