By: Chris Johns
In the early years of Transoft Solutions, the city of Vancouver was one of the first municipalities to purchase licenses of AutoTURN. Since then, both Vancouver and Transoft have grown, and the demands on the local transportation system have grown as well.
There is a never-ending tug-of-war between sidewalks and pedestrians, finding space for bus lanes and bike lanes, trying to accommodate space for vehicles, parking, taxi zones, commercial loading zones and passenger loading zones. Recently, food carts add a new entry in the mix of competing needs trying to access the finite space.
“We’ve got a fixed amount of space to work in—from building face to building face—and we have tremendous need for that public space,” said Jerry Dobrovolny, director of transportation at the city of Vancouver. “We are constantly re-allocating the space, and as we do our design work, we have to look and make sure that as we are doing this, does it still work for everybody?”
The city of Vancouver has used AutoTURN for over 10 years, and it has helped the transportation and engineering departments get projects done on time and on budget.
There are countless transportation projects on his desk at any one time. As the director, he must account for people, equipment and resources to move these projects forward. Any software that helps him to do more with less is a welcome addition.
“Governments all across North America are in a cash crunch,” said Dobrovolny. “We’re no different in Vancouver. We have finite budgets and growing expectations in terms of the amount of work we do. There are also growing expectations around the speed with which we do our work. The software allows us to do our work, not only correctly the first time, but allows us to take on many more projects efficiently and effectively. That time savings is really key, because we’re always looking at ways to optimize our resources and our staffing.”
Transoft and the city of Vancouver are both western Canadian organizations that have a vested interest in moving the city and the transportation engineering discipline forward. Dobrovolny is happy to have the support of a local supplier.
“It’s nice to be dealing with a local company,” said Dobrovolny. “That makes a big difference for us.”
Johns is with Transoft Solutions.
