City of Kansas City, Missouri

In 2019, Kansas City, Missouri came to Routeware with a bold mission. They wanted to change the game in terms of how the City delivered customer service to its taxpayers, and they wanted that innovation to come from the City’s Solid Waste Division.

Kansas City is a hotbed of technology innovation. They were the first city to be selected for the Google Fiber broadband internet service in 2011. The Sprint World Headquarters Campus is located nearby. And the City boasts a long track record of smart city innovation, including the KC Streetcar corridor which features free WiFi.

It was with this same innovative spirit that the City’s Solid Waste Division saw an opportunity to use technology to improve efficiency, transform its customer service operation, and save money.

Here’s what our partnership delivered:

Challenges

Prior to partnering with Routeware, citizen satisfaction with trash collection in the City was not where the Director of Public Works, Michael Shaw, wanted it to be. Shaw’s goal was to deliver better service for Kansas Citians, and, in time, cement Kansas City as the U.S. leader in data-driven government services that produce real savings for the City.

At this time, the City’s Department of Public Works serviced only a portion of the City for regular trash collection. Shaw knew that, with his Department’s high-performing staff, bolstered by Routeware’s technology, the City could expand its collection operation to cover the whole city.

The City’s Solid Waste Division did not have a single view for all solid waste issues logged at the curb, nor could they easily schedule new services, optimize routes, dispatch trucks, or communicate directly with customers in real-time. They had all the desires to become a proactive branch of city government, but they did not have resources at their disposal in order to make this a reality.

Solutions

In October 2019, Routeware SmartCity was installed in Kansas City’s fleet of 80 sanitation vehicles that service approximately 160,000 locations to improve the residential waste and recycling services for the City’s more than 500,000 residents.

Routeware equipped every driver in the Solid Waste Division with an iPhone running Routeware’s proprietary software. This device serves as a digital route sheet for drivers, showing them all of their stops, where to go, and which stops to pick up in what order. It also empowers drivers to document issues at the curb, like trash that’s not set out or is blocked from pickup by a car or other object. All of this information flows back to a manager portal so the City’s staff can make changes and adapt to conditions on the ground in real-time.

Integration was also a key component of Kansas City’s vision. Director Shaw wanted all of the information in his department to flow seamlessly between its various parts, reducing manual staff time and speeding up the resolution of customer queries.

For example, customers schedule bulky item collections using an application on the city website. That application sends the information automatically to Routeware, where it is scheduled, routed, optimized, and assigned to a truck. Once complete, Routeware’s system sends the customer an email to tell them that their service was completed.

Another example of the City’s commitment to integration is with 311. The citizen feedback system makes it easy for City residents to report missed pickups, illegal dumping, and numerous other nonemergency issues. These issues are then vetted and automatically routed into the Routeware system so they can be managed. Once a particular issue has been addressed, the citizen is made aware that their issue has been handled