MJM Innovations to Bring Electronic Transactions and Web-based Management Tools to Rural Transportation Service

The Lone Star Rider Card Program among the First in Nation

Baltimore, MD - MJM Innovations, a Baltimore, Maryland-based management and technology firm focused on the transportation industry, announced today a partnership with Austin, Texas-based Capital Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS).  MJM Innovations' EZTransport® system will enable CARTS to use a card system and a Web-based software application to manage their ground transportation services more efficiently, while enhancing customer service by eliminating the need for riders to carry cash, coupons or vouchers.   

CARTS provides ground transportation services to more than 120 communities in a nine-county area around Austin, Texas. Offering service under many different programs -including Paratransit, Medicaid, general public transportation and others - CARTS employs a varied fleet of buses, vans, sedans and taxis. Their various operations will be linked electronically and managed under a single software system, accessible via the World Wide Web.

MJM Innovations, which develops paperless transaction technology and Web-based software that incorporates card solutions, has been selected by CARTS to implement the Lone Star Card Project. Under this program, customers will be issued cards to be used as a cashless payment source. Riders will swipe the card through a card reader, enabling the tracking of trip information and fares using the MJM EZTransport® system. MJM will provide the system integration and management, along with the cards, readers and web application software. Mentor Engineering hardware and the Trapeze Group software used in the CARTS fleet and call center operations will be integrated into the MJM solution.

"This project will demonstrate the tremendous benefits transaction technology brings to local governments and the entire transportation industry," said Jeffrey Venick, MJM Innovations' President and CEO. "EZTransport® improves safety and reliability for riders by eliminating cash and offering increased access to trip and transaction information over the Web. For CARTS - and other forward looking transportation authorities - an electronic system simplifies back office processes, enables precise tracking of every detail of trip and fare information, decreases errors and the potential for abuse, and finally enables them to provide better services to their customers."

"The Lone Star Card Program will help CARTS control costs, an especially important benefit considering recent spikes in fuel costs," said David L. Marsh, General Manager of CARTS. 

"The CARTS project will introduce an electronic card - the RideCARTS card - that will not only manage cash payments for customers, but also collect data and provide simpler payment, reporting and billing processes for Human Service Agencies and other institutional purchasers of CARTS services," said Marsh. "This will meet national objectives of improving the coordination of transit and human service transportation programs and resources. The Federal Transit Administration's Office of Innovation and Technology selected the CARTS proposal as a demonstration project to further that aim. We believe that MJM's solution will enable us to do that." 

Marsh also added, "MJM's system is in place and working well at the state and municipal level in Maryland, and they have the systems integration expertise to leverage the capacities of our existing technology investments. Our plan is to provide a cashless, paperless, coordinated service profile not only for efficiencies, but to improve our product and the customer experience - always our number one objective."

For more information about MJM Innovations, visit http://www.mjminnovations.com/