ATLANTA, GA and FRANKFORT, KY--(Marketwired - Sep 1, 2015) - Blue Grass Community Action Partnership (BGCAP) and its Bluegrass Ultra-Transit Service (BUS) Program, a demand response and Medicaid brokerage transit provider, recently turned to RouteMatch Software to help them expand trip capacity and offer more routes as well as improve Medicaid trip management. By employing new technology such as tablets for automated vehicle location, they have been able to add flex route service and offer more trips to riders. RouteMatch's Facility Web Portal has also been used to achieve more optimized trip coordination and faster provider reimbursements.

Based in Frankfort, Kentucky and covering twelve counties, BGCAP on average schedules and performs 800 trips per day with 75 vehicles. 

Adding Deviated/Flex Routes to Manage Growth

A large portion of BGCAP's ridership is from Medicaid requests that come in over the phone. These requests have to be managed and assigned among the 12 different locations where vehicles are parked.

"We took a hard look at our system and the operations as they were, and where we wanted them to be," says Roger Kirk, BGCAP's Director of Transportation. "We knew our Medicaid requests would keep growing- they're 85% of what we do -- and that we needed a more efficient process."

RouteMatch's automated scheduling with the ability to cancel, reschedule or reroute trips, has allowed the agency to perform deviated or flex routes -- something they were previously unable to accommodate. BGCAP's deviated flex route service means that a rider can request a ride a day in advance, and as long as their residence is within a half mile of an official stop, the bus will deviate from its set, scheduled route to pick the rider up. The same process applies for a return trip -- the bus will drop a rider off at home or another destination, as long as it is within a half mile of an official stop.

This service has increased their rural ridership up to 50% on flex routes, and BGCAP plans to add one additional circle route and one straight line route within a year.

Helping Partnering Brokers Succeed through the Facility Web Portal

One critical component of BGCAPS's success as a Medicaid broker is their ability to make sure their subcontractors get paid in a timely fashion. RouteMatch's Web Portal option allows BCCAP and their trip providers to easily view route schedules, manage trip data and rider information online. For subcontractors, this means they can easily run reports on their completed rides, submit invoices and receive payments much faster.

"Everybody loves the web portal," says Kirk. "They use it to report their trips and the sooner we get their data, the quicker the provider gets paid. So, everyone's happy."

Mobile Data and Goals for the Future

The other major transition for BGCAP was the move to implementing mobile data and tablet technology. Previously, there was no real-time capability to communicate trip or route changes, and reporting accuracy was low. The agency recently installed 75 tablets and now has access to many different types of RouteMatch reports available to them.

"The tablets have made our lives much easier," says Kirk. "Reporting has become so much easier and we are thrilled about the many different types of ways to track our key performance indicators -- productivity, on-time performance, and many others."

"Replacing an existing transportation management system, Blue Grass Community Action Partnership has successfully embraced new technologies, such as tablets and software to manage their route deviations," says Chris Campbell, Vice President at RouteMatch. "They have done a great job of applying new tools and systems in ways that are most beneficial to their provider network, as well as their own operations

Looking ahead, the agency's goals for the next two to three years include greater regional transportation coordination and expanding their deviated fixed routes into two more counties. BCCAP is also planning to add automated fare collection options for their riders.

About Blue Grass Community Action Partnership

Blue Grass Community Action Partnership (BGCAP) is a social action agency which, through its BUS Program, operates demand response and Medicaid brokerage in Anderson, Franklin, Washington, Jessamine, Woodford, Boyle, Garrard, Lincoln, Casey, Mercer, and Scott counties in Kentucky. The agency has dedicated resources to enable low income, disadvantaged and challenged families and individuals of all ages and ethnic backgrounds to attain skills, knowledge and motivation to become fully self-sufficient.

About RouteMatch Software

RouteMatch Software is the leading provider of passenger transportation technologies and mobility management solutions. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, GA and works with more than 600 transit agencies across the U.S. and internationally, providing quality software and customer service. Partnering with public and private sector passenger transportation providers, the company's products address routing, scheduling, dispatching, billing, reporting, fixed route, CAD/AVL, demand response and fixed route integration, traveler information services, mobility management, business analytics, automated fare collection and more. Additional information about RouteMatch's ITS technologies are available at www.routematch.com or by calling RouteMatch toll-free at (US) 1-888-840-8791.