Case Study

From Pen-and-Paper to On-Demand. Ridership Quadrupled.

A mid-size Midwest manufacturing city retired its paper-based dispatch system and launched on-demand service for all residents. SHARE runs fixed-route and demand-responsive service from one platform.

Transit dispatcher using SHARE platform
4x
Ridership Growth in 2 Years
100%
Digital Dispatch
2
Service Models in One Platform
The Challenge

Flexible transit for all residents, without separate tools or growing dispatcher headcount

The city ran fixed routes serving downtown and a limited set of residential areas. Anyone who needed to reach employers outside the city had no reliable option. Residents without a car could not reach jobs that were just a few miles beyond the route endpoints.

Dispatch was a pen-and-paper operation. Demand-responsive ADA trips were hard to coordinate accurately at speed. The pace of requests was outrunning what the system could handle. Some residents began calling emergency services to get to medical appointments. The transportation gap had become a public safety issue.

The city needed a platform that could manage on-demand scheduling, dispatch, and routing alongside fixed-route service. It also needed to work for residents who did not have smartphones or digital access.

Program Details
  • Mid-size Midwest manufacturing city (~22,000 residents)
  • On-demand public transit service
  • Fixed-route and demand-responsive ADA service
  • Rider self-booking via web app and phone
  • SHARE's offline booking for residents without digital access
  • Service area expanded beyond county lines
How SHARE Helped

One platform for fixed-route service, on-demand dispatch, and rider booking

SHARE replaced the pen-and-paper dispatch system with a live platform that manages both fixed-route and demand-responsive trips. Dispatchers moved from coordinating trips manually to managing from a single dashboard. Residents got reliable booking and arrival notifications without requiring dispatcher involvement for every trip.

Trip Scheduling

SHARE's scheduling platform manages both fixed-route and on-demand trips from a single system, letting dispatchers handle demand-responsive ADA service alongside regular routes without separate tools.

Rider Tools

Residents booked rides through SHARE's web-based rider app. For residents without digital access, phone-based booking routed through the dispatch team kept the service accessible for senior riders and those without smartphones.

Dispatch Dashboard

SHARE's live dispatch dashboard replaced the pen-and-paper system, giving the transit team real-time visibility into every vehicle, trip, and rider status from one screen.

Route Optimization

The city used SHARE's routing tools to build and adjust routes on demand, including same-day custom routes for community events, without relying on engineering or manual route planning.

The Results

Documented outcomes from the Midwest municipality transit program

4x
Ridership Growth

The city went from serving roughly 1 in 100 residents to 1 in 25, a 4x increase in ridership, while expanding the service area beyond county lines for the first time.

100%
Digital Dispatch

The pen-and-paper dispatch system was fully retired. All scheduling, dispatch, and rider communication moved to SHARE's platform, with no legacy tools remaining.

2
Service Models in One Platform

Fixed-route and on-demand service ran from a single SHARE instance. No additional tools were required for scheduling, dispatch, or rider booking.

Case Study

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