School Bus Routing Software Archives

6 Years Of School Bus Routing Software

Posted on April 29, 2019 by TSB Super Admin

School bus routing is an uphill task for all schools. Scheduling and planning of bus routes is the most important factor in increasing the efficiency of the school transportation system.

Proper routing of buses reduces operational costs of the bus fleet, fuel costs, driver expenses. Over and above it makes the job of the school administrator easier.

During the past years, bus routes have been decided and charted out manually by the school transport officers. With the increase of students and the corresponding increase of buses and the numerous pick-up locations, this task had become cumbersome.

Technological innovations and inventions have made the process of bus routing simpler for everyone concerned.

School Bus Routing Software

EdsysPvt Ltd, an education software developer, launched software solutions for schools, transport providers and school districts. These software solutions have been developed for different applications with characteristics unique to each.

School-Transport-Software--Ensure-enhanced-student-safety

The TrackSchoolBus software was basically developed as a bus routing application. With developments in technology, this software was upgraded to include features to increase the efficiency of the school transport system. This is a look into the 5-year progress of the software.

2014

TrackSchoolBus software was launched by EdysPvt Ltd. in 2014 as an application for tracking school buses. Version 1 was an independent app and was one of a kind for schools during its introduction. The software was widely accepted in the Middle East and South East Asia.

The software was designed to track buses and students in real-time. This proved to be of great help to transport managers and school personnel.

Data was collected automatically and routes were created by the software system.They could view the progress of the buses along the routes, real-time location of students and buses on a computer screen.

2015

An upgraded version of the application was introduced as Version 2.0 in 2015. This application was developed with additional features benefitting parents and schools.

The new system with an RFID card reader was integrated with the GPS tracker. The RFID card reader was a boon to the school bus drivers, parents and school authorities.

The student attendance can be recorded automatically by the RFID card reader as each child boarded the bus.

The school administration was benefitted as they could get the details of the students travelling on each route on a daily basis without the tiresome procedure of manual counting.

Parents were benefitted the most as they could get instant alerts on their mobile phones when their child gets on and off the bus.This app helped reduce the anxiety of the parents as they were able to track the whereabouts of their child in real-time.

The application gained wider acceptance in the Middle East and South East Asia.

2016

In 2016, TrackSchoolBus Version 3.0 was released with a multitude of additional features. The major feature was the availability of data for the different users on the web and all mobile phone apps. The customer base expanded to other countries across the globe including South Africa.

Version 3.0 was developed as a comprehensive solution to the various problems encountered in the school transportation systems. It was designed based on knowledge gained from actual experiences of users.

The software supports multiple user profiles such as parents, school authorities, teachers and transport managers. Additional features were added to the parent and school apps. The access to details by teachers and bus attendants was newly introduced.

The parent app allowed parents to apply for leave without actually contacting the school. A message sent on the app is communicated to all departments concerned – drivers and attendants, teachers, school administration. This app allows them to communicate with the school management and drivers whenever necessary.

The most helpful aspect of the teacher app is the daily attendance marking. Teachers can track the students who travel by each bus. They receive notifications when the student arrives in school. Teachers can mark attendance for each period. The attendance history for a day or a period can be retrieved with ease.

Drivers can view the assigned routes, the number of trips in a day/shift, pick up and drop off points, time schedules. They do not have to remember the details. A trip is marked completed only when all students have alighted from the bus. Quick changing of routes and pick-up points is possible with the driver console app.

It also enables the bus nannies/attendants to access student attendance through a separate app. The manifest feature provides them with daily routes and student details. This app helps to locate the pick- up or drop off point.

The contact detail of the student along with the image of the student appears on the app. They receive alerts when the child gets on and off the bus. They are notified when students are absent so that the route can be revised. Pick up points can also be updated on any change required.

2017

The TrackSchoolBus version 3.5 was released in 2017. This version saw added features which aided School transport providers. Command-centre was introduced as an add-on.

Artificial intelligence was incorporated into the system. Changing route with a simple swipe was included as a feature in route optimization.Alerts can be set up for different aspects of student safety.

The software found new markets in Africa, Australia, South East Asia and the Middle East. Franchisees were appointed in many places like Dubai and Netherlands.

