‍Challenge

‍Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Public TransitAuthority (NAIPTA) was growing fast. To support its two million riders, the NAIPTA maintained 78 bus shelters, two connection centers, and additional facilities. Manual maintenance work order processes were time consuming and error prone—and prevented the organization from operating at peak performance.

Solution

‍Flagstaff, Ariz.-based NAIPTA turned to Track Star for the intelligent transit management solution (TAM) that changed all that. Workers receive real-time alerts when facilities need attention, and managers have the visibility needed to plan—and predict—resources required to optimize scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.

Results

Automated, real-time data collection lets NAIPTA maintain transit assets efficiently. Plus, Track Star’s TAM solution makes it possible to forecast capital replacement needs and more easily meet reporting requirements—saving time, money, and contributing to the transit agency’s ability to provide an exceptional public transportation experience. ‍

Getting you where you want to go

Whether it’s work, school, a medical appointment or shopping, NAIPTA is guided by its mission to take you there. Members of four communities in northern Arizona count on NAIPTA to provide environmentally friendly transportation that’s dependable, cost-effective and safe. Facilities ManagerWade Forrest and his team make it happen—with the help of Track Star.

“We were paper-based, and had little visibility into time and resources needed for maintenance,” said Forrest. Recognizing the need for real-time data access and communication, he solicited proposals to find a partner that could help the organization manage better—and meet Department ofTransportation requirements for transit agencies that receive Chapter 53 funds.

“Track Star has a good understanding of transit, TAM requirements and FTA reporting … they were our favorite by far,” Forrest said.

Rising ridership drives efficiency measures

Ensuring service levels keep pace with increased ridership is top priority for NAIPTA leadership. “We serve residents, students and tourists—and the numbers are growing,” said Forrest. The organization, which employs 75 people, turned to automation in 2018 in an effort to maintain its reputation for excellence—without adding operational cost.

“Track Star helped us replace a paper-based 12-point checklist with an exception-based approach, saving our people time while assuring consistency and quality,” said Forrest. The TAM solution also eliminates the need to manually enter data into a spreadsheet after-the-fact—freeing up time to more directly and positively impact the rider experience.

NAIPTA was named America’s Best Transit System in 2013 by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).

Why real-time visibility matters

Because field workers now track their productivity from mobile devices, the transit agency gets full visibility into their assets’ state of repair. “We can see what’s going on in real time, allowing us to predict maintenance needs, quickly deploy workers, and help assure all assets are in a state of good repair. Now we’re better able to meet our commitment to riders, and our communities,” Forrest said.‍

What the future holds

Improving the current state of asset management is important toNAIPTA. But the ability to mine data over time has proven to be valuable too.“Our agency is able to integrate asset management data with other business applications,” Forrest said. For example, the agency can now consolidate financial information with asset management data and track depreciation values—helping management with capital planning
and budgeting.

“Track Star’s solution opens opportunities for NAIPTA,” Forrest added. “We have a valuable tool to help us make smarter decisions about today’s operations, and plan for the future.”