For a local community and its residents, businesses, and visitors, the impact of a well-run Fixed Route (FR) Transportation System can be enormous.
A high quality public transit service allows people access to their jobs, to child care centers and schools, to friends and family, to medical appointments, and to both important and nonessential activities that may have been beyond their reach previously. In addition to providing many people with more mobility and freedom at an affordable price, this type of transportation system can bolster economic opportunities, drive community growth and revitalization, and can be good for the environment by reducing gasoline consumption and carbon footprint. Last but not least, fixed route bus, paratransit, and shuttle services provide a safer, easier, and more dependable way to get around, so no matter where a passenger is going, they are able to arrive at their destination on time and hopefully much more relaxed.
However, as any transportation company knows, a fixed route transportation system can be a significant infrastructure investment for towns and a very complex service to manage. From carefully planning timetables and developing schedules, to designating routes and stops that meet the needs of passengers, to constantly enhancing and modifying fixed route services, it’s a massive challenge to ensure that each trip will always go smoothly.
At Kiessling, we have a deep understanding of the responsibilities and the expectations that come along with providing Fixed Route Transportation because it has developed into one of our primary areas of transportation management expertise.
Since 1970, we have been operating safe, reliable, and cost-effective fixed route transportation services for our transit authority partners, such as Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) and Metrowest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA), and their passengers. For several decades, our team’s energy, skill and knowledge have been focused on continuously expanding this area of our transit management solutions, so that we could become what we are today – a leader in providing superior fixed route transportation services to large and small transit companies throughout Massachusetts and beyond.
On a daily basis, the professional management team at Kiessling oversees hundreds of routes covering a wide area of Massachusetts, from the North Shore of Boston, to west of Worcester, south to Uxbridge, southeast to New Bedford, and everywhere in between. With 400 plus employees in our workforce and a fleet of over 320 vehicles, that range from sedans to CDL buses, we can be as versatile as any other company in our industry. We are extremely proud of the reputation we’ve built across the region for offering the highest levels of service and having the ability to provide consistent quality across a widespread territory.
To ensure that your fixed route bus, paratransit, and shuttle services operate efficiently, we will provide a team of Kiessling employees dedicated to fulfilling the specific needs of your system and the communities you serve, which may include:
Drivers
Monitors
Road supervisors
Dispatchers
Schedulers
Managers
Maintenance staff
Administrative personnel
Kiessling is driven to make your Fixed Route Transportation Services the model for the industry. To achieve this goal, the Kiessling team will stay focused and attentive to the following principles as we support your operations:
Every decision we make is based upon how it will affect our relationships with you, our customer, and your passengers. This is not just a management philosophy; this attitude is pervasive company-wide, from drivers and dispatchers, to call takers and schedulers, to customer relations and insurance claims processors.
There are no hoops to jump through when you need to get an issue resolved or a question answered. We pick up the phone right away, return emails promptly, and respond immediately anytime you need assistance.
Kiessling is operated directly by its owners, Lars and Roger Kiessling, the sons of the original founders, Carl and Paula Kiessling. They are proactive owners who have done pretty much every job in the company, including driving trucks, changing tires, and checking oil. Along with a very experienced management team, the Kiesslings will be involved in the day-to-day operations, and, if you ever need to speak with Lars or Roger, all you have to do is call.
The Kiessling name is on the side of all our vehicles for a reason; we want our customers and our passengers to know who we are and that we are committed to providing a quality product that lives up to our name and the company that Paula and Carl Kiessling built. We believe if you ask any one of our customers to describe Kiessling, they will say we are upfront, honest, and transparent and that we always operate with the highest level of integrity.
Kiessling is well-known for our strict safety guidelines and industry leading driver training program. We deliver a level of training, accreditation and oversight to our employees that we believe is already far beyond what others provide. Yet, we are constantly pushing ourselves to do even better because safety has always been, and will remain, paramount in everything we do. To this end, we recently joined TRAX Insurance, Ltd, an invite-only insurance captive that caters to only the safest of passenger transportation companies with the lowest insurance claim histories.
It can be daunting to launch a new fixed route transportation service or to know where to start to raise the standards on a current fixed route transit system. Above all, we understand that you don’t want to disappoint the community or the passengers that are counting on you for their daily rides. By choosing to work with the Kiessling team, you can be confident that we will facilitate a successful and smooth transition and will provide overall excellent service to all participants from day one through the duration of our contract.
There are many reasons you could be interested in learning more about Kiessling. Whether you need a knowledgeable partner for a new fixed route service or you are looking for a new, more attentive partner for your current fixed route transportation system, our entire team is eager for the opportunity to put our transportation experience to work for you. Contact us today to discuss all your Fixed Route Transportation Services needs!
Over the course of the 13 years that Jon has been with Kiessling Transit, he has held many roles and taken on a variety of responsibilities. Essentially, Jon’s path has paralleled the trajectory of the company. As Kiessling Transit has transformed and grown in the past decade into a leader within the transportation industry, so too has Jon developed from an IT professional and office administrator at the company to a key executive of the organization.
Jon is both a longtime friend and employee of the Kiesslings, having joined the company in 2004. At the time of his hiring, Kiessling was entering into a new MBTA RIDE contract that required a fully dedicated IT person to manage all facets of the company’s technical infrastructure, systems and support. The Kiesslings hired Jon for this critical role for many reasons, including his expert problem-solving skills, his ability to effectively streamline business practices, and, most important, his collaborative and easygoing demeanor. During Kiessling’s contract management of the MBTA’s THE RIDE services on the South Shore, Jon was solely responsible for managing the Wide Area Network (WAN) installation connecting Kiessling’s Norfolk location with the MBTA’s 10 Park Plaza offices in downtown Boston. Jon has also successfully led a number of company projects, with a heavy emphasis on software migrations of multiple company on-premise systems ranging from Microsoft Exchange/Office365 to cloud based Payroll/HR solutions, many which trimmed annual company IT costs significantly.
Today, as Vice President of Operations, Jon works in lockstep with the Kiessling owners, Lars and Roger, and, with great attention to detail, he oversees all the day-to-day operations at the company. His responsibilities include investigating, recommending, installing and upgrading all company software and reviewing company backups of all databases. Jon’s quick thinking and response time, as well as his proactive IT planning, mean that equipment downtime and other operational issues are kept to a minimum.
It’s truly exciting to see the impact that my team and I have had on improving the practices and processes at Kiessling and at our partner companies. Our goal is always to go above and beyond to help our clients accomplish their desired goals. I look forward to helping you make positive changes at your place of business and a genuine difference in the lives of the people you employ and serve.
Before joining the Kiessling team, Jon was already an accomplished manager, operating internal IT departments and new system rollouts. He has held technical roles at a variety of Massachusetts-based companies, including serving as a systems administrator in the IT departments of both Centra Software Inc. (now SABA Software), in Lexington, MA, and TJX Companies in Framingham, MA. He was also a technical recruiter at Judge.com, previously located in Needham, MA.
Jon grew up in Walpole, MA and now lives close by in Wrentham, MA. He earned a Management Information Systems degree from Salve Regina University in 2000.
While leading the operations team at Kiessling is a consuming job, Jon makes sure to build in time for his family, friends and sports. He devotedly coaches his sons’ athletic teams and loves the opportunity this gives him to watch them grow on many different levels. Jon’s other favorite pastimes include attending concerts and Patriots games, enjoying local restaurants, and playing many, many rounds of terrible golf!