This upgraded version was designed with school transport providers in mind. It collects data of students and pick up points automatically and sets routes.

The software can be used to deploy drivers and attendants on specific routes. The unique feature of nanny management enables in assigning trips, recording attendance etc. Duty roster feature helps in dividing tasks among the fleet members.

The trip management feature enables transport providers to assign vehicles to trip routes, monitor vehicles in real-time. Auto-routing and auto-optimization features help in saving fuel and reduce vehicle expenses.

The feature of parking management allows the tracking of a vehicle when it is parked. Parking slots can be assigned automatically.

This software provides free Wi-Fi to students on board the buses and unique cards for students, drivers, attendants and vehicles.

The application can be used by accounts departments for direct bus fare collection. The software can create an invoice and payment can be made from anywhere at all times. Payments will be secure and the process saves time.

The unique command-centre feature gives a comprehensive view of all planning and operational data. A centralized system gathers information, processes and analyses each function.

Details of vehicle maintenance requirements, expenses and inspection dates can be obtained. This saves time for school transport provider and allows him to concentrate on other areas of importance.

2018

Version 4.0 of the TrackSchoolBus was launched in 2018. Integrating Artificial Intelligence into the application it featured as the best school bus routing software. The additional features in this app catered to School Districts and School Transport Providers.

This App was designed forSchool Transport Managers to manage the fleet with ease and efficiency. Vehicle safety and maintenance alerts, push notifications in cases of emergencies, planning of transportation budget are features incorporated in addition to bus tracking and trip scheduling.

The transport department is alerted when any vehicle cannot be tracked. This helps in immediate identification of the reason-mechanical failure, accidents, traffic blocks- and deployment of another bus to take over the route so that least inconvenience is caused.

The fleet management app helps to keep track of the drivers,bus attendants, routes, trips, time schedules. It takes care of the fleet maintenance – recording fuel consumption, programming vehicle maintenance schedules etc. The optimization of routes brings about a reduction in maintenance costs, thus increasing productivity and efficiency.

The school district transport software simplifies the management of a large number of buses from different transport providers. This app is compatible with all types of vehicles- school van, mini-bus or a full-size bus.

This software analyses the performance of drivers which helps in rating and motivating them to enhance their performance.

Parent concerns, bus breakdowns, student missing etc. are notified to the concerned users enabling action to be taken immediately. Accountability for each user is well-defined.

Safe and secure bus fare collection is simplified by integrating with online payment.

This app ensures higher efficiency attained through optimized operations. The reduction in manual resources increases the return on investment.

2019

In 2019, TrackSchoolBus’s enhanced version 5.0 was introduced for better efficiency and productivity.

Devices like CalAmp and Streamax, Dahua was integrated into this updated system.

In new version, we have different dashboards for students, trips, vehicles, alerts and All-in-One Dashboard for the transport manager.

Users can search and view the status of the vehicle in the map, can view the live status of Shuttle Trips which includes trip progress, seat availability and currently seating student count along with attendance details.

We have categorized the general setting menu for the convenient use and added a few more setting options for the user in the new version.

Users can create new user roles based on requirements and control access for the user profiles.

Schools can mark the school premises using school geo-fence.

Additional features in setting like integrating settings were added, so the school authorities can integrate SMS gateway, Payment Gateway, Cashless system, etc by themselves.

The school can create five types of trips as scheduled, instant, shuttle, excursion, stay back trips. In the earlier version, these are managed separately, now all can manage in a single point

Auto data collection method was enhanced.

Access Rights Management was introduced in which the school can create user roles like receptionist or any other supporting staff to control system access.

The system can automatically calculate the bus fare based on the geo-fence and payment period. The school can also have the provision to enter the bus fare charges per single trip as well.

The new version also allows the school authorities to set the “Night Parking Time” where the system will check the current location of all the vehicles at that time and report to the transport manager.

The new version allows the schools to purchase features and enable as per their requirement. Since all the schools doesn’t want to use all the features, the schools have the freedom to select the features and add-ons as per their need.

The parents can decide what notifications need to be received in a push notification, email, SMS(if the school enables SMS option).

The main advantage of the updated version is that it focused on self-learning thus reducing dependency on us.

