[music]
All right, folks. Good afternoon and
thank you so much for being here. My
name is Robert Romero. I'm the
operations manager for all paratransit
services, customer service, dispatch,
and uh the fleet. So, um we're really
excited to see everybody. Um, and you
know, the big thing is is I want to talk
a little bit more about spare. Um, I'm
sorry, a little bit more about Rideco.
My apologies. And, uh, exactly why we're
going in this direction. We definitely
listen to your comments. We took your
feedback. We monitored the call center
to understand what your needs are. We
look at PTAB and every little bit bit of
feedback that you provided, we went
ahead and said we need to find the right
solution. So just like a year ago when
we updated our call tree and made it
easier to make a reservation and wait
less time on hold, this is going to help
make your lives a lot easier in the same
way. So I just want to share a lot of
enthusiasm about what this app will
bring to the paratransit community. Um
so you're going to have more predictable
rides. Uh the big thing is is you will
be able to see where your ride is
existing, how far away it is. You'll be
able to plan that on your own. you will
have a very clear vision of what your
window times and pickups are. And so
that'll be very exciting for you because
you won't be questioning what's going on
and having to pick up that phone left
and right. Now, while we love you
calling the call center and we're always
more than happy to assist you, we also
feel like helping you be empowered will
give you more access and the experience
that you really, really need. Um,
so there's going to be lots of
opportunities for our Sunban riders to
learn about the app. We are going to
cover a lot of that information. Our
next presenter will be Sam Moffet. He's
been one of our key players from Ride Co
that's been really supportive in helping
to train our staff. He spent weeks and
countless hours with us to make sure
we're ready to go and deliver you a
product that is um you know seamless for
for everything that you need from your
transportation needs. Um
so we'll also have the uh workshop
recorded and on the web page to outline
the steps to use this new software. So
if you guys have any additional
information uh or any additional
requests on how you'd like to receive
information, definitely let us know. um
we can talk about that one-on-one after
Sam's presentation. Um and then also um
while we are doing our presentation with
Sam um please hold your question and
answers till the end of the presentation
and uh we'll be happy to answer your
questions there. We will also be hosting
another tutorial at the next PTAB
meeting on November 18th at 4:00 p.m.
And that meeting takes place here and is
available through Zoom. And if you have
any questions regarding how to access
that meeting, feel free to ask us after
the uh tutorial presentation from Sam
Moffett. Um, so I think that's all I
have to say for right now and I'll be
back with you in a bit and I'm going to
go ahead and hand it over to Sam.
>> So,
I need you to have the best and the
rest.
>> Got it. Cool. All right. Um, hello
everyone. Uh, yeah, thank you for having
me here today. Uh, as Rob mentioned, my
name is Sam. Uh, I'm here from Radco.
Um, and, uh, I get to the pleasure of
working with transit agencies kind of
across the US to, uh, deploy programs
like this. Uh, I know I was asked today
to go through everything in detail uh,
on screen in case uh, some folks in the
audience can't see it. Uh, I'm actually
low vision myself. So when I'm directing
Rob what to do on the screen, um, I can
read the big Rideco up here, but the
other small text I can't read myself
either. Um, and so because of that, you
know, transit is something that's really
important to me, too. Um, and uh, really
it makes my job all worthwhile when I
get moments like this, when I get to
come and interact with those of you who
are using the app. So I'm excited today
to go through um, a number of different
things. Rob, if you go to the next slide
here, we'll have the agenda for today.
Um, just really quickly at the
beginning, we'll do some background on
RideCo. Um, and then we're actually
going to pull up the the city website
and the um booking page and do uh a live
demo of what exactly that looks like
when you're booking your own rides or
tracking your own rides and what that
means. Um, so if you go on to the next
slide here, um, so you've heard a bit
about RADCO. Um we work with many
agencies near a hundred different
agencies throughout the US and Canada um
in order to provide software for their
on demand transit systems. That's both
microransit like your ride connect
service here as well as paratransit. Um,
we work with Philadelphia, with Houston,
with San Antonio, Riverside, California,
and we're working now with New York City
in order to set up paratransit services
for their citizens so that just like
you, um, they'll be able to book and
manage their own rides and not have to
rely on a call center or just obscure
information about where their van is.
Um so with that background um I actually
want to uh escape out of the uh the
presentation here and we'll move on to
the uh next tab to the the right here.
