Mentor Engineering

Currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, Mentor Engineering provides comprehensive ITS solutions for paratransit and fixed-route transit operations. From the dispatch office to the vehicle, Mentor’s flexible solutions improve and expedite transit operations. With Mentor’s technology, organizations can realize the benefits of CAD/AVL, real-time communication, electronic manifests, in-vehicle navigation, fuel efficiency monitoring, and much more.

Paratransit:

Mentor’s Paratransit ITS solution offers effective and flexible service strategies to demand-response agencies looking to improve efficiency and customer service. Compatible with every major routing and scheduling system, Mentor Ranger® rugged in-vehicle computers give agencies access to electronic manifests, real-time vehicle status and location information, automated reporting, and in-vehicle navigation with turn-by-turn prompts. 

“It has made our organization more efficient,” explains Jill Brown, Operations Manager at LeeTran. “With the new AVL capability, we’re now able to check the real-time status of drivers and, if we see a time issue developing, we can make schedule adjustments to ensure on-time service. As well, when a call comes in, dispatchers can instantly see the vehicle that is nearest to the call, and electronically message the driver. The immediacy of this new scheduling system means that customers can book same day trips, improving their access to the community. Dispatchers and drivers also love the ability to send text messages to drivers because it means a quieter work environment.”

Fixed-Route Transit:

From providing managers with route optimization data, to alerting your passengers of schedule delays, a Mentor Fixed-Route Transit ITS solution is about the power of information. With Transit ITS, you have the ability to better manage data and resources, improve fuel efficiency, keep passengers informed, and take the pulse of your organization at any given moment.

Mentor Streets®, the backbone of Mentor’s fully integrated Fixed-Route Transit solution, includes software applications for CAD/AVL, incident management, schedule and route adherence, and mobile computing.  David Burnett, Deputy Chief of Operations at LYNX, explains the benefits of Streets for his agency: “Now we can advertise that we can track any bus, any time, 365 days a year. That helps us tremendously and makes us more responsive to our riders.”

Streets also ensures that your passengers stay informed by integrating with onboard peripherals such as automated voice annunciators and next-stop signs. Passengers can also access real-time bus schedule details, such as early or late status, on the Internet.  In addition, Streets now supports integration with Google™ Maps. Streets automatically combines the transit agency’s existing and future transit schedules to be used in Google Maps, which gives riders a single source for online trip planning.