We provide a download section for all supporting documents like User guides for each module (including School, transport, manager, parents, driver, etc) and hardware documents, configuration tools, etc.

Each module with supporting documents is readily available in the system to be downloaded.

The TrackSchoolBus is an outstanding school bus routing software. The features of auto-route optimization and auto-allocation make it the best school bus route planner. The added features of fee collection, fleet management, and multi-user access make it the most widely used bus routing software world-wide.

9 Ways To Reduce School Bus Transportation Costs

Posted on April 24, 2019 by TSB Super Admin

Schools and school districts are constantly on the look-out to reduce operational costs wherever possible. The reduced budgets given to schools prompt them to cut costs in areas that do not directly affect classroom studies. School Bus transportation costs thus become a target when school administrations seek to curtail their expenses.

Bus transportation costs depend on the age of the fleet, wages, maintenance expenditure,fuel-consumption, insurance charges. This comprises of 80% of the total cost.Capital costs include purchase cost of new vehicles and cost of fleet replacement. Operating a school bus fleet at optimal efficiency has a direct impact on the costs saved.

Methods to reduce school bus transportation costs

1. Reducing the number of buses

Operating a fleet of school buses is expensive. The best method to reduce costs is to reduce the number of buses in operation. Trimming the fleet automatically decreases driver wages, fuel consumption, wear and tear of vehicles etc. These factors contribute enormously in saving costs.

Efficient route management is the most practical way to lower costs without hampering the quality of service provided.The best model in cost-cutting serves to get students to school efficiently while optimizing transport times.

2. Route management

Transporting pupils to schools is a complex matter. Technological advances have helped school administrators tackle the issue with considerable ease. Software systems are used to develop bus routes. Some schools still do the route mapping manually.

Schools have to periodically review their bus routes in terms of the actual number of students using the bus and the total time utilized. Simple adjustments to the previous year’s routes will not help in lowering operational costs.

School administrators cut backs on stops and routes to stay within the budget. Minor changes in operations like minimizing trips and routes, often result in great advantages.

3. Trip planning

The number of students at each bus-stop, stop locations and bus capacities has a direct impact on the charting of bus routes. Minimizing the number of trips minimizes the number of buses required.

Trips can be linked together on a single bus route if school start and finish timings are altered slightly. The elementary, middle and high school start and dismissal times are fixed to fall within a certain time slot.

Then it becomes possible to link more trips together on a single bus. This decreases the number of buses required in total. The optimal combination of alternate bell timings and trips results in saving costs and increasing efficiency.

4. Route planning

A method used to increase operational efficiency is route planning. A single route is designed for children of different schools in a school district. Trips of different schools are combined to form one route.

A single bus is assigned to this specific route. This reduces the time the buses run without students on board as well as the number of buses on each route. Each route becomes longer but serves more trips on one single route.

This minimizes the number of routes resulting in lower operational costs. Pollution caused by diesel exhaust fumes is reduced to a large extent. This model is viable where schools fall under the purview of one governing authority and the services of a centralized bus company is utilized. Private schools which own their own buses might not be open to this model.

5. Walking School Bus

‘Walking School Bus’ is a new concept which has been adopted by neighborhoods in the US. When rerouting to optimize costs, some of the routes closer to the schools get eliminated. In such cases, students along those routes group together and walk to school under the supervision of an adult.

The parents and children like the idea of walking as it is healthy. Students feel energetic and fresher. Most often students get to school quicker as school buses normally take more time picking up children on their routes.

These students can either walk or bike to school. This enables students staying further away, disabled or otherwise-able students to avail bus services .Student safe zones have to be ensured.

6. Alternative fuel vehicles

States and cities in the US spend roughly $15 million annually transporting children to school. Diesel, that powers most of the buses, is now very expensive.

Governmental regulations on cutting down the pollution, forces one to adopt alternative fuel sources for running vehicles. Propane, CNG and Electric vehicles are available options. Hybrid diesel-electric vehicles, though expensive, are used by some schools.

Cost of vehicles running on alternative fuel is high as compared to the cost of diesel engine vehicles. There is a significant reduction in fuel costs. Air pollution due to diesel exhaust fumes is drastically reduced leaving lesser carbon footprint. Better utilization of the buses can make it viable in the long run.

