This report presents the results of a one-year evaluation test of an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) project known as Advanced Rural Transportation Information and Coordination (ARTIC) located in the Arrowhead Region of Northeastern Minnesota. The objective of the project focused on combining resources and streamlining dispatching operations for four transportation agencies: District 1 of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT), Minnesota State Patrol (MSP) District 3100, City of Virginia Dial-a-Ride, and Arrowhead Transit Services.
Before deployment of this project, the above agencies worked independently of each other, with overlapping functions, duplicate record keeping, and stretched already scarce resources that resulted in degradation of the quality of service to the public.
The focal point of this project is a centralized communications and dispatching center, where the dispatchers communicate with maintenance and emergency vehicles, and dispatch vehicles based on an integrated database that includes functionality, availability, and real time location of vehicles in the field.
