Dispatch Automation for a 115-Vehicle Fleet - platform screenshot

    Dispatch Automation for a 115-Vehicle Fleet

    Best Ride · Needham, Massachusetts · Medical Transportation · 6 Months · Visit website

    Built an automation layer for a 115-vehicle transportation fleet: automated client list processing, route building, real-time callout rebalancing, automated client notifications, and verified trip logging. Replaced a fully manual Excel and phone-based operation.

    Scope of work

    Automated Dispatch

    Route Optimization

    Voice Agent

    Trip Verification

    Tech stack

    Python

    React

    PostgreSQL

    Twilio

    OpenAI

    Overview

    Best Ride runs its entire operation on Excel spreadsheets, GPS tracking, efax, and live phone dispatch. Off-the-shelf non-emergency medical transportation software doesn't fit their business because their routing rules require program separation and individual-level behavioral restrictions. Standard platforms aren't designed around these constraints. Novostra built a custom automation layer designed around Best Ride's actual operating rules.

    Challenge

    Best Ride provides non-emergency transportation across Massachusetts with 115 vehicles and 120 drivers, serving senior citizens and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. They transport clients to adult day health programs, day habilitation programs, and medical appointments. The entire operation is manual. Each adult day health program sends attendance lists via efax twice daily. Dispatchers cross-reference each list against Best Ride's master spreadsheet of thousands of clients to determine who needs a ride, then adjust standing routes to account for absences, new clients, and changes. Routes must respect vehicle capacity, ride time limits, and program restrictions: clients from different adult day health programs cannot share vehicles, and certain day habilitation clients cannot ride together due to behavioral considerations. Live dispatch consumes the rest of the day. A single no-show at the second stop can cascade across the entire route. Driver callouts require redistributing 8-10 rides while respecting all constraints, and not every available driver answers the phone or is willing to take extra pickups. On short-staffed days, the owner drives routes himself. At end of week, billing reconciliation is done from memory: dispatchers and drivers report different pickup counts with no way to verify who is right, and resolving discrepancies with the programs takes hours.

    Approach

    Automated list processing: Attendance lists arriving via efax are parsed from PDF to structured data automatically and matched against the master client database. The reconciliation that took dispatchers 30+ minutes per list now completes in seconds. Changes are flagged for dispatcher review.

    Constraint-based route building: Routes are adjusted automatically based on daily attendance lists and Best Ride's rules: ride time limits, vehicle capacity, program separation, wheelchair and mobility requirements, and individual-level behavioral restrictions. The dispatcher reviews proposed routes and adjusts as needed.

    Real-time rebalancing: When a driver calls out or a client cancels, the system generates a new redistribution plan and pushes updated routes directly to affected drivers' GPS. A voice agent asks each affected driver to verbally confirm their updated route. Drivers who decline and rides that can't be reassigned are escalated to the dispatcher.

    Automated client notifications: Clients receive pickup reminders and "driver en route" alerts via automated voice calls. When disruptions occur (callouts, cancellations, traffic, no-shows), affected clients are notified automatically with updated pickup times.

    Verified trip logging: GPS geofencing detects when a vehicle arrives at each stop. Drivers confirm pickups with a single text reply. Stops without confirmation trigger an automated voice call asking the driver to verbally confirm or deny the pickup. Unresolved stops are flagged for same-day dispatcher follow-up. At end of week, the system produces an accurate trip count per driver, per program, eliminating hours of manual reconciliation.

    Dispatch Automation for a 115-Vehicle Fleet - screenshot 2
    Dispatch Automation for a 115-Vehicle Fleet - screenshot 3

    *All client data shown in screenshots is simulated for demonstration purposes.

    Results

    Metric
    Before
    After
    Client list reconciliation time
    30+ minutes per list (manual)
    < 1 minute
    Route adjustment time per day
    2+ hours (manual Excel)
    < 15 minutes (auto-generated, dispatcher reviews)
    Callout rebalancing time
    30-45 minutes of calls
    < 2 minutes
    Client confirmation calls per day
    100+
    < 15 (exceptions only)
    Weekly billing reconciliation
    Hours of manual cross-checking
    Automated (single source of truth)
    Dispatcher phone time per day
    6+ hours
    < 2 hours

    "We manage 115 vehicles with the same staff we had at 60. Novostra automated our dispatching, routes, and trip tracking around how we actually operate. I didn't think that was possible."

    Leon Bouriev

    Leon Bouriev

    President, Best Ride