Uh and if you scroll up to the top uh
just so everybody can see what this uh
web page is. Um so this is the city's
website. Uh you can get here just
exactly as Leslie mentioned earlier um
by uh going to the um abqride.com
uh and you'll find on that homepage a
link to this page. Remember that the
branded service name for this app is go.
Go includes both ride connect services
and sunb services. So wherever you see
go on the city website that's where
you'll go in order to find out
information about this this web page
here. Um, if we gradually scroll down,
it has all of the information that you
need about this upcoming change. So, you
can find out things about the timeline
here, um, where to download the app, uh,
and how to book rides. So, if you
continue to scroll down the page, we're
going to stop at a section that says
getting started.
Um, all right. So, this here covers all
of the information about how you can
book a ride. If you forget anything that
we covered today, you all have your
handouts. Um, I know also that
reservations will be happy to walk you
through that. And also, if you scroll
slightly down farther, there is a video
on this site um, covering some generic
information about how to book a ride as
well. So, all of that information is
here at your fingertips. Um, but in this
section right above that at the getting
started section, um, you see in the last
bullet point there, it says that there's
multiple ways to book your ride. So, you
can now download an app on your phone,
whether that's a Google Android phone or
an iPhone, um, and have that information
at your fingertips, have that live
vehicle location while you're outside
waiting for the van. But if smartphones
aren't your thing, no worries. You can
also do that online. Um, so you can do
it from a desktop computer. It'll be the
same thing. It'll look exactly the same.
Um, and if neither of those are your
thing, then you can still call into the
call center. We're not changing that.
We're not getting rid of that. Um, so
that information will be um, exactly as
you do now.
So, we're actually going to do our demo
today with the website page. So, if you
do prefer booking by website, this is
exactly what that will look like. Um,
I'm going to have you right click on
that uh book online, Rob, and just open
it in a in an incognito tab just because
I want to show you what it looks like
when you go to sign in um without
actually needing him to uh know and type
in my password.
So, this is the landing page. This is
exactly what it will look like when you
go to take control of your account. Um,
and what I mean by take control of your
account is, as you know, Sunban, you
need to be eligible for the service. you
need to go through that eligibility
process. We're not changing that. We're
generally not changing any of the
policies that you're familiar with with
SunVan today. So, you still need to go
through that process in order for your
Sunvan eligibility to be linked to the
account on this website. Um, what we'll
need you to do is have an email on file
with uh ABQ.
So, you may already have that or that
may be something that you can provide to
them uh in advance of this launch
because we're still getting all of your
data and things up to date. Um,
reservations will be taking those calls
after November 10th. So, on that same
day that you can begin booking rides in
the software. You can also call in, make
sure that you have a functioning email
on file and then you'll be able to log
in and take control of your account.
Don't have an email? Don't want to do
that? No worries. you can call the call
center. It's not going to break for you.
If you want to take control of your own
bookings, this is how you would do that.
Um, so you've called into the call
center um and gotten your your email on
file. Uh, what you'll do is come to this
page and you'll click sign in.
And um, we're not going to create an
account here. So, Ride Connect
passengers, this is what they would do.
But because we need to tie your
eligibility information to your account,
we need you to log into the account that
um reservations has on file for you. So
what you'll actually click is forgot
password. So if you click on forgot
password,
uh you would then type in that same
email that you give to reservations.
You will get you will receive an email
with a link um to reset your password
and to be able to log in. So that's the
process that you would go through to
take control of your own account um and
take control of your own bookings.
>> If we get past this stage, so now you've
reset your password and you're able to
log in. Um we can take a look at what
that looks like. So Rob, you can X out
of this page
and go to the next tab to the right.
Great. So, um, you've had your email on
file with customer service. You've
clicked forgot password. Uh, you've
gotten that link. You've clicked it. And
now you've logged in. This is exactly
what it will look like. So, this is a
map- based interface. You can already
see on the highlighted orange area is
the sun van service area. The two darker
colored regions within the service area.
Rob, if you just kind of want to pan the
math around a little bit. Um, are the
Ride Connect service areas. So, it
should be pretty immediately visible
what type of ride you can take in what
zone. Um, and you as a Sunburn passenger
will see both ride connect options and
Sunban options in. So, that's something
that's important to know if you're
booking rides.
Um, again, we're not changing any of the
policies here. If you are booking uh a
ride, you can book up to 5 days in
advance, and you need to book um at
least one day in advance for any same
day bookings or for any will call trips.
Those will still go through the call
center. So, you'll still need to call
the call center for those type of trips,
but you'll still be able to track your
rides using this software.
