As a transportation director, you have many responsibilities. Accommodating court ordered split custody school bus routing is just another one of them. While you may find this to be a nuisance, there is school transportation management software available that can help keep track of it all.
How much oversight do you have over your buses, while they're on the road? If one suddenly came to an unexpected stop or deviated from its route without warning, how long would it take you to know?
For too many districts, the answer would be "a long time." Without being able to directly track buses on their routes, they're left with little way of overseeing bus's progress aside from relying on radio reports. And if the bus driver is unable -or unwilling- to radio in, they're basically in the dark.
We keep waiting for the bus driver shortage to end, but it doesn't. For years now, schools have been struggling to find enough school bus drivers to keep all their routes running, and still the problem persists. According to recent studies, 24% of districts describe their shortage to be "severe" or "desperate," and another 38% report "moderate" staffing problems. Only around 10% claim to have no driver staffing issues at all.
In short, districts will have to continue to hustle if they're going to find new drivers, and keep trying new tactics. Here are some more things to try!
If you're in the business of planning a school's bus schedule, we don't have to tell you how demanding the job is. Hundreds or thousands of children rely on you to get to and from school safely, and if any of them are even a few minutes late, you'll be hearing about it from panicked parents.
With the latest in route optimization software, such as BusBoss, you can wring more efficiency and cost-savings out of your bus scheduling, while also helping ensure the children in your care always get where they need to be.
So, here are some tips for how to get the best use from top routing software packages!
Save Money and Lives With Modern Route Optimization Software:
• Keeping your map current. For far too long, route planners were locked into getting maps from payment-gated services, forcing them to keep paying or fall behind. Current software packages allow you to update your own maps, at will, while keeping a log of changes for future audits.
Ever since its early adoption by some school districts, student and bus tracking has been a hot-button debate topic. Over the last few years, myths have been formulated and then debunked, and the benefits have abounded and transformed the skeptics.
As drivers around the country break out their snow tires, school district transportation departments are preparing buses for chilly temperatures. Ensuring that your fleet stays in tip-top shape during the winter months takes some effort and planning. Here are some tips for winter school bus fleet maintenance.
Having to track hundreds or thousands of students in the past was normally a paperwork nightmare. However, with advances in technology and being able to have students digitally sign in or have other technologically advanced means a much better and efficient system for you. And when you have a highly efficient system that accurately tracks students who are attending school every day, you are able to get the kind of funding you need for your school.
Unified Communications (UC) isn't just for big business any more. The technology and networking explosion of the last few years has made it possible for virtually any operation to benefit from "big data," not just the corporations.
In fact, schools around the country are discovering just how effective a UC solution can be for their district. For modest initial outlays, you can invest in a system that will truly speed your operations in every area, creating a school district that's more flexible and better-able to adjust to change.
Driver fatigue has been the cause of many school bus accidents over the years. There are instances of school bus drivers falling asleep behind the wheel resulting in students being injured and in the most unfortunate of circumstances being killed.
