Elko County Transit to join SafeRide and adopt TripMaster software to reduce denied rides

Elko County Transit staff presented two items aimed at improving non‑emergency medical and general transit services. First, the commission approved an access agreement with SafeRide Inc. that will allow the county to receive and fulfill ride requests submitted through that third‑party application; staff said there is no cost to the county for joining the platform and that it provides an additional source of Medicaid trip requests.

Second, the commission approved purchase of TripMaster transit-management software using Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grant funds. Staff said the county’s current routing software has been in place for many years and that TripMaster will automate routing and scheduling, improve schedule efficiency, reduce administrative workload, and provide passenger tracking. The project cost was presented at roughly $42,000 with a county match budgeted at $8,570 and an ongoing maintenance fee of about $1,049 per month. Transit staff said the change should reduce denied same‑day rides by improving routing efficiency and allow better performance reporting.

"It's just basically giving us another option to get rides from Medicaid," a transit staffer said when introducing the SafeRide agreement. Commissioners asked about software interoperability and whether dialysis centers or other providers could schedule rides directly; staff said some third‑party integrations are possible and suggested the county would monitor performance after implementation.

Why it matters: For county residents who rely on non‑emergency medical transportation and other transit services, improved trip sourcing and routing could increase service reliability and reduce denied trips; the county will implement the systems and report back on impacts.