The buses in the existing fleet can be retrofitted with alternative fuel engines. This can help reduce the initial capital expenditure. When deciding to retrofit, the age of the vehicle has to be taken into account,to gain maximum benefit.

7. Maintenance cost

Regular maintenance is needed to keep the buses safe on the road. Less number of school buses on the road means lesser maintenance of vehicles. Savings on parts, supplies and labor is considerable when the number of buses is minimal.

A maintenance program that can extend the life of buses is essential.Periodical regular maintenance and scheduled preventive maintenance will reduce the incidence of unexpected breakdowns and the costs associated.

Schools and transport companies need to have policies on disposal of buses that cannot serve efficiently.

8. Staff expenses

A reduction in the number of buses will require less number of staff to man them. The reduced number of drivers brings about a huge saving in wages. Efficient routing and time management will reduce overtime costs.

Fleet management software provides real-time feedback and comprehensive reporting enabling safe and efficient pupil transportation.

Using digital software systems for routing, GPS systems for locations, RFID readers for bus attendance; CCTV to monitor bus discipline reduces the need for administrators handling these functions manually.

The one-time capital expenditure to install the technology and equipment required will considerably save on otherwise recurring expenses.

9. Down-side of cost reduction

Re-routing and elimination of routes will leave a good number of students without transport. Cutting bus routes without proper plans regarding student safety will cause adverse effects.

When bus stops or routes are eliminated parents react with anger. They are concerned about the dangers involved when their wards walk or cycle to school. Parents then opt to drop them to school in their cars.

About36 cars are needed to transport an equivalent bus-load of students. This proportionately increases traffic congestion and corresponding air pollution on the roads.

The incidence of accidents is higher among cars increasing the risk of safety. School buses meet with fewer accidents. Their big sizes allow them to withstand damage better on an impact. School buses are considered to be 13 times safer than cars.

School buses in the US alone transport 25 million students, travelling distances of approximately 4 billion miles each year. Decreasing school budgets and rising fuel prices necessitates minimizing school bus operational costs.

It is worth the effort to stream-line the operations to ensure safer transportation of students at minimal costs to the school.

School Bus Routing Problems – How To Tackle Them

Posted on December 31, 2018 by TSB Super Admin

The school transportation system caters to the safe transportation of students in buses to and back from school.

Though the operation of the vehicle fleet seems simple, it is complicated and requires immense efforts of the school authorities to run it smoothly. Routing of the school bus is a major factor in maintaining operational efficiency.

School buses have to be routed in an effective manner so that the students are picked up and dropped off on their respective stops.

Challenges

School bus routing is a challenge which is faced by the school administration. On one hand, the students have to be transported in minimal travel time; on the other hand, school authorities have to ensure maximum utilization of the bus, keeping the expenses to a minimum.

Schools schedule bus routes taking into consideration the number of students at different bus stops, the number of buses available, and the total travel time required to reach students to and from school.

Safe transportation of pupils is a crucial factor. The parents expect high service levels which often require more buses for smaller groups of pupils.

Simultaneously, the school has to ensure safe and short walking distances to the bus-stops and timely pickup and short travel times for students. Buses have to be routed so as to avoid circuitous routes and dangerous areas.

They have to avoid over-crowding of buses and extensive use of the fleet. The objective is to minimize total transportation costs. Providing high levels of service often end in higher expenses thus defeating the objective.

Success lies in gathering the right and accurate data and using the same to enhance the efficiency of the transportation system. Route packaging, time and capacity utilization are fundamental for arriving at an optimal solution.

Tackling Challenges: The Options Available

The increase in demand for school buses and the associated issues in routing and scheduling have led to a number of studies on school bus routing problems.

Routing is done manually by the transport staff at schools and also done using mathematical models and algorithmic derivations. Though these models have helped in reducing time and expenses, there is no single model that gives a clear-cut solution to this problem.

It is a combination of facts, assumptions and constraints of school resources that can be used to achieve the best results.

In all models, manual or otherwise, the objective of the school bus routing problem is to minimize the total travel distance or travel time, the total number of trips, total cost including purchase and operation costs. Most of the models are based on the following criteria:

Bus Stop Selection

The school decides the jurisdiction within which the school buses need to ply. Districts are divided into zones for the ease of routing. Bus stops are located considering minimal walking distance from their homes.

