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In paratransit services, the Ride Plan — Via’s comprehensive, multi-shift manifest — is generated after bookings close for the day, usually at 5 or 6pm. ViaAlgo crunches the requests, and generates its optimized schedule for dispatchers to review. But what happens if not all rides fit on the current supply plan while adhering to the agency’s scheduling rules? ViaAlgo calls these “Unassigned Rides,” and makes them easily viewable (by the red counter in the top right of the image) in the Ride Plan interface.
Once the unassigned rides are surfaced, dispatchers have a variety of choices to address the situation and ensure that there are no trip denials:
- Auto Assign: The dispatcher asks ViaAlgo to assign the ride to the ideal spot in the Ride Plan. If new shifts have been added since the Ride Plan was generated, or trips have been canceled, ViaAlgo can likely find a spot without influencing any other trips. Agencies can even ask ViaAlgo to run Auto Assign consistently in the background, quietly looking for opportunities to make the Ride Plan more efficient.
- Flexible Assign: The dispatcher lets ViaAlgo modify the request slightly in order to fit the ride into the Ride Plan. The ride may arrive slightly earlier or later than the rider initially requested, and this change will be communicated through the rider’s preferred contact method.
- Suggest Assignment: The dispatcher asks ViaAlgo to propose several assignment options, each with their own pros and cons. Then the dispatcher can select the assignment that best aligns with the agency’s mission and goals.
- Assign to Specific Shifts: The dispatcher selects a particular driver shift for the trip, but lets ViaAlgo decide the ideal pickup and drop-off times.
Each of these options leverages ViaAlgo's efficiency-optimizing capabilities, but keeps control of the Ride Plan firmly in the hands of dispatchers.
