Does your team use public reporting? In the dynamic world of urban transportation, you’re at the forefront of shaping the future of how cities move. You play a critical role in ensuring that thousands of daily commuters reach their destinations safely, efficiently, and reliably. However, managing and coordinating a constantly moving transportation services fleet of any size is a challenge, but public reporting could make it easier.

Public reporting, in this sense, is a method of enlisting transportation system users to proactively submit problems they notice to help manage and maintain facilities, equipment, and operations. Using a public reporting feature of an industry standard like the 1st Reporting app is a powerful means of enhancing transportation services’ efficiency and ease of management.

Let’s explore how public reporting can positively impact your transportation services teams and users and make managing that much easier.

Understanding Public Reporting: A Key to Improving Transportation Services

Public reporting can be a powerful tool in transportation services management, enhancing oversight of transportation routes, facilities, and equipment. Furthermore, using a public-facing system enhances public engagement. It promotes community-inspired responsibility in caring for and managing public transportation.

Although a lack of studies supports or discourages public reporting in municipal services like that of public transportation services, some work on documenting public engagement in municipal settings has been published. A thesis published in 2009 shared some research pertaining to municipal engagement of the public concerning municipal matters and found the engagement to be a success. ⁽¹⁾

Engaging the public to report on things like equipment damage is easy when it’s deemed an emergency. However, getting the public to engage and report things that are not severe emergencies but lesser observations of property damage or other such things requires a method the public finds straightforward and friction-free.

Public reporting is a means or method of using technology to enable the public to assist in reporting concerns on public transportation equipment, at facilities, and along their routes. Suppose the public reporting platform is robust and easy to use. In that case, the public is more likely to engage with it and participate in your public reporting program.

Benefits of Public Reporting for Transportation Companies

There are a number of benefits to instituting public reporting measures in your municipality:

• Enhance safety measures by quickly addressing issues reported by the public.
• Improve accountability and transparency in operations.
• Optimize route planning and resource allocation based on public feedback.
• Increase customer satisfaction by addressing complaints and suggestions promptly.

Did you know? People board public transportation 34 million times each weekday. ⁽²⁾

Public Reporting and Regulatory Compliance

Public reporting plays a crucial role in helping transportation companies meet regulatory and compliance standards. In industries where safety, environmental protection, and public welfare are paramount, strict regulation enforcement ensures that operations do not pose risks to the public or the environment. Public reporting serves as a proactive mechanism to identify, document, and address issues before they escalate into more significant problems, thus ensuring compliance with these regulations.

Applications like 1st Reporting facilitate public reporting initiatives with intuitive and easy-to-use public reporting mechanisms.

Leveraging Technology to Facilitate Public Reporting

Advanced technologies available to the public these days often come in the form of software. Public reporting is all the better for it because we no longer must rely on paper comment forms slipped into those dusty and seldom-opened comment boxes of the past. Today, public reporting has gone digital, and applications like 1st Reporting are on the cutting edge.

1st Reporting offers several advantages to teams in multiple industries, but today, we’re focusing on transportation services. So, let’s look at some of the features that the application provides to facilitate public reporting initiatives.

1. Secure cloud storage ensures that the privacy of those using the system and those responsible for it is maintained with strict data security protocols. As an ISO-certified provider, 1st Reporting keeps public and private information secure yet accessible to stakeholders who need it.
2. GPS functions mean that a form completion could include a GPS location. Hence, your team knows exactly where someone submitted the report. It is especially essential for identifying trouble spots that may require extra maintenance or repair.
3. Real-time reporting means that you can get information about a problem reporting using the 1st Reporting app in seconds from the time it was submitted. Imagine what that could do for your team’s response times.
4. Ease-of-Use. The 1st Reporting app is so easy to use that people from around the world have adopted it and now use it to help make their organizations more efficient. Look at our case studies for some great examples of how 1st Reporting is helping streamline communications, incident reporting, inspection recording, and more.

Customizable Forms and Dynamic Linking: Enhancing the Reporting Process

With the 1st Reporting application, your public reporting forms are totally customizable so that you can use the public reporting features for multiple purposes and in various departments. Furthermore, there’s a handy feature you can use in the customizer to link one report to another dynamically – so when a member of the public reports damage, you could have a repair order start dynamically attached to the damage report. Using this method, you can build entire workflows from incident to repair to happy managers and passengers; it’s all available at your fingertips (1st Reporting is on Google Play, The Apple App Store, or on this website).

Integrating Public Reporting into Transportation Operations

Integrating public reporting into your daily operations is easier than ever, internal politics of the workplace notwithstanding. Assuming you can either make the call or get the idea pushed forward, here’s how simple integration can be:

1. Start a trial with 1st Reporting. 
2. Build your public-facing form using the built-in customizer.
3. Save your form and copy the sharing link.
4. Create signage and post it along the transportation facilities, routes, and equipment as you see fit to notify transportation users of the system.
5. Wait and collect the results on a schedule that meets your needs. You can even use a standard KPI report to spot trends and other vital information easily.

For a more in-depth look at integration, please read my article, Integrating Mobile Apps into Traditional Field Reporting Processes.

Building a More Connected and Responsive Transportation Network

Public reporting is about creating a culture of accountability and proactive improvement within your transportation services. By integrating public reporting into your daily operations, you’re not only making your services safer and more efficient but also fostering a sense of community involvement and responsibility. 

When passengers feel empowered to report issues, they become active participants in maintaining and improving the transportation services they rely on every day.

Apps like 1st Reporting make this process seamless by providing intuitive tools for both the public and your team, ensuring that the information flow is accurate, timely, and actionable. With customizable forms, GPS integration, and secure cloud storage, you can build a reporting system tailored to your specific needs and regulatory requirements. This results in faster response times, more targeted maintenance, and an overall enhancement of the service quality you offer.

Remember, every report is a step towards a safer, more reliable transportation network. By embracing public reporting, you’re building trust with your passengers, enhancing operational transparency, and ensuring compliance with the highest standards of safety and service. 

It’s time to leverage the 1st Reporting app, a powerful tool to drive meaningful change, keeping your transportation network moving smoothly and your passengers satisfied and engaged. 

Article Sources

1. Mcgee, Sherry. n.d. Wilfed Laurier University, “Understanding Best Practices for Community Engagement in Understanding Best Practices for Community Engagement in Municipal Contexts Municipal Contexts.” https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1942&context=etd.
2. APTAAdmin. 2023. “Public Transportation Facts – American Public Transportation Association.” American Public Transportation Association. September 28, 2023. https://www.apta.com/news-publications/public-transportation-facts/.