Routing Software Offers Options for Customized Technology

Shanna Thompson | Associate Editor

Routing and scheduling has come a long way since the times of paper maps with pins and strings designating stops and routes. Today, school bus operators have efficient routing capabilities and detailed student and bus information at their fingertips via data software customized to the specific needs of a district.

It is a tool that not only aids transportation officials in formulating an effective routing system and meeting daily transportation requirements, but can also provide information to parents via the Internet and real-time bus information through a GPS component.

In setting up its software system, Transfinder Corporation first duplicates a school district's current mode of routing and scheduling into the product's computerized version. The idea being to first learn how to use the system and then see if adjustments can be made to make it more efficient.

"It is an opportunity to analyze what you are dong and how you can do it better," said Antonio Civitella, Transfinder president and CEO.

Round Rock Independent School District in Texas uses a Transfinder system to manage routing challenges impacted by a growing population that adds between one thousand and two thousand students annually despite very few additional bus routes, said Dan Roberts, director of transportation and long-range planning.

The ease of the product and online training helped the transportation department completely re-route their operations over four months. Round Rock operates 145 daily routes transporting approximately 11,000 students daily across 2.2 million miles each year.

"The program is very intuitive," Roberts said. "Our staff was proficient in the first week."

Also experiencing continued growth and subsequent transportation changes throughout the school year, Killeen ISD in Texas relies on the cost effectiveness, flexibility and ease-of-use that Transfinder offers, said Transportation Director Joe Hart. The program allows the district to accommodate changes in rezoning, determine locations for special programs, improve student accountability and automate field trips. Killeen ISD transports 9,500 students daily on 247 buses across 2.6 million miles annually.

Transfinder also offers intranet solutions so school staff beyond the transportation department can access information and an Internet solution that works off the district's Web site to help parents find information such as a child's assigned bus stop.

A GPS component takes real-time information beyond simply seeing a visual of school bus location. Instead the system allows transportation officials to look at what the fleet is actually doing compared to what was planned. For example, a driver might be taking a different route than called for in the original instructions. The Transfinder program allows official to analyze that information and make appropriate adjustments.

"(GPS) is not just about seeing the bus on the map," Civitella said. "It is important, but the most important part is what happens to the data - how you handle your actual verses your planned."

Advanced Management Software, LLC incorporates GPS technology into BusTracks GPS PLUS, a nationwide hardware and software tracking system. The system tracks bus routes and speeds, captures bus route miles and stop locations at the touch of a button, records stop times or driver time clock information, and eliminates manual recording of odometer readings for state reporting.

"Using GPS is no longer limited to just tracking bus routes and speeds within a radius or zone," explained Richard B. Sinclair, president of Advanced Management Software.

Both the GPS model and the original BusTracks transpiration management system work for both rural and urban schools. The company works with districts with fewer than 1,500 students spread over large geographic areas to ones with more than 10,000 students in compact urban areas. Among the evolving needs are students who need bussing to multiple day care situations, special needs requirements and varying daily schedules.

The core structure of EDULOG's program integrates GPS and GIS into daily routing and scheduling operations by offering a system that manages large amounts of data, including student, school and busing information, said Tom Mullins, senior vice president, sales and marketing.

The affordability of GPS technology offers school districts an intelligent, integrated method to track buses and student in real time. That information is translated into value through increased efficiency and service.

"It's not enough to just watch buses move across a map display; all the data needs to be put to work in support of proactive planning," Mullins said. "Our vision for GPS and routing is to combine the two into an 'organic' system that can automatically correct and improve itself."

The growth of technology also enables schools to keep pace with changes in education policy and programs by allowing routing and scheduling software to integrate with other data systems used by the district.

"State and federal regulations call for an enormous amount of data and accountability on the part of the district," said Doug Hamlin, president and CEO of VersaTrans Solutions, Inc. "This places a large burden on the technology departments to integrate and normalize the data across the enterprise."

To meet the range of transportation department and district needs, VersaTrans offers a range of distinguishing components for routing and scheduling software including financial tool for cost analysis, a turn-key implementation process, and SIF Certification plus an additional suite of products such as field trip management, fleet maintenance, GPS and community communication.

The accuracy in routing, mapping and timing as well as ease-of-use, make VersaTrans software an effective and efficient option for Issaquah School District No. 411 in Washington state, said operations coordinator Gayle J. Morgan. Challenges for the transportation department include handling major population growth and staggered schedules for the district's schools.

Beyond technology, much of the value in a routing and scheduling system is a product that is designed for a transportation department's specific needs as opposed to a one-size-fits-all option, explained Clint Rooley, director of sales for Trapeze's school division.

Trapeze's suite of products takes into consideration the demands of transportation departments of all sizes. For example, a small district with 12 buses may only need a basis system that reviews data, Rooley said, while another may have an entire staff devoted the unique aspects of special needs routing.

"We are developing products for specifically each market segment," he said. "This is an absolutely unique approach to this industry."