Um so um some of you may be familiar
with uh using Uber Lift and this
interface should be very similar.
There's a couple of additional pieces of
information that we'll need to know
here. Um so to start off with um in the
center of the page uh there's all the
information that we need. Um there's a
box where it asks for your origin. Um,
so Rob, if you click on that box
exactly there and if you click on it,
um, this will allow you to type in an
address, uh, or a location. Um, so if
you know the name of your doctor's
office, but you don't know the exact
street address, this is powered by
Google. So if Google knows about it,
then the then we know about it.
>> Exactly. Yeah. So you know the hospital,
but you don't know the the exact
address, you can type that in here. So,
I had already pre-filled in Walmart, but
if you just type in Walmart, um Rob,
>> buying one.
>> Um, then it's going to pull up all of
the Walmarts that it knows about. Uh,
but it's important that you select the
right Walmart. So, let's say we know
it's the Walmart on Sage Street. on. So,
if you just type in Sage,
uh, now it should have pulled up and and
again, I can't read that, but it should
have pulled up uh the Walmart on Sage
Street. And because Google knows a
couple different locations there, it's
going to give you the option for the
Walmart pharmacy or the Walmart
neighborhood market. You know, a couple
different uh entrances there. But why
don't you click on uh Walmart
neighborhood market.
Great. So, now that's selected as the
origin location.
Uh for the drop off location, you do
exactly the same thing. Um but uh Rob,
if you kind of just click on the map uh
the map interface.
Um and let's click kind of right by
where it says uh Albuquerque. Um if you
want to just click right by. So now it
pulls up a menu and it says, would you
like to set this as your origin or drop
off location? So there's a couple ways
to set this. You can type in the address
or you can type in um the the store
location, but you can also just click on
the map if you know exactly where it is
you want to go in the city and set that
as your pickup or drop off. There's one
additional way, which is that if you're
booking from your smartphone, um you can
it will know your location. So, you can
just have it pick you up from where
you're at right now and it will know um
that that's where you want to go. Um, so
if you're at your home booking your ride
for tomorrow, um, it can have that
pre-filled out for you. So go ahead and
select that as the uh the destination
there, Rob.
Oops. I think we set that as the origin.
Uh, so leave that as the origin and then
click on destination. And let's just
type in uh Albuquerque uh transit
facility or transit office.
And then I think you can uh select the
one of the ones that came up. You might
have to go back.
You have to click on that. Sorry, I
needed to get that close to see it. Uh
you can click on that. That works. So we
uh found the the transit center here. So
origin and destination is only one piece
of the information that we need to know.
This next bit of information is
different than Uber or Lift. So makes
sense to pay attention to when you book
an Uber or Lift. You're booking that
entire car.
>> But with Sunan, this is a shared ride.
So we need to know how many passengers
are traveling just like when you call
reservations now and and need to give
that information. So Rob, if you click
on the little icon there that looks kind
of like a person and it has a one next
to it, um this is how you can tell us
how many people are traveling. So um
just as with when you talk to San Vano,
these options up here should be pretty
familiar to you, but we'll need to know
what type of space you need on the
vehicle so that we send the appropriate
vehicle. So, um, your Sunvan account, we
will know what type of devices you
usually travel with. But if there's a
change, um, then we need to know if
you're traveling in your wheelchair
today, but you usually use your walker,
we need to know that today you need a
wheelchair space on the bus. So, always
good to click on this and just confirm
that the correct information is here.
We're also not changing any of the
policies here. So, um, you need to, uh,
let us know if you have a companion
traveling with you or a personal care
attendant. And the Sunban rules that
apply in terms of the number of
passengers that you can bring on board
with you aren't changing. Um, but you'll
just need to provide that information in
here.
>> So, can I ask a question?
>> U, let's hold questions to the end and
we'll come back to it. Um, but yeah, I'm
sure that there are many questions. So,
yeah, remember it. We'll know to come
back to the passenger totes. Um,
all right. So, um, let's just leave it
as one general ambulatory passenger for
now and, uh, click okay.
Um, next, we'll need to know what time
this rad should be scheduled for. So,
Rob, if you click on the time there in
the middle.
Um, here you can select the time uh, of
day that you wish to travel. Uh, so
it'll default to the current time. Uh,
but uh, you're booking Raj for tomorrow
or for the next 5 days. So, you'll want
to be sure that you set this correctly.
Um, I'll point out just one small detail
here. Um, to the left of where the time
is, there's a little clock. Um, and if
you click on that, that just slightly
changes the interface. If there's, um,
if one is easier for you than the other
method, one you can scroll, one you can
type. Uh, so if you have difficulty
scrolling, you can type it in instead.
