Case Study: Community Transit Saves Millions, Improves Voice Quality

Celrado Improves Voice Quality While Saving Community Transit Millions

In 2015, Community Transit, based in Everett, WA, needed to upgrade their aging
Land Mobile Radio (LMR) communication solution. They soon realized with their
efforts to enhance their fleet with Intelligent Transportation Solutions (ITS), they
would need a communications system that could keep up with technology and
withstand the test of time. 

Challenge

Community Transit needed a solution that could match their technology investments for the rest of their fleet. As a forward-thinking agency, Community Transit realized it needed to consider a cellular Voice over IP (VoIP) solution that would fit within their allotted budget for their LMR upgrade. 

Community Transit required:

• A solution that did not compromise on voice quality or functional requirements, including the use of Android smartphones.
• A communication provider that could integrate with their current CAD/AVL provider.

Solution

Community Transit selected Clever Devices’ VoIP solution Celrado for their agency’s communication needs. 

Results

Saved Millions 

Deciding to go with a VoIP solution over a new LMR system, Community Transit saved $13 million by selecting Celrado as their VoIP provider, amounting to about half of their original capital budget. Subsequently, Celrado also saves their agency about $600k per year in their operating budget. 

Proven Technology 

Celrado is a proven technology with numerous successful deployments which was important for Community Transit. It was also important for the agency that their VoIP vendor respond well to technical and functional requirements. The versatility of Celrado, including its ability to work on an Android Smartphone, solidified Community Transit’s decision. 

Proven Integrator 

Community Transit required Celrado to integrate with their existing CAD/AVL solution. Clever worked directly with the CAD provider on the project, allowing Community Transit to have one point of contact for any questions or updates for a streamlined project. 

Increased Voice Quality 

Community Transit experienced quality issues with their LMR. Outages, quality, and gaps in communication would occur depending on the weather, radio interference, or other radio tower issues. When they moved to Celrado, they were thrilled by the clarity of the voice quality and have experienced little to no service interruption when utilizing Verizon’s private network. 

Confidence in Celrado 

Community Transit experienced such great quality of service, with no interruptions, from Celrado over their private Verizon network that they have made it their only  communication system. This means they are so confident in the Celrado solution that they have no fallback systems in place. 

Partnership Built on Mutuality and Respect 

Clever Devices secured Community Transit’s trust and partnership by being a solution-focused vendor. If any problems arose during the project, the Clever team would find a resolution quickly all the way from the top down. “It is a partnership – it’s actually very
refreshing in this day and age to have a transit technology partner that is so responsive and focused on how we can both maximize the relationship. There’s a lot of mutuality and respect, and we feel that at Community Transit,” said De Tapia, Community Transit’s Deputy Director of IT.

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