Students from a cluster of near-by bus stops are allocated a specific bus. Some of the stops have more students, requiring more than one bus to be assigned to the same bus-stops. Assignment of students to buses depends solely on the capacity of the buses.

Bus Routing

Identification of the best bus routes is the next step. Efficient routes for the fleet of school buses are charted out to pick up and drop students from each assigned bus stop.

This is based on the capacity of each bus and also the minimal travel time between the bus stops. The generated routes consider the start and destination points as the school and vice versa after school.

At times a single route is created through all stops. This route is then divided into feasible shorter routes, taking into consideration the bus capacity and travel time constraints.

Urban areas, where there are more pupils, will require more buses. Small buses can be routed to rural areas where the number of pupils is less but the distances are more. This will keep the operational costs low.

Bus Scheduling

Feasible bus schedules are worked out once student assignment and routing of buses are done. During scheduling, buses are assigned specific routes.

While scheduling, minimizing the travel time is of prime consideration. The drivers are given the expected travel time, i.e., time of arrival and departure from school as well as the time at each bus stop.

The main concern of school bus providers is during the ride time for students. Drivers have to be given ample training and should be familiarized with the route before they begin service. They have to be apprised of alternate routes in the event of road accidents and traffic snarls.

We thus find that school bus planning is mainly divided into routing and scheduling. These two steps are interconnected. In routing, we find the minimal number of trips often neglecting trip travel times.

When travel times are kept to a minimum in scheduling it often leads to an increase in the number of buses. A good solution would be one which minimizes total travel time and maximizes trip compatibility.

Conclusion

Assigning, routing and scheduling are interconnected and hence should be solved in an integrated manner.

Traffic congestions, accidents and bad weather cause unpredicted delays. Travel time in real-life conditions becomes uncertain.

Cost-effective solutions can be implemented in real time situations when breakdowns occur or when students shift residences or leave the school.

7 Advantages of Having a School Bus Routing Software

Posted on December 12, 2018 by TSB Super Admin

The ultimate aim of a school transportation system is to ensure that the students come to school and get back to home in a safe manner. Technology has always helped human beings solve many of their problems since the personal computer revolution in the 1980s.

Advances in the field of wireless communication have also contributed a great deal towards developing solutions to vexing problems. Now, the software may not be able to solve all the problems, but it can definitely help schools in alleviating school bus routing challenges.

Schools can add school bus routing software module to reap a lot of benefits. Here are some of them:

Also Read : How School Bus Routing Software Enhance School Transportation

1. Cost Savings

Modern school bus routing software allows schools to save a significant amount of money across various aspects related to their bus operations. They include the following:

A substantial reduction in route sizes, theoretically to the extent of being in a position to cut an entire vehicle depending on the situation.
A great deal of savings in fuel costs across all of the school’s vehicles.
A shorter route contributes to reducing the wear and tear of the vehicles and extends their lifespan.
The collection and analysis of data at a central point enable school authorities to track and spot trends easily. This, in turn, allows them to sort out small issues such as reduced fuel efficiency. The warning signals help them to tackle the problems and devise solutions before they turn into difficult-to-handle headaches.
The driver tracking capability of the software allows schools authorities to easily identify the best and most cost-conscious drivers.

2. Planning

Another area in which the school bus routing software could make significant contributions is future planning. The integration of school bus routes into the redistricting process was generally being done as an afterthought because of the difficulty in quickly implementing large-scale changes.

Now, the availability of the school bus routing software makes it easier for the schools to manage their transportation changes up front along with the redistricting plan.

Schools can generate number of hypothetical route maps with the help of the software and identify the best routes, in line with redistricting plans, and make optimum routing recommendations in a timely manner to achieve great cost benefits.

The software helps to map the impact of changes in routes and clearly work out the costs involved. This helps the schools to choose the best routes that provide the desired cost benefits.

Similarly, the bus routing software also helps to ease the process of school closings. It has the potential to quickly redistribute the load across the remaining schools and thereby keep the costs incurred at the lowest possible levels.

