Q4 Product update: What’s new, what’s next

Spare is becoming more intuitive, giving you control while also responding to your needs through new and improved features.

By making your processes more streamlined but with you still at the helm, we’re helping to improve your efficiency and shape your own experience.

Curious about what we’ve been working on in the last quarter? Check out the upcoming features, and improvements to the Spare platform.

New Releases

NEW: Automated Driver Breaks

Say goodbye to micromanaging driver break schedules. The new Automated Driver Breaks will now do all the heavy lifting for you by incorporating a live scheduling system that responds to new trips as they come in. Driver Breaks will dramatically reduce the operational overhead required to facilitate breaks and ensure that you satisfy organizational requirements around driver shift scheduling.

With Driver Breaks, you can set up a policy for how breaks should be facilitated on your fleets. This policy will then automatically schedule breaks in your duties. As your duties fill up with trips, the breaks will automatically move around to maximize the overall efficiency of your schedule. Once your driver starts their duty, real-time optimization will ensure that breaks remain efficiently scheduled and adapt to the events of the day.

With Driver Breaks, we're taking the efficient, driver-friendly operation to the next level, decreasing the burden on shift schedulers and maximizing your system efficiency.

IMPROVED: Reporting Templates and Faster Downloads

Customizable Report Template Saving: Now you can find the data you want to see in your reports without having to trudge through the entire dashboard. With this improvement to our reporting capabilities, you can now generate report templates that are relevant to your system while Spare continues to provide you with access to real-time data at your fingertips. The new templates you create will exist in addition to all of Spare's pre-built reports, but now you'll be able to create report templates that will include only the data you have chosen to see and in the way you want to see it. Your newly crafted report templates can also be saved so you can quickly access them whenever you need them.

If you are a Spare customer, you can get early access to Report Templates by contacting your Spare Partner Success representative for the Custom Reports Early Access program.

Faster downloads for large reports: No one likes waiting, especially for the data you need to report on your services. That's why we've greatly increased the speed of our report downloads. Large reports now take seconds to download, instead of minutes ⏩ Give it a try!

IMPROVED: Global Optimization

We're continuing to improve "GOLD" - our real-time optimization algorithm. Global Optimization automatically shuffles trips around in the background, from one vehicle to another, to maximize the efficiency of the overall trip schedule. Now GOLD is faster, more efficient and works on fleets shared across multiple organizations. This ensures that every fleet on Spare’s platform benefits from our world-class automation and maximizes the efficiency of scheduled trips in Spare.

IMPROVED: Smoother multi-modal trip experience for riders

You booked a multi-modal trip, and the microtransit bus has just dropped you at the train station. Now what? With Spare’s multimodal trip planner, the information you need to complete your journey is at your fingertips. Just tap "Continue Journey" and you'll see fresh options for getting to your ultimate destination by any mode of transit.

NEW Integration: UZURV x Spare

In the last product update, we talked about the integration of Lyft with Spare. This time we’re excited to announce our integration with UZURV. Through this integration, transit agencies can access existing flexible networks of fleets and fully FTA-compliant drivers, robust real-time insight into third-party fleets, and transparent reporting across both dedicated and non-dedicated trip providers.

NEW: SSO in Spare Rider

One less password for your riders to remember! Keep things easy and secure for your ridership with Single Sign On, an authentication method that allows a user to log in with a single ID to independent software systems. Now, Spare customers can provide access to Spare Rider via any authentication method that uses the SAML and OpenID Connect protocols.

NEW: Email Rider Notifications

The Spare platform allows agencies to send trip & vehicle-based notifications to keep riders up to date by using trip and vehicle variables as part of the notifications you send. Through push, call, and text notifications, you can convey what’s needed for a successful pickup.”

But what if your riders don't have a phone number? In the past, you may have had a hard time keeping them informed about the status of their trips. Now you can send Rider Notifications automatically to a rider using their email address. As we always say, "an informed customer is a happy customer". Cheers to happy riders!

Coming Soon: Features to get excited about

Fleet Agreements

If you’re thinking of increasing the efficiency of your service by using fleet vendors like Lyft or local taxi cabs, Spare is here to help. We will facilitate Fleet Agreements between you and the potential vendor, ensuring that all terms, conditions, and safety regulations are met. You’ll be expanding your service in no time.

Activity Log

You don’t need it until you need it. Spare knows that when problems arise it pays to have your vehicle’s activity history on tap. To help you improve your troubleshooting capabilities and quality of service, we’re going to bring you upgraded logging tools, so you have a clearer picture of what, when and why.

Manual Intervention

Need a bit more control over your driver and vehicle allocation? Soon you’ll be able to specify which driver and vehicle should serve which trip request. Even better, you don’t have to worry about scrambling your current schedule - we’ll do the rescheduling work for you, automatically finding new matches for your current requests without compromising their requirements.

This feature is part of Spare's Early Access Program. Contact your Partner Success Manager to get on the list for early access.

Effortless Migration

Moving to Spare from another Transit Management System? Stop tearing your hair out over data transfer. Spare has got you covered with a migration toolset helping to import riders, drivers, vehicles and more. Your complete migration will only be a few clicks away!

Enhanced Search

People aren’t just names, but it can certainly look that way without Custom Fields. We’re giving your booking agents a helping hand when they’re trying to figure out who’s who but are seeing double. With Spare’s improved search function, they’ll be able to search by names, emails, phone numbers and custom fields like birth dates or unique identification numbers!

ADA Paratransit Eligibility Made Simple

We’re not stopping at just making a 100% digital, fully automated eligibility management system on Spare Platform. Here comes the eligibility dashboard, Spare’s eligibility management solution that will help your team stay on top of each of its applications, and ensure they’re all processed within the FTA’s 21-day timer.

Note: ADA Paratransit Eligibility Management is currently available as an early access release for select US customers. Please contact your operations manager to request access.

Request Custom Fields in the Rider App

Soon, you’ll be able to collect more data from riders by adding custom fields. All you need to do is ask your riders to fill in a bit more information before they book a trip. Learn more about your customers so you can continue to deliver high-quality service that meets their needs.

Trusted across four continents and counting, Spare Platform enables cities and transportation operators to plan, launch, operate, and analyze the next generation of mobility services, including integrated on-demand microtransit systems. Some of the world's largest cities are using Spare Platform as a core piece of the city’s transportation infrastructure to build next-generation transit and paratransit systems - like Fukuoka and also Dallas, Texas, which was named APTA's most innovative transit system in North America for 2019. To learn more about Spare, visit https://sparelabs.com