Trillium is part of a coalition of organizations joining CALACT to improve trip planning for disadvantaged riders in Washington, Oregon, and California.Online trip planning is not easy for everyone. Whether it is the lack of features for blind users, software design with a bias toward younger users, or an assumption that the user’s first language is English, built-in barriers exist where there should be built-in accessibility. As a company with a slogan about making transit easier to use, we want to change this reality.

We are excited to announce our involvement with California Association of Coordinated Transportation’s (CALACT) “Plan, book, and pay for demand-responsive transit agencies in CA, OR, and WA” project. Funded by a ITS4US grant from the USDOT, this project will increase access and quality of trip planning for disadvantaged transit riders across the states of Washington, Oregon, and California. Trillium is just one part of an impressive roster of partners that are now embarking with CALACT, including each state DOT and both profit and non-profit experts in software development, accessibility, transit data, equity, and stakeholder outreach.

Some of the outcomes of this project will include:

• Bringing trip planning for demand-responsive services like Dial-A-Ride to the entire west coast through the GTFS-Flex extension
• Funding the development and adoption of other GTFS extensions aimed at improving accessibility for those with vision, hearing, or mobility disabilities, and those with low English proficiency
• Developing real-time booking data standards and provide low-cost booking software for small and rural agencies
• Adding payments to the trip planning experience in mobile apps through open payment systems and specifications

You can read CALACT’s press release, which has more details about the project, here. And if you’re interested in participating, be sure to get in touch!