3. Map Generation

It is not an easy task to draw a school bus route map by hand. Schools and districts that are not moving in tandem with technological change would have to make the concerned staff members to spend a great deal of time during their summer holidays moving strings and pushpins across maps in order to decide the best routes for the upcoming school year.

Moreover, the routes have to be changed during the midst of a semester due to the student movement.

The school bus routing software provides solutions in a matter of minutes, saving authorities months of manual work. All that the authorities have to do is feed database with the addresses of students and their needs and other required information.

The bus routing software will analyze several millions of possible routes within minutes and plot out the most optimum routes. The software can perform this analysis number of times and create hypothetical maps or optimize routes based on the school’s requirements or priorities.

4. Substitute Drivers

The requirement of substitute driver is dependent on the availability of the number of regular drivers. This is because drivers fall sick, go on a vacation, and have to deal with personal issues.

The school bus software’s optimization feature enables authorities to quickly find a substitute driver when one of the regular drivers is absent due to any of the reasons mentioned above. In this situation, the aspects to be considered are whether the driver has a license, knowledge of the routes, and experience in driving in those routes.

5. School Calendars

Timings, sessions, and holidays vary from one school to another. For example, the timings of public and private schools are not the same.

School bus routing software integrated with school calendars will be of great help in determining the best routes for specific days when only the public or schools is closed or working.

Some advantages of using the routing software in this respect would be as follows:

Identifies alternative routes depending on whether the private or public schools are working or closed.
Drivers will be informed of the routes well in advance.
Alerts can be sent to students and their parents to notify the changes instantaneously.

6. Real-time Weather Alerts

When changes in weather conditions causes damages to roads and make travelling on those roads risky, the software determines alternate routes so that students can be transported safely to and from the school.

The best part is that the software allows alerts regarding a change in route to be sent in real time, making things easy for students and their parents.

7. Driver License

School bus drivers are expected to keep their licenses valid all the time. The school bus routing software provides alerts when renewal is due for each driver as applicable. This enables authorities to avoid issues related to non-availability of drivers because of the expiry of their license validity.

Further, the software also enables driver background checks including criminal activities and child abuse, among others. Finally, the software can also be employed for implementing preventive and scheduled bus maintenance procedures so that it is possible to ensure that the buses are in good running condition.

Conclusion

This is not an exhaustive list of advantages that school bus routing software can provide. There are many other indirect benefits as well.

All said and done, the routing software is an invaluable tool for district and school administration authorities as it enables to improve operational efficiency and send customized alerts to students, and more importantly to parents so that they can safely and confidently go to and come back from their schools.

School Bus Routing Software – How It Supports School Bus Drivers

Posted on February 12, 2018 by TSB Super Admin

The ultimate goal of every school transportation is to constitute a safe journey for students. However, the success of school transportation insist the active involvement of the school bus drivers.

Meanwhile, the task of a school bus driver is challenging and involves risk as they are transporting the precious cargo in the universe.

With the advent of school bus routing software, the drivers are able to govern and assign routes efficiently. Moreover, the route optimization feature enables you to recognize the efficient school bus route and thereby enhance the student safety.

Let’s check out how a school bus route software advocates school bus drivers:

Substitute Drivers Can Relish the Benefits Offered by School Bus Routing Software

The number of substitute driver depends on the number of regular drivers. Ordinarily, there will not be a sufficient number of substitute drivers. In fact, drivers are also human, they also deserve a vacation, sick leave, or encounter personal issues.

Route optimization feature in the app enables the substitute drivers to determine the apt route for the trip.

While the regular drivers split the route with the substitute drivers, every child will obtain the opportunity to relish school transportation services to and from school.

The only matter you should consider is that whether the school bus driver has a valid license, adequate knowledge of the routes, and procure experience in driving those routes.

Routing Software Integrates and Track School Calendars

Different schools have different sessions and have different holidays. Routing software renders an immense assistance to drivers and schools in tracking school calendars and determining the apt route for the specific days.

However, the public and private schools have different timings. As a result, you should arrange transportation services for public schools when private schools are closed and vice versa.

