Dispatch Ridership Management Software

Dispatch Ridership Management Software (DRMS) entered development in 1998 after it became apparent that dispatching software for fixed-route bus systems in urban areas just couldn’t meet the budgetary and on-call demands of rural transportation providers. Crystal Popour, president of Crystal Computer Support, Inc., utilized her rural transit management, driving and dispatching background to develop dispatching software designed specifically for rural transportation providers. DRMS went live in 2000 at the Clare County Transportation Corporation in Clare, Michigan; and then underwent a complete upgrade in 2007.

 “Our dispatchers are happier using DRMS because when someone calls in and asks where their child or relative was dropped off, instead of sorting through bus routes, we can just look it up on the computer.”

-Dorothy Claypool
Clare County Transportation Corporation Administrator

DRMS simplifies dispatching

With swift, keyboard-driven entries, dispatchers can take calls, enter passenger information, recall prior passengers, assign rides, input group rides and even set up reoccurring rides quickly and efficiently. Plus there’s no need to track down ride cards if a cancellation occurs – a few quick strokes of the keyboard and the ride is removed from the driver’s log. The screens are bold and user-friendly; and dispatchers can minimize and open several screens at once in order to handle multiple entries simultaneously. Save, Copy, Edit, Delete or Import into Microsoft Excel with the click of one button. Click here to see examples of DRMS screens.

DRMS includes 18 hard-coded reports

Managerial staff can access password-protected areas of DRMS to retrieve 18 different reports designed by transportation professionals to meet all Department of Transportation reporting requirements. Click here to see a list of these reports.

DRMS is fully customizable

If one of the 18 hard-coded reports doesn’t meet your needs, you can easily generate a customized report by downloading information to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Instead of sorting through stacks of numbers to assemble data for a grant request or millage election, simply select the fields needed and download the information. DRMS also produces invoices and mailing labels in order to streamline your correspondence with customers and passengers. You can even add your logo to your invoices.

 

Because each transportation provider has different reporting requirements for units of government and local agencies, hard-coded customization options are limited only by the imagination. Whatever data you need to assemble on a regular basis, DRMS programmers can design a report to meet those needs. Then all you do is click and print. In addition to being easily modified, DRMS integrates with Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Mobile Data Terminals (MDT), and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL).

“It used to take us 2 weeks to pull together information for a millage election, but with DRMS, it only takes 15 minutes.”

-Dorothy Claypool
Clare County Transportation Corporation Administrator

DRMS is highly stable and virtually incorruptible

DRMS is built on Visual FoxPro, known in the programming industry as a highly stable relational database that is easy to use and extremely difficult to corrupt. Visual FoxPro has one of the longest Microsoft support timeframes with extended support offered through 2015. It is thanks to Visual FoxPro that DRMS is extraordinarily stable; glitches and downtime due to the software are extremely rare.

DRMS is wireless!

The optional wireless capabilities of DRMS are cutting-edge and brand new to the rural transportation industry. By going wireless, dispatchers and drivers can communicate via text messaging to add rides, enter passenger information, process payments, and much more. The dispatcher simply sends the information, and the driver retrieves it on a mounted touch-screen computer. Going wireless means driver check-out is streamlined thanks to automatic downloading and uploading of passenger, trip and payment information.

Check out DRMS today

For additional information, call (989) 773-9002 to talk with a DRMS representative. We will gladly talk with you over the phone or schedule an on-site meeting to assess the dispatching software needs of your transportation operation. Click here to download a brochure. We can also arrange for you to witness DRMS in action – just give us a call today!