Avego Powers VPSI Vanpooling
World's Largest Vanpool Provider Incorporates Avego
Technology
Kinsale, Ireland (February 3, 2010)
- Avego has been chosen by VPSI, the world's largest vanpool
service provider, to provide its groundbreaking technology to make
it easier and more convenient for commuters in the United States to
join and use vanpools on their daily commute. VPSI has already
begun to deploy Avego's end-to-end vanpool management capabilities
across its nationwide fleet of more than 5,000 vans, which
accommodate over 25 million passenger trips
daily.
"Due to the ongoing desire of commuters to save money on
their daily commutes, as well as an increased awareness of the need
for energy independence, reduced carbon emissions, and the sheer
convenience of not having to drive to work, VPSI has seen record
levels of demand for new vanpools," said VPSI President Jeff
Henning. "Our partnership with Avego will give our vanpool
customers greater information services, while allowing us to even
more rapidly deploy new vanpools."
The system is being used to provide automated reporting
on passenger miles traveled to government agencies, streamline
vanpool formation and management processes, provide extensive
in-vehicle driver management capabilities, and enable real-time
passenger information (RTPI). VPSI also has the capability to
introduce a feature for matching riders with vanpools in real time
for those customers that desire it.
"Avego technology fills empty seats in cars, buses and
now vanpools - the lowest-cost form of transit in America," said
Sean O'Sullivan, Avego's Managing Director. "Even super-efficient
vanpools can improve their services, and with benefits like
real-time information about where a vanpool is, waiting time can be
turned into productive time."
Avego's vanpooling system includes:
- a compact and stylish in-vehicle touchscreen mobile data terminal (MDT) with GPS and audio announcement capabilities;
- automated National Transit Database (NTD) reporting on vanpooling activity;
- a web application for commuters to organize their own vanpools, routes, and rosters;
- extensive service provider reporting and administrative capabilities, including automated services to improve vanpool ridership and membership;
- real-time information for drivers about upcoming stops and riders, with walk-up / ad-hoc ridership facilitated; and
- iPhone, SMS and e-mail messaging, plus departure board capabilities, to provide riders with real-time passenger information (RTPI) on vanpool locations, schedules, and routing options.
About VPSI
Since incorporating in 1977, VPSI (www.vpsiinc.com) has grown to become
the largest private provider of commuter vanpool transportation
services in the world. Maintaining a fleet of over 5,000 vans in
top condition, and accommodating over 25 million passenger-trips
annually, VPSI today operates commuter transportation and mobility
management programs from over 40 customer service and / or commuter
centers serving 50 major urban areas throughout the world. VPSI
vanpoolers form ride groups of 6 to 14 colleagues, friends or
neighbors - anyone with common destination points - or search the
company's online database for existing vanpools on their desired
routes. A volunteer driver from the group collects a pre-determined
monthly fee from passengers and VPSI covers vehicle maintenance and
insurance costs.
About Avego
Avego (www.avego.com) provides software and
hardware systems for improving passenger transportation efficiency
for consumers and transportation operators. Avego's real-time
information systems combine GPS devices, mobile phones and Internet
technologies to make seat capacity known and available to
passengers, provide convenient ticket purchasing options, and
enable extensive reporting capabilities for transportation
providers. Avego's transportation expertise spans national
customers as diverse as Transport for London, the Ministries of
Transport for the UK and the Netherlands; cities and public
transport operators from the United States to India; and thousands
of individual consumers and private transport
operators.
Contact
Emmett Murphy, Marketing Communications
Avego
1 Kinsale Commercial Park
Kinsale, Co. Cork
Ireland
Tel (Ireland): +353.21.234.9009
Tel (U.S.): +1.202.470.0467
E-mail:
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