Smartrak’s recently released Passenger Management solution was designed to specifically address an issue that’s hitting many NDIS service providers in the pocket.

Feedback from NDIS providers indicated that they didn’t have a great method for confidently recording the details of multi-passenger trips. There was no simple way to allocate portions of a shared trip to different customers and then accurately charge for them. This led to some providers under-charging for services, either because they didn’t have reporting confidence, or because it was just too hard to get accurate information. Smartrak realised there was an opportunity for PoolCar customers to easily capture when and where someone joined or left a journey, and that it would save providers time while increasing revenue.

To address this problem, Smartrak built on the existing capability in PoolCar, which enables passenger and ridesharing information to be included in a booking. With Passenger Management, transport drivers have the ability to record and edit passenger manifest details while out on the road. This creates a dynamic manifest that can respond to changes in passengers and journey destinations. The driver captures the information on their mobile phone, so there’s no technology installation requirement. It also does away with the need for paper logbooks.

With Passenger Management, if a number of people are leaving a community house, for instance, to go to various appointments, the driver can take them all onboard at the same time. The details of each passenger’s individual journey are recorded by the driver, using their mobile phone. This information is available to their manager through real-time and historical reporting. Even if an unexpected passenger joins the trip, their details can be added by the driver on the spot.

Passenger Management ensures that a person who is only on the journey for 20% of the time only has 20% of the journey allocated to them. This level of accuracy and transparency builds confidence with the service provider and the organisation that is ultimately paying the bills. It’s a solution that makes the process more accurate and transparent for everyone.

Passenger Management will be a game-changer for NDIS service providers and any organisations with similar requirements. It makes life much easier at the end of the month – all the evidential reporting is there in digital files that you can supply along with the invoices. And should there be a question raised at any time you can drill straight down to the particular trip and passenger in question.

Accurate information about who shared a vehicle and when will also help organisations meet their COVID-19 contact tracing responsibilities. This will be hugely beneficial to our NDIS customers, their passengers, and other organisations. Imagine fleet providers in education gaining access to Passenger Management for shuttle services between campuses – it will become the industry standard for accurate passenger record keeping and safe operation.

Early adopters of Passenger Management are sending back positive reports, and some are looking forward to future developments that will synch up with their telematics solution, to automatically record Odometer readings during a journey.

If you want to try out the benefits of Passenger Management for yourself, contact us now to take advantage of the 60-day free trial that’s available to all PoolCar customers. You can find out more by filling in the enquiry form below.