Uh, but let's go with that time. Let's
confirm it clicking on the button on the
right.
Um, and then the next piece of
information we'll need to let the system
know is what day you want to travel. So,
just to the right of where the time is,
you can pick uh click on where it says
today or tomorrow. If you click on that,
it brings up a menu and you can select
from a couple different options. So, we
want to book a ride for tomorrow. So,
let's uh click that option.
Now, we'll click find rides.
So, what the system has done now is look
for capacity tomorrow. Um, so we
actually had to load in some fake driver
shifts for tomorrow uh to trick it into
thinking that there will be some sun van
shifts out there on the software
tomorrow. So, it's looking um at all of
the information that we talked about, uh
traffic, vehicle availability, where
every single other ride is going that
day to determine what options to present
to you so that this ride is
pre-negotiated and fits into a schedule.
When you select a ride here, it
immediately goes onto a driver itinerary
and that ride is confirmed for that time
that you've selected.
Um, but it's also presented a couple
options for us here. So Rob, scroll down
and we can see a couple different ride
cards. Um
because uh you have this uh 30 minute
pickup window. Um we know that if you
search for a ride at 12:45, for example,
um the pickup window of 12:45 to 1:15
may be convenient or it may be more
convenient to travel um have that pickup
window be 12:15 to 12:45. The system's
going to show you a couple different
options here. It's going to show you
first the option that it thinks best
suits the time that you requested. Uh,
and then it's going to show you a couple
options that are a bit farther away from
that time just in case that better meets
your needs.
Something that's really important to pay
attention to here is the arrive before
time on the right hand side. Um, so you
see the pickup window, 30 minutes. Um,
and then there's the arrive before time.
This is essentially a guaranteed time
that you'll arrive at that destination
by. So if you're going to something
important,
then make sure that this time is before
that important thing happens,
>> right?
>> Um,
[clears throat]
as we get more passengers on board uh
and uh make the service run more
efficiently, it may be that the vehicle
needs to pick up one other person or
something along the way. uh and so it
may take slightly longer than a direct
trip from your home to this destination.
So always pay attention to that arise
before time and make sure that that
works for you. If it doesn't um you can
select one of the other ride card
options here
or um at the top just next to um the
name there's a little back button and
I'll have rout click that now
and let's take a look at the time again.
Uh so if you click on the time in the
middle
at the top of this window, you can
switch from pickup time to arrive by
time. Uh so go ahead and do that. And
now we're looking for a ride that
arrives at that time. So if you're
booking for a doctor's appointment or
anything like that, this may be more
convenient for you to book in this way.
>> Or if you have to be at church in a
certain time,
>> if you have to be at church or anywhere
else at a certain time. So go ahead and
just accept this. Um, and we'll do the
search again. Um, so we get back to the
ride card.
Uh, great. It generated a couple options
for us. Uh, go ahead and click on the
top one.
Uh, so this is now going to just bring
up a quick summary of the trip. Um, we
can see both the pickup uh, origin and
destination on here. Uh we ended up uh
just booking a trip that's really close
together, but you'll see the full map of
the journey that you'll be taking. Um
and you should just check all these
details and make sure that they work for
you. Um so it has both your pickup uh
address, your drop off address, and the
time for each of those locations.
Remember for this pickup window, this 30
minute pickup window, that the van can
show up at any time within that window,
and you should be ready to get on board.
All right,
>> go ahead and click next at the bottom
there.
>> So, there's one more step. The ride is
not booked yet. Um, [clears throat]
really important to make sure that you
get through this entire process. I know
I myself was booking a doctor's
appointment two weeks ago. I didn't get
through the confirmation page and I
showed up at the office and was like,
"Oh, oops." So, you always want to get
to the confirmation page here and this
is not it yet. This is just one last
chance for you to add some additional
details to your ride. So, um there's a
button there that looks like a little
kind of pen and pencil that says add
pickup notes or add special
instructions.
And this brings up a text box where you
can add additional notes for the driver.
So, some of you may have these notes
already applied to your account. Um, but
if there's anything specific for this
ride that the driver needs to know, um,
for example, a gate code to get into
your facility or something like that,
you can add that here. Um, or if you
just want them to look out for you and
tell them that you're wearing a blue
jacket today, you can also write that
here. It's going to pop up. The driver
will see that um, and know to look for
that. Let's, um, we won't add one right
now, so you can just, uh, click, uh,
cancel to close that. But, let's go
ahead and book the ride. So, at the
bottom here, there's a button that says
to book the ride.
