Midcoast RideFinder Site Goes Live

Clean, data-driven design

We envisioned a clean design for the RideFinder site, focusing on the content and delivering data to the user.

Rapid Content Updates

The site will complement the printed edition and can be updated with new data rapidly.

Posted on 07/08/2010 at 04:00 pm
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Saco Design recently completed the Midcoast RideFinder website. The RideFinder is a service of Coastal Trans, detailing Midcoast Maine transportation providers and listing them by area serviced, type of transportation, and various other attributes.

Coastal Trans, a local non-profit transportation provider with 30 years of experience, recognized the challenging reality of serving the area's transportation needs. Realizing that the region's diverse locales and needs could not be adequately served by a single public transportation system, Coastal Trans worked with all of the area's transportation providers and social services agencies to create a unified directory of transportation options: The Midcoast RideFinder.

Coastal Trans publishes a print edition of the RideFinder and wanted a companion website to allow quick and intuitive access to transportation providers that match individual needs. Coastal Trans selected Saco Design to implement the RideFinder site to complement the print edition. Saco Design worked closely with Coastal Trans, identifying their needs, iterating the design and functionality of the site, and subsequently implemented the site in parallel with the launch of the print edition of the RideFinder.

Visitors to the website have the ability to browse by location, type of transportation, and features offered. Users of the RideFinder may also search by zip code, region served, or specific combinations of transportation type and features. Listings for each transportation provider detail their office location, hours, web site, and other relevant details.

The RideFinder is an intensely database-driven site and is focused on the transportation information contained in the database. One of the highly-touted features of Saco Design's custom content management system (CMS), named Site Avenger, is to allow the customer to update and modify the content of their own site on their own terms and according to their desired schedule. Coastal Trans staff can leverage the power of SiteAvenger to update RideFinder data as soon as it changes or as new information becomes available. The RideFinder site has the capability to be always current and up-to-date.

Also included on the website are links to the RideFinder's Twitter and Facebook pages, enabling users of the site to engage and interact with RideFinder staff.