Every paratransit software transition looks like just a technology project on paper: scoping, data migration, testing, training, dry runs, go-live. In practice, the best software transitions are also a people project.
That's the premise behind how Via's Rachel Birnbaum and Axelle Talma approach every transition, and they've got the track record to back it up. Together they've been part of more than 250 service launches, run over 500 trainings, and trained more than 2,000 paratransit staff.
You can procure the best software out there, launch won't be smooth if your head scheduler doesn't use it.
A dispatcher who's spent 15 years becoming the person who can pull together an impossible funding report isn't afraid of a new interface. She's afraid of becoming a beginner again, in front of people who used to come to her for answers. A driver who's built a mental map of which routes to avoid and how to load wheelchairs in the right order isn't resisting technology. They're protecting years of hard-won expertise that no software ever captured.
Understand that, and empathy becomes your most useful tool. Below are just some of Rachel and Axelle's key tips for meeting people where they are, backed by real stories in the field.
Looking for the full conversation? Catch the on-demand recording for the complete playbook.
Proof beats persuasion.
During one transition, a lead scheduler was openly skeptical of automated scheduling on one transition, arms crossed in every meeting. Rather than argue, the team ran an at-scale full-day schedule simulation and printed the resulting real driver manifests in a format the scheduler already knew. After reviewing a handful at their desk, they signed off, and the rest of the team followed their lead.
The lesson: for a skeptic, actions are louder than words. Involve them early, and give them concrete evidence to evaluate on their own terms, so they can develop organic trust in the new system
Expertise doesn't disappear. It needs a new home.
Some of the most valuable people in any paratransit operation are what you might call backseat schedulers: drivers who've quietly built a private rulebook of workarounds because the old system couldn't handle their edge cases, from vehicle clearances to wheelchair loading order. That knowledge often exists because these drivers have real expertise, and asking them to hand it over can feel like giving up what made them valuable.
One fix: treat that knowledge as product input. Feedback from these exact drivers led to moving access-code and mobility notes earlier in the app's arrival flow, a change that now helps every driver on the platform.
The lesson: the people most resistant to a new system often hold the most valuable institutional knowledge. Build a channel for it, and resistance turns into ownership.
Fear of being buried, not fear of change.
Sometimes hesitation is simpler: someone is already stretched thin, and a transition looks like one more thing on a full plate.
On one launch, a dispatcher put in late hours working through ride groupings alongside the implementation team before go-live. It worked because leadership staffed extra coverage so the hours weren't stacked on top of a normal shift, and because the work was framed as shared effort, not something handed down.
The lesson: when you're asking someone to do more before things get easier, be explicit about when the extra effort ends, and make sure they're not doing it alone.
What this means for leaders
None of the above happens by accident. It happens because someone in a leadership seat did a few specific things:
- Started early, often as early as procurement, so nobody experienced the transition as a surprise.
- Was honest that there would be bumps, rather than promising a flawless launch, which tends to make people trust you less, not more.
- Encouraged and empowered their natural champions, drivers and dispatchers who were excited about new technology, and let their positive energy spread.
- Set realistic expectations on results. Metrics like on-time performance often dip slightly on day one before climbing well past baseline within days, and saying so upfront prevents disappointment from turning into doubt.
- Brought institutional memory to the table. Leaders who'd been through prior rocky transitions knew exactly which past mistakes not to repeat, and shared that history rather than letting a new provider rediscover it the hard way.
And if it's already gone sideways?
One question that came up in conversation with Rachel and Axelle applies to nearly every organization mid-transition: what if change management didn't happen early enough, or didn't happen at all? The answer is more reassuring than it sounds: it's never too late. A modern, configurable platform isn't set in stone. If a team wasn't consulted the first time, you can pull them into a focus group and consult them now.
Ready for more?
- Tune into the full conversation to hear more tips on handling skepticism, outages, and AI head-on.
- See Via's paratransit software in action to explore how empathy shows up in the product, not just the process.
