Regional Transit District of Denver Bring Fare Enforcement into Digital Age with eFORCE Software

June 14, 2011 - PRLog -- RTD was looking for an integrated software application that would be available on mobile technology to provide accurate and auditable information. RTD believed by using eFORCE® RMS and eFORCE® HANDHELD systems that reduction in the time required to identify an offender and their past history will enable fare inspectors to perform additional passenger checks.

RTD located in Denver, Colorado was established in 1969 to provide mass transit for most of the 8 counties in and around Denver Colorado.  On an average weekday 331,000 people are boarding an RTD Bus or Light Rail Vehicle.  RTD has numerous bus stops, park-n-ride and transit facilities that are monitored by Police, Private Security Officers and other personnel.  RTD Police investigate all criminal activity that occurs within all RTD Property, Buses, and Light Rail Vehicles.

During 2009 RTD issued over 7,100 handwritten citations for Fare Violations, over 32,100 warnings for Fare Violations, and had over 20,000 incidents.  To be able to determine if patrons had been previously warned for Fare Violations, a spreadsheet was kept to document the names of people and the reason for the contact.  These spreadsheets had to be manually updated daily in a very time intensive process with the newly collected information.  Because of this records management challenge, RTD did a search for a new computerized Law Enforcement Records Management System.   In December 2010, RTD selected eFORCE® Software for its Records Management Systems (RMS) and Handheld System.

From January thru mid May 2011, eFORCE® worked closely with RTD to develop an electronic citation program that would work with the Motorola MC 75 handheld unit that RTD had purchased.  A Police or Security Officer would no longer have to call the main office to verify previous involvements of a patron.  By using the handheld unit out in the field an officer could search the RTD eFORCE® RMS by either Scanning in a government ID or manually entering in the name into the handheld unit.  Once the eFORCE® RMS was checked if the person had a previous contact, the Officer would be able to know the number of times they had been warned, cited or suspended from using the RTD service.  An officer could then issue a warning, citation or suspension directly from the handheld unit, which would then be transmitted via blue tooth to a portable thermal printer that the officer would carry with them.   Once issued the record of that warning, citation or suspension would be inserted immediately into the eFORCE® RMS so that if the violator got onto another RTD Bus or Rail Vehicle and was contacted again the other officer would immediately know of the previous contact.

These eFORCE® Software applications are used by all of the RTD Divisions (Bus, Light Rail, Police, Security, Safety/Environmental) to document all incidents from accidents, citizen complainants, and also criminal incidents.