Special Events- Customer Use

Overview

Some agencies setup special service events in ETMS to be used for far less- common purposes such as moving passengers to special events: shuttle service to county fairs, seasonal events, how-to-ride-the-bus-events, etc. This type of service is not used often and is unlike fixed route service because data collection will be undefined in reports. Special service simply allows an agency to provide service outside of fixed route, to serve unique community needs, that may not be met via other available transportation outlets.

Fixed route by definition is scheduled, frequent service, with predictable departures for day-to-day service that occurs at designated stop locations. Fixed route service also includes well-defined data in Business Intelligence reports. For example, stop level information, on-time performance metrics, data for ridership, fare collection by rider type, stop reports, etc., will be attributed to specific service offerings, making reporting definitions easier to interpret. 

Create Customer Portal Request 

To setup special events for your agency, enter a case in the Customer Portal to get started:  https://www.availtecportal.com/ 

Special Service Requirements 

Avail needs the following information from your agency to implement this feature:

1. A name for the special event
2. An unused Id for the 'special' route
3. An unused Id for the 'special' run
4. A 'special' route announcement, if planned for use
   1. If included, the announcement will play at door open
5. A 'special' head sign Id

Reporting for Special Events

Data capture for Special Service offerings is based on only a few conditions, as this service is not DO MB: 1. vehicle MDT login 2. miles and hours captured during the active service and 3. vehicle log off. The system will report collected data as undefined and it will be at the route level, as mentioned above. All summed boards, alights, fares- if collected, and miles and hours attributed to the service will display as undefined data in Business Intelligence for reporting needs. This allows the agency to track metrics for reporting at a high level without specific data definitions. For this reason, Avail recommends including any frequently recurring special service as part of fixed route offerings. 

Defining Special Events

Follow the process below after receiving notification from Avail that the feature has been enabled in ETMS for you. Log into ETMS and launch the dispatch card, then navigate to the Special Events tab. 

Press the green plus sign to create special service. Use the dropdown menus that displays next to enter all information:

1. Enter the Event Name
2. Check the box if you're Open Mic 
3. Closed Mic- Select the Talk Group for the service
   1. Please note that VoIP is not an integrated feature at this time
4. Select the Run
5. Select the Route
6. Enter the Head Sign Id
7. Add an External Announcement, if adding a unique announcement for the service
   1. Announcement will play at door open
8. Select the Date Range for the service
9. Select the Time Range for the service
   1. Software will default to 'all day' (12:00AM-11:59PM)
   2. Set All Day button - a convenient way to quickly adjust the time range if you had originally selected a limited range of time then realized all day is needed
10. Press Save to save the information

Build & Deploy

To distribute the schedule data files to vehicles, a deployment from the Build & Deploy area is required. Navigate to Build & Deploy from the same Operations area:

Validation Process

1. Next open the Validate tab 
   • Confirm the Schedule Type is defaulted to Future
2. Press the Validate button- software validates the data and identifies any issues
   1. If issues present, they display below. Review any details and correct issues before proceeding.
3.  If no issues are present, continue to the Build tab
4. Repeat Build & Deploy steps to deploy files when corrected

Build Run Files

When all files have been validated as accurate, proceed to the Build area to build out the run files that will download to fleet vehicles:

1. Press the Build button- software runs validations to confirm accuracy and will identify any issues
2. Review Route File Status to confirm build as successful (# of # files processed successfully. 0 blocks with errors) 
   • All issues must be corrected before proceeding to the Deploy tab

Deploy Tab

Use the Deploy tab to set up the deployment to fleet vehicles intended to provide the service. Pro Tip- Setting this service up well in advance of need is best, to ensure all vehicles have cycled through the wireless LAN and received the files for use on the road in real time. Example: "Let's get this entered in the system at least a week before we 'go live' with the special event service."

1. Open the Deploy tab
   1. Leave default of Schedule Data
   2. Default setting should be Future. Leave this a is, as best practice
2. Select Date Range
3. Check the box for Correction- this allows the software to only look at new schedule data files, without involving active schedule data 
4. Check the box for Schedule Data
5. Press the Vehicles button, and select the vehicles planned to provide the service from the vehicles menu
6. Annunciator Files: Check the box if you added new announcements for the service 
   1. Open Vehicle button to select vehicles to receive the audio files (route announcement, if added)
7. Press Deploy
8. Deployments: Recently deployed files will display here

Vehicle Login For Special Service

The vehicle operator will login to special service using their usual Driver Id, but will enter a 'special service' run Id, which is supplied by the agency, and based on the parameters setup in the backend. MDT login begins data collection for the special service but the software will not track specific metrics. Miles, hours, ridership data will populate in BI reports as undefined, as mentioned above.

The MDT will also not display stop departures or schedule adherence prompts as this is unique service unlike fixed route. The service offering will, however, display on myStop for trip planning needs. 

Visibility for Ridership 

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Exception Records

Special Service 'routes/runs' are entered directly in database tables. For this reason, special event service data bypasses the Exceptions Processing component, as APCs are not collected at the stop level; they are attributed to the 'temporary' route, thus the software cannot run validations against data that resides outside of the imported schedule data. ridership counts populate in BI reports as undefined. 

Related Articles & SOPs

Planner SOP 001: Schedule Data Management and Implementation

DataPoint - Scheduled Miles & Hours Reporting