Let’s check how the routing software supports the drivers in tracking school calendars:

Routing software allows you to track alternative routes for “public school only” days and vice versa
Driver will be aware of the routes they are driving
Instant alerts to students and families whenever there is no school transportation services on a particular day

Real-time Alerts for Inclement Weather

In foreign countries, the snowfall is a major concern and will result in road closures as there is a chance of flooding. Even though there is a delay, school bus drivers should commit all the procedures, adhere to the schedule, and clear the snow. Furthermore, the buses should be tested, cleansed, and examined carefully after clearing the snow.

At times, during the inclement weather, it is risky to travel on certain roads due to the increased chance for accidents or roadblocks.

The routing software intends to avoid such congested roads and suggest alternative routes, which is previously loaded into the system. In addition, it will reduce the requirement for taking last minute decisions that endanger the student safety.

Ensures Proper Licensing

Licenses are evidently crucial for school bus drivers. With the software, you will obtain assistance as you receive licensing alerts whenever the requirements are due.

For instance, drivers will acquire alerts regarding their commercial driver license, regular license, criminal background check, physical examination, child abuse checks, and bus inspections that require to be updated immediately.

Meanwhile, with the support of a routing software, schools are able to add and customize alerts. As a consequence, you will be able to confer safety and enhance driver satisfaction.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, the school transportation routing software constitute a range of benefits for school bus drivers such as effortless documentation, real-time notifications, and on the road guidance, which offers solutions to overcome the road related challenges.

In the meantime, the school bus routing software establishes a healthy working relationship between drivers and school transportation officials.

How School Bus Routing Software Enhance School Transportation

Posted on December 21, 2017 by TSB Super Admin

Every school aims to provide an efficient school transportation for students. And its success depends on routing. Effective cost management and proper benchmarking policies assist you to determine how well your school bus fleet operates. There is a multitude of factors that lead to the success of school transport services. Need details regarding it?

Let's check out the essentials required for efficient school bus fleet management:

1. Precision in Fleet Data

In order to operate school bus fleets efficiently, you should obtain accurate fleet data. The reason for this is, all the crucial decisions are taken on the basis of this fleet data. Hence, fleet data should be proper and precise. With the support of a school bus tracking software, you will be able to accomplish the tasks without compromising precision level.

2. Proper Organization of Fleets

Fleet operations would be impeccable, if there is proper planning and coordination among personnel and the tasks assigned to them. For effective fleet management, transport managers should be able to organize the school bus fleets correspondingly.

Role of School Bus Routing Software and GPS School Bus Tracking System

With the assistance of a school bus routing software, you can choose the apt and efficient route for your trip, obtain the precise fleet data and thus manage school bus fleets smoothly. Also, with the route optimization feature, you will be able to determine the exact location of a school bus in real time without further delay.

A school bus GPS tracking system is a valuable tool for school transport managers. They can track the school bus location and receive instant alerts whenever there is an emergency.

Strengths and weaknesses of school bus routing software

By recognizing the strengths and weaknesses, you will be able to enhance student safety, school bus route optimization, and budget of the school. Here are certain benefits or strengths of a school bus routing software:

Effective management of drivers

Providing satisfactory working condition is an excellent solution to reduce the employee loss. And a school bus routing software can aid you with that. Here follows certain procedures by which the schools should follow, especially when working with drivers are:

Attribute adequate training regarding the usage of routing software
Render up-to-date routing details
Save money

Of course, fuel costs should be actively considered by the school transportation authorities, especially when you aim for a profitable business. There are two ways to save money on fuel costs:

Negotiating prices with the usual fuel dealer to provide some discount
Install a school routing software and a GPS school bus tracking system to identify the optimized route for your trip that saves time and money

Out of the two above mentioned methods, the second one is practical. This is because modern trackers will be able to realize if there is a diversion from the assigned routes and thereby, evade unnecessary wastage of fuel. Route optimization feature can also be handy in saving money on fuel costs.

Provide reliable school transportation services

School management can enhance its transportation budget by saving on fuel costs and driver costs via a tracking system. For benchmarking the success of the school transportation, you can consider the following data for comparing with others:

You can identify the weakness of school bus routing by answering the following queries:

Average age of school buses
Period of usage
Average riding time of student on each day

When all the above details are carefully analyzed, you will be able to identify the strengths as well as weakness of school bus routing. Based on the strengths and weaknesses, you can identify the areas where you can augment the school transportation. Hence, school bus routing software is indeed a boon to school bus fleet management.