Use Bus Routing Software And See The Benefits

Given the current state of school funding in most of the nation, it can be hard for schools to find money to invest in any new technology at all. As budgets keep shrinking and continued uncertainty over NCLB more than a decade on, it's often hard enough just to keep the lights on with what you currently have.

However, occasionally, new technology comes along that can truly pay for itself, and quickly. After all, modern technology has been solving a lot of problems since the PC revolution in the 1980s. Plus, of course, the huge advances in worldwide and wireless communications which have marched in step with computing.

Now, software may not have all the answers, but it can make your transportation management far easier, safer, and more cost-effective. It's a small software upgrade that can add up to large savings very quickly, making it attractive for virtually any district looking for ways to economize.

So, how can bus routing software pay off for your district? Here are just a few ways:

The Clear Benefits Of Bus Routing Software

I. Simple Map Creation

Creating a bus route map by hand is an unenviable task. If you or someone in the office is still doing it, you know what it's like. In some districts, people would have to spend literally all summer moving pushpins and strings around maps, trying to find good routes. Plus, that's not to mention the headaches of altering routes mid-semester as students move about.

Today, modern software can take months of work and do it in a few minutes. Given a database of students' addresses and other needs, bus routing software can analyze millions of potential routes within moments and plot optimized routes for your maps. It can do this over and over as well, creating hypothetical maps or optimizing for different priorities.

That's modern computing in action. Better maps, made in moments.

II. Fleet Management Savings

The real savings come from what you can find in your fleet. Modern optimization allows you to find significant savings across most aspects of your transportation operations:

• Substantial reductions in route sizes, potentially to the point of being able to cut entire vehicles.

• Fuel savings across all vehicles.

• Shorter routes also reduce wear and tear from normal usage, extending lifespans.

• Centralized data collection makes trends easier to track and spot. Small issues like reduced fuel efficiency can warn of problems before they become large.

• Detailed driver tracking allows easy recognition of your most cost-efficient drivers.

III. Easy Future Planning

The other area where bus routing software can pay off is in future planning. Integrating bus routes into redistricting plans generally tended to be an afterthought, due to the difficulty in swiftly making large-scale changes. Now, your transportation needs can be up front and part of the redistricting process, or perhaps even a valued tool throughout.

Unlimited hypothetical maps allow transportation to keep up with redistricting, and make recommendations at timely stages. The impact on the entire map – including foreseen costs – can be plotted almost instantly.

Similarly, in cases of school closings, bus routing software will also ease that process. It can redistribute the load among the remaining schools quickly, while keeping costs incurred to a minimum. No matter what a district is facing in the years to come, transportation software can be an invaluable tool.

Bus Routing Software Brings Results

A school can't afford to invest in every new technology that comes along, or even most of the ones it would like to invest in. However, when a technology comes along that improves all areas of a field of business, then it's time to take a serious look.

There's just no reason for modern schools to continue plotting maps by hand and wasting money on poorly-optimized bus maps. For one small investment, your district can discover savings for a very long time to come.

image 1: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:School_bus_zoom_in_front.jpg

image 2: http://pixabay.com/en/sign-school-stop-cartoon-signs-39721/