Service Adjustments Basics

In transit operations, the unexpected is always expected. Changing service to adapt to changing conditions is a tall order in the best of times. Service Adjustments helps monitor and manage your fleet in real-time, and is built into  Live Operations allowing operations teams to take swift action on service issues, like bunching and missing service. Seamlessly, service changes made through Live Operations gets pushed to operators through Onboard App, to passengers through predictions and Rider Alerts, and to agency staff through the Adjustment tab and when clicking affected blocks, stops, and vehicles in Live Operations.  

Video Overview of Service Adjustments 

*please note some visuals of Service Adjustment features have been updated, particularly the Action Log has been updated to the "Adjustments" tab, which we will go into more detail on below.

The Basics

Overview: Adjust real-time service dynamically in the Live Operations product on the Swiftly Dashboard. Service Adjustments makes it simple to dynamically make adjustments like stop closures, added trips, cancellations, and modifications to departure times. These changes then get pushed downstream to all locations where passengers or operators get real-time information. 

Making Adjustments: Adjustments can be made in a variety of ways depending on what change you would like to make to your service. Most adjustments can be made directly from the Live Map, Live List, and Live Ladder view. By clicking on a vehicle you can cancel or modify service and by clicking on a stop you can close that stop - this all occurs in the vehicle, block, or stop details panel. 

To add a trip you will need to navigate to the "Adjustments" tab and click “New Adjustment" > "Add Trip."

All adjustments can be modified or deleted, and will be visible in the vehicle, block, or stop details panel from all of the Live Operations views. Any user will see an orange badge informing that service was adjusted for that vehicle, block, or stop. When you click on the orange box, all ongoing and upcoming adjustments for that vehicle, block, or stop will be displayed. If there is a Rider Alert impacting it, you’ll also see there as well.

When you make a Service Adjustment, you’ll modify real-time passenger predictions. To provide additional rider-facing messaging, such as the best alternative stops when there is a stop closure, simply create a Rider Alert. Learn more about how to create a Rider Alert. 

"Adjustments" tab: To understand all the service changes that are ongoing, scheduled into the future, completed, or deleted in your system utilize the "Adjustments" tab. The Adjustments tab also provides explicit details about who created the adjustment and when it was created, and allows Service Adjustment users to modify ongoing adjustments and add trips to the current service.

The "Adjustments" tab in Live Operations is split into two views based on the status of the adjustment made:

1. "Active & Upcoming" - surfaces all active and scheduled/"upcoming" adjustments
2. "Archive (30 Days)" - surfaces the last 30 of completed or deleted adjustments

To modify an adjustment, click the “Edit” next to an ongoing adjustment. This opens the adjustments panel to modify it or delete the adjustment. Some adjustments, like cancelations of entire blocks, cannot be edited, instead, you will see the option to "Reinstate" and "Delete" it.

The Adjustments 

Modify Departure Times: When alerted by dispatch or an operator that a vehicle is going to be delayed for a significant period of time, such as due to a late pullout from the yard, you’ll want to use the modify departure time adjustment. This allows operations to quickly update the new departure time for an upcoming stop, and then Swiftly will take it from there. Our system will adjust the predictions for the subsequent stops accordingly so that passengers have the most up-to-date information. 

To create this adjustment, click “modify service” in the vehicle details panel. Then choose “modify departure time,” choose your stop, and input the updated departure. 

Delays that have already happened, such as a vehicle being behind schedule due to traffic, don’t need to be entered into Swiftly, as Swiftly automatically reflects that into predictions based on a bus’s real-time location.

Stop Closures: If you need to close a stop, for instance during construction, you will use the stop closure adjustment. This allows internal staff to be aware of this closure and eliminates predictions for this stop. 

To close a stop you can either search for the stop in the filters panel on any view in Live Operations or you can pull up the relevant route and click on the stop of interest. Next, you will click “Close Stop.” Choose the start time for the stop closure and either pick an end time or click “Don’t know yet” if it’s an indefinite closure (Remember to edit or delete it once it’s over, so predictions can resume!). If the stop doesn’t affect all routes that serve that stop, you can deselect any routes that are not affected by this closure. 

All closed stops will show up with a red “X” indicating that the stop is closed and no more predictions will be generated for this stop. 

Added Trips: If your agency wants to run extra service beyond the regularly scheduled service, you can do so by creating a copy of a similar trip and setting the start time. 

To add a trip you will navigate to the Adjustments tab, click “modify service” and add a trip. Swiftly will automatically pick the trip closest to the current time. If you run multiple trip patterns at the same time, you may need to alter the selected trip to reflect what you’ll be running. Then,  set the start time of the new trip to when your additional vehicle will depart the terminal.

After you’ve created a trip, you will need to assign a vehicle to this trip. The simplest way is to navigate to Live List view and click on the new trip that will be labeled as “Missing.” Click “Assign Vehicle” and choose the vehicle ID from the drop-down that will be servicing that new trip. Operators will also be able to sign into the newly added trip from the Onboard App.

Cancellations: When a bus or driver is not available to run an entire block or specific trips within it you can use the cancel service adjustment and ensure passengers and internal staff are aware of the cancelation. If you can later reinstate service, you can also do so in the Swiftly Dashboard by altering the set of trips canceled or deleting the adjustment. 

When cancelling service, select a specific vehicle from any of the Live Operations view either through the filters Vehicle ID search or by clicking on a vehicle directly. Click “Modify Service” and click “Cancel Service.” Either select the checkbox at the top left corner to quickly select all trips to cancel the rest of the block, or select specific trips to cancel. If the next scheduled trip is far in the future, Swiftly will automatically unassign the vehicle from the block. 

At this time, you can only cancel service five minutes prior to the departure of the first trip in the block. 

If there is no vehicle running the service, you can select the scheduled block of service by looking for “Missing” on Live List or Live Ladder or searching for the Block ID in the Filters panel. From there, click “Cancel Service” to pull up the list of trips on that block, just like what would show from the Vehicle Details Panel.

Detours: Detours allow operations staff to implement updates and seamlessly communicate detour-related changes to service via the most common real-time information channels. The detours feature ensures that staff and passengers are aware of the most up to date route changes. 

When you click the button to modify service, you will see an option to “add a detour.” This opens up a panel to create a new detour. Once you select the affected route in the new detour panel, the route is displayed on the map in one direction. You create the detour by selecting where the detour begins and drawing the path of the detour to where it ends. Once this is completed, any affected stop(s) along the route will automatically be closed. If needed, you can create the detour in the other direction after the first direction is completed. Once the detour is drawn, you will need to choose a start time. If you know the end time, you can put that in as well. If you don’t know the end time, you can select the “Don’t know yet” box. If relevant, you can add in the reason for the detour. After all of that information is completed in the panel, click “submit” and your detour will be created and visible in the Adjustments tab where the detour can also be deleted if needed. After the detour is created, you will also see detour in the Live Map view of Live Operations.

 

Creating a Rider Alert

If your agency has purchased the Rider Alerts product, scroll to the bottom of the Modify Service panel. There you will see a toggle switch asking if you wish to create a Rider Alert. When turned on, you will be taken to the Rider Alerts product upon clicking the submit button. All information except for the header and description of the service change will be populated from Service Adjustments.