Making decisions backed by data: Webinar Recap
Watch the recording and read our brief recap below:
Last week, Remix hosted a webinar on exploring new ways to use data to improve efficiency in the planning process and increase access for transit users. We were lucky to have two of our customers tell us their stories, along with two members of the Remix team.
The webinar was a spirited discussion of planning techniques inside of Remix and the real-world outcomes that resulted. The conversation focused on features built in the last year that help support planning decisions by bringing data to the forefront. For those of you who could not attend the webinar, I put together this brief recap. (It’s hard to find a time that works for everyone when you have planners from New York to New Zealand who want to join.) If you have any further questions on the material discussed below, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
Create an Internal Source of Truth
First, we heard from Dan Nemiroff, Senior Operations Planner at Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia, PA. Dan spoke to increasing accuracy and internal efficiency with new and improved Remix costing features.
SEPTA is one of the largest transit agencies the country, with nearly 125 routes. It is also a particularly mode-rich agency as one of two agencies in the country that operates all five land-based transit vehicles, commuter rail trains, heavy rapid transit trains, light rail vehicles, trolley buses, and regular buses. (Special kudos to anyone who can name the other agency).
Each of these modes has a different cost profile, and even within modes, costs differ. A regional train has a higher hourly operating cost than a 40’ bus. And buses based out of different garages can have different associated maintenance costs.
Using Remix’s new costing features, Dan was able to create an internal source of truth through assigning unique costs to each mode in his agency including a per hour cost, per mile cost and per vehicle cost.
Having these costs inside of Remix allows Dan and his team to quickly generate cost estimates for their planning decisions. For example, they’re able to see a cost savings of replacing part of a trolley route with a bus, in a matter of minutes, without having to go through the in-depth cost modeling process.
This level of granularity allows planners at SEPTA to communicate easily and consistently across teams (interns, operations, customer service, etc.,) and get their plans on the road faster.
Put Your Unique Data to Work
Next, Rebekah Watkins, Data Visualization Analyst at Remix, discussed the use of custom data in the planning process. One of the most popular features in Remix is the ability to overlay data visualizations onto your planning maps. All Remix customers have access to census data, but Rebekah also works with customers to bring any form of internal data they have into the platform. After a brief walkthrough of the process of bringing custom data into Remix, Rebekah presented three of her favorite layers.
First, we looked at the following map from HART (Tampa, FL), which was used to prepare for hurricane season by redesigning evacuation routes based on potential flood area. Having the evacuation zones overlayed on the map allows HART to quickly modify their evacuation routes.
PART (Greensboro, NC) was looking to replace their on-demand airport shuttle with fixed route service. Rebekah brought a heatmap of boarding data that allowed the PART team to connect the dots and ensure the new fixed route served the most popular destinations.
Finally, Rebekah discussed how CapMetro in Austin, TX uses their curb inventory to ensure bus stops are in accessible locations.
For more on these stories and other custom layers, check out Rebekah’s blog post on the subject.
Inform Your Decisions with Origin-Destination Data
Next, Biz Collins, Senior Transportation Planner at the Grand Valley MPO (Mesa County, CO), walked us through using Remix’s new Origin-Destination (O-D) data in the planning process.
In order to financially prepare for a new state law increasing driver wages, Grand Valley MPO needed to eliminate one of their routes to free up funds. Based on ridership data, Biz elected to eliminate the 12 Route. However, the 12 served St. Mary’s hospital, a major source of jobs in the region. Biz used the interactive commutes layers to explore commuting patterns to the hospital. Based on this data, Biz modified other routes in her system to ensure that commuters were still able to reach the hospital on a consistent basis.
Eliminating the route saved $200k and will help cover the financial gap from the increase in driver wages.
What’s up next?
Finally, Tom Mercer, VP of Product, gave a preview of the product roadmap. Tom walked through the three product themes that Remix plans to focus on in 2019.
1. Evaluating the integration of Microtransit and Flexible Services into Transit Service Networks.
2. Public engagement.
3. Ridership data.
Webinar participants were given the opportunity to vote on their favorite of the three themes, so if you want to voice your opinion, please send me your favorite.
For further questions, customers, contact your Customer Success Manager. If you’d like to learn more about Remix, please contact growth@remix.com.
Be on the lookout for future webinars. Have a great idea for a webinar? Let us know!