Now, we get the confirmation.
So, until you get this confirmation,
your ride hasn't finished booking. So,
always important to get through here.
Now, this gives us a couple additional
options uh at the bottom. Um we can uh
what I want to point out though is that
there's a button that says book return
trip. Um what that does is if you click
that
takes you back to the booking page,
flips the origin and destination
automatically. You'll just need to
adjust the time uh to make sure that
that return trip time is when you would
want to travel.
>> Track.
>> So, that's how to book a ride, but let's
go over how to track a ride. So, on the
left hand menu here, Rob, if you go over
to my rides or my journeys is what it's
called. Here, you can see your upcoming
and past rides. So, at the top there's a
a little button that says upcoming and
past, and it'll have a list of each of
the rides that you have booked that are
upcoming or that you've taken recently.
Um, you can see quickly where that ride
is to and from, you can see the pickup
window. Um, and the drop off time. And
if you click on the button on the right,
Rob,
>> carry.
>> Yep. Sorry. View details.
This now um is where you would be able
to track your ride.
So, because we're continuously
optimizing service here, um we don't
assign a driver until about 15 minutes
or so um before your pickup window. So,
if you come in here about 15 minutes
before your pickup, um then you'll see
the information populated here. Right
now, it just says driver details not
available. So, um, 15 minutes or so
before pickup, that will change. It's
going to say that it's driver, uh,
Sergio from, uh, ABQ ride, and it will
give the van number that he's in as
well.
On the map at the top here, you would
then see an additional, um, icon, uh,
which would show on the map where that
vehicle is, and there would be an ETA up
there that would be the estimated exact
time of your pickup. However, that ETA
can change and you're still expected to
be ready any time within that 30 minute
window. Um, but that just gives you a
bit of additional insight.
>> So that way if you need to take an
elevator to get downstairs, you have
time to do it.
>> Exactly. You'll have insight into where
the vehicle is when it's a couple blocks
away and you can uh take that elevator
down.
>> Yeah. I'm just using as an example. on
the left here on right at the top
there's a button that says uh modify
trip details or modify trip right above
there.
Uh if you click that you can edit that
pickup note that you had. Um but you
can't edit the trip. Um and that's
because when we do the search again
we're looking at the capacity for the
vehicles in the system. So, to know if
we can edit your trip, to know if you
can take an additional companion with
you, if you can change your drop off
location from Walmart to Target, we need
you to cancel the ride and rebook a ride
because the system needs to know if it
has capacity to fit in a ride that is to
an entirely new location. So, if you
click cancel, um just at the bottom of
this window here
to the right of that button is uh the
cancel rides button and you can cancel
the ride right here.
Okay. So, let's uh let's not cancel this
ride yet. Um but and stay on this page.
Go ahead. So, yeah, click. Yep. Um so,
this is where you can go to track your
rides. So, even if you're not
comfortable booking your own rides, if
you want to get the app or get the
website, you can track your rides here.
Uh, but there's also some additional
ways where you'll know that information
in advance. Um, we'll set up IVR
automated voice calling. You'll get a
call the night before your trip and
about 30 minutes in advance of your ride
reminding you that you have a scheduled
ride.
>> Yep. If you have a phone number that
receives text messages, you'll also get
a text message uh confirming your
booking. You'll get a text message when
the vehicle is on its way to your
location. That text message means that
you can pull up this page and see
exactly where that vehicle is. And you
would get a text message when the
vehicle arrives at your location. Um, so
those those text messages, if you're
able to receive them, would give you um
an additional way of seeing that
information even if you don't have the
smartphone app downloaded and you just
have that text message capability on
file.
Um,
all right. So, um, we covered how to
book a ride. We covered uh how to edit a
trip, which is that you just go ahead
and cancel that ride. Uh, we covered the
notifications that you'll receive. and
we covered some of the differences
between this service and Uber or Lyft
that you need to let us know how many
people are traveling and what type of
seat space they need on board. Um, so I
think that we've we've covered uh all of
the important aspects here. Um, what I'd
remind you is that in order to take
control of your Sunban account, you will
need an email on file that is
functioning and that you have access to.
um you'll need to call into reservations
after November 10th um to make sure that
that correct email is on file. Once you
do that um they will provide you with
these instructions again, but you will
go to this website, click forgot
password, set up your account, and
you'll be good to go.
[music]