In today’s world, efficiency is the ultimate end goal. We want everything to operate better and faster to reduce wasted time, resources, and energy.

Food and groceries are delivered to your door. Virtually any product you want shows up on your doorstep overnight. Cars are parking themselves and computer programmed robots are building products faster than ever.

All these examples are empowering connections through increased efficiency. Inside transit agencies, we see the need for this same correlation between connections and efficiency. When the various inner workings of the public transit space aren’t intertwined, the repercussions are seen in the customer experience, the bottom line, and more.

In our decades of experience working directly with transit agencies, we’ve seen firsthand the benefits of every point of the operation and every department communicating effectively for overall improved performance.

Here are three tips that will get your agency running at its best.

1. Identify Where You’re Struggling

Every transit agency faces unique struggles. Sometimes they change on a day-to-day basis and other times you’re seeing the same recurring issues. Regardless, you can’t effectively make changes to improve efficiency without first understanding your key struggles.

Get a grasp on where you need to start by creating a detailed list. For example:

• What challenges are impacting your agency the most?
• Is there a delay in communication? If so, between what departments and what issues are those delays causing?
• Are there any interruptions impacting customer service?
• How long does it take to gather data, review, and then ultimately implement change?

As you identify key pain points, search for commonalities. It’s common for transit agencies to see a connection between every issue that leads to the main thread of inefficiency. Understanding those connections is the ultimate waypoint for tailoring solutions for your agency’s unique needs.

2. Integrate Using One Enterprise Transit Management Software (ETMS) Platform

Business is business. Unless you’re a public transportation agency. As you know all-too-well, the public transit space runs in its own business class. Your agency is government-funded, running at a deficit, and facing innovation challenges all while providing a vital service to our local communities.

This complex combination makes true efficiency seem unattainable. However, with the proper tools, you can have the power of effective and efficient decision-making all in one place.

Implement an inventory management system designed specifically for the public transit industry. Use a single integrated Enterprise Transit Management Software (ETMS) platform to support your entire organization through intelligent communication. With a shared database, every business aspect will immediately relay information, providing real-time metrics for faster, more accurate decisions.

3. Make Real-Time Data-Driven Decisions

Nothing hurts efficiency like lags in information. Without real-time data streaming in from every corner of your organization, it’s challenging to confidently make informed decisions. All too frequently, this leads to disagreements between departments on determining the next best steps.

Stop waiting for a fragmented system’s data to align. Using an EMTS intelligence dashboard, empower your team to problem solve using real-time data.

For example, if an interruption impacting customer service has been flagged, look at the data. Is it an operations issue? Or maybe your fleet vehicle monitoring shows an issue with a bus. Gather all of this information in the moment to a decision that causes a positive chain reaction throughout the entire agency for long-term success.