Assisted Rides - AKA Senior/Volunteer/Community Networks Module Status - Originally posted 2/28/2012

[AnneBruskland]

Originally posted by AnneBruskland on February 28, 2012 at 9:07am.

 

As discussed previously, a module tentatively calling Assisted Rides Module (also known as Senior/Community Networks Module) is being contemplated for the iCarpool platform.  The goal of the module is to make ridematching available to organizations that assist individuals with rides and to open up ridematching for people that rely on assisted rides programs and community groups to help meet their transportation needs.  While the module is intended primarily for organizations and local communities that provide rides for senior citizens, disabled and economically disadvantaged individuals, this module could also benefit communities as a whole by providing ridematching options for local groups wishing to provide travel options to their members, reduce congestion on local streets and/or have an impact on reducing greenhouse gases in their community.  We are in the first phase of a multi-phase project for development and implementation of functionality to support this module. 

 

In 2012, we will focus on Phase I, which will cater to groups such as churches and local communities wishing to coordinate ridematching to members with limited transportation options and open up ridematching as an option for users that rely on assisted rides programs.  Based on our analysis, most of the Phase I requirements identified by a group of stakeholders that manage volunteer driver programs in the tri-state, with the exception of a standardized list of accessible options that a driver could pick from when configuring their vehicle information, exist in the base product with or without modification.  To address this gap, iCarpool has agreed to update the vehicle information.   The vendor has begun modeling how to incorporate the below list of configurable vehicle options that that stakeholders identified.  The extent to which the list can be accommodated will depend upon Amol’s review and ability to incorporate into the existing system structure. The item in bold may be exclude from Phase I given this level of review/validation is outside the scope of the first phase.

■Type of vehicle – already included in RSO

■Vehicle can accommodate:  folding wheel chair, cane, crutches, walker, portable oxygen, service animal, x # of passengers

■Driver’s have ability to assist with:  wheel chair, cane, crutches, walker, portable oxygen, entering vehicle, exiting vehicle

■Available equipment on vehicle:  Step stool (for accessing higher vehicles), seatbelt extenders, child car seat, lift-equipped vehicle with owner/driver trained on proper use

 

We are in the process of recruiting a small handful of community organizations to test the base RSO functionality and determine how well it supports community organizations wishing to coordinate rides.  If you are aware of any additional community organizations that might be good candidates for testing functionality, please let me know.  We are looking for “friendly” community organizations that are, or may be interested in forming community carpools to test the systems existing functionality.  Longer term, we will be looking for organizations that manage volunteer driver programs to test functionality, but not in this first phase.  Selected organizations would need to understand that Phase I functionality may or may not meet all immediate needs.  Through their testing and feedback, we hope to learn what works and what doesn’t work, which will help form the building blocks for subsequent system improvements to further support community carpools, assisted rides and volunteer driver programs.

Next steps in the process are to update vehicle information in the system, finalize list of participating community groups for the pilot, and train pilot community groups.

I will keep you posted on the progress of the pilot as we move forward.

 

Anne