Committee endorses $113,280 increase to RouteSmart contract to fund tablet navigation rollout

The council's Innovation, Performance, Asset Management and Technology Committee recommended approval May 6 of Bill 408, which increases the city’s contract funding for RouteSmart-related services by $113,280, for a new not-to-exceed total of $360,407 through Nov. 30, 2027.

Christopher Mitchell, project coordinator for Environmental Services, told the committee the city has used RouteSmart for decades to produce routes for garbage, recycling, street cleaning and snow plows but that the technology platform has changed. "The last time we updated our refuse and recycling routes was 2007," Mitchell said, describing extensive data cleanup to bring current routes into the new browser-based RouteSmart Optimize and to push routes to SmartSuite tablets used in trucks.

Mitchell said tablets are already in use on recycling routes and that the city intends a near-fleetwide rollout for refuse and recycling "as soon as Monday morning" or the week after, depending on remaining hiccups. The bill would cover payment for the SmartSuite element of the deployment; staff said earlier confusion about separate contracts (RouteSmart vs. SmartSuite) led to the supplemental appropriation.

Council members pressed on equity in routes, expected work-hour lengths and how new construction is added to routing data. Mitchell said the system will allow much more rapid adjustments — "we don't have to wait 20 years to update these anymore" — and that a balanced set of routes is expected to be delivered by Jan. 1 following optimization work.

The committee recommended Bill 408 for approval; staff said the city plans to sunset parallel contracts in 2027 to bid a combined package in the future.