With three facilities and approximately 7 million boardings annually across Florida’s expansive Palm Beach County, Palm Tran Public Transportation was looking for a way to elevate customer experience while advancing equitable mobility for its riders.
“We are always searching for ways to grow our ridership” said Clinton Forbes, Executive Director of Palm Tran. “And we know that technology is a major part of that. Partnering with a company like Genfare, who are experts in this area has helped us find those new customers through technology.”
Several years ago, Palm Tran began working with Genfare as a way to help increase functionality and provide their riders with an opportunity for open payments.
Utilizing Genfare’s Fast Fare farebox, an all-in-one, customizable farebox that accepts, validates, and processes whatever form of payment is in the rider’s pocket, Palm Tran users are able to digitize their cash with multiple on and off the bus options, whether it’s cash, coin, open payment, mobile or smart card.
“In terms of providing better payment options for our riders, I definitely wanted our riders to be able to approach our vehicle without having to think about how they pay the fair,” Forbes said. “Genfare helped design and deliver that technology for us.”
According to Forbes, implementing the new system was a complex process but with Genfare’s hands on assistance, the agency was able to make a smooth transition.
After receiving approval on their proposed RFP, Genfare assigned a program manager to Palm Tran’s project. A solution architects team then created a Scope of Work (SOW), which defined the technical deliverables and identified expectations for both parties. The SOW was then shared with the customer and once approved, the program manager began working directly with Palm Tran to kick off the project.
“Once all of that was completed, our program management team conducted demo and discovery sessions where we worked in one-to-two-day workshop sessions with the transit agency team members,” said Vandana Sudini, Genfare senior program manager. “Once they were comfortable and all the training and testing was completed, we then launched a pilot phase to make sure everything in production was working as expected.”
Once the pilot was deemed successful, the product was then launched into production. After the go live, Sudini remained on site to ensure the rollout was a success.
“I was there for 10 days, from the installation all the way to going live just to make sure they had enough support and that their campaign went amazing,” Sudini said. “They ran a very good promotion, which brought 5,000 rider registrations within the month. I had never seen that before.”
After the launch, Genfare continued to provide follow-up training on a demand basis for Palm Tran employees. They were also provided with access to Genfare’s customer portal which offers a variety of videos and training materials for both operations staff as well as customers.
“It is important to work with a vendor that is really going to be there for you during this implementation and post implementation,” Forbes said. “That you can pick up the phone and make a call and they will have someone assist you through the entire process. I have to say that Genfare has been there for us, from the president to the technician, we have had support from Genfare.”