Cost/benefits study on implementing mobile data terminals in Chapel Hill Transit's paratransit fleet
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Summary
This study evaluated the potential costs and benefits of implementing mobile data terminals (MDTs) in Chapel Hill Transit's paratransit fleet to address dispatcher workload and communication inefficiencies. The researchers used a mixed-methods approach, including quantitative analysis of dispatcher activity, vehicle ride observations, driver surveys, and vendor cost assessments. Key findings indicated that MDTs would reduce dispatcher busy time by 43%, from 19.4 minutes to 11.0 minutes per hour, by automating data transmission and reducing radio traffic. The study also identified that MDTs would eliminate manual data entry errors and improve reporting capabilities through automatic time and mileage stamping. Implementation costs were estimated at approximately $66,500 initially, with Mentor Engineering recommended as the most cost-effective vendor. The study concluded that adopting MDTs would significantly improve operational efficiency, customer service, and driver satisfaction.
Key finding
Implementing mobile data terminals in the paratransit fleet is projected to reduce dispatcher busy time by 43% and improve operational efficiency by automating data transmission and reducing radio communication errors.
Methodology
mixed_methods
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (7 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | skipped | empty | — | — | 4 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b | — | 3 | 2026-06-01 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 24 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-03 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-01; verification: verified.
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