3 Key Reasons To Implement Bus Routing Software This Summer

Few school district transportation employees look forward to coming back to work after summer break. For most transportation staff, this is the time of year they must complete route optimization tasks, either manually or with outdated software.

If your current school bus routing software makes planning bus routes a disorganized, hectic experience, perhaps it is time to upgrade to a new route management system that includes the latest fleet management technology.

At the end of the school year, transportation administrators meet with school bus drivers to close out their schedules for the year. Administrators review the year with each driver and take suggestions for improvement next year.

When your school transportation staff return at the end of summer vacation, you most likely begin working on new school bus routes right away. The majority of districts take into consideration state report deadlines, cut-off dates for parents to submit new information, new kindergarteners and children who have changed schools so data is accurate for designing routes.

Planning bus routes manually may have been the way you handled transportation programming in the past, but summers are often difficult to manage without a route management system. How many late nights did your staff work last summer?

Although it is your busiest season, summer is not too late to implement bus routing software. Discover three reasons why you shouldn’t wait until summer is over to purchase your route optimization program:

1. Route Management Systems Offer A Quick Turnaround

When you implement new bus routing software, your vendor converts existing school district student and routing data and pre-loads everything you need to get started. What normally takes three months to do manually could take as little as two weeks with a route management system.

Your route optimization software vendor offers services such as data conversion and route conversion to ensure you are able to begin modifying and planning school bus routes more efficiently. After the software implementation is complete, training takes only 24 hours.

2. Route Optimization Software Has Up-To-Date Information

If you are considering implementing bus routing software in the summer, it’s important to keep in mind that up-to-date information ensures the process of planning bus routes is simpler and less time-consuming.

You should receive new information from parents as an update within your software system instead of having to add the information manually. July is a busy month for school districts that are using outdated route optimization programs. It is easier to plan routes when you have the correct private school, bus stop, daycare and student relocation information.

3. Bus Routing Software Allows You To Easily Notify Parents

Having to send out routing letters and emails once your transportation programming is complete is a time-consuming task. Usually, routing letters are sent in August and include students’ bus numbers, stop locations, pick-up times and potential transfers.

Bus routing software allows you to notify parents of bus routing changes more easily, making your August less hectic. You are able to use your route management system to create email notifications, letters, postcards and bus passes.

A significant number of school districts have implemented new bus routing software systems in July and completed their school bus route planning by September, in time for the beginning of the school year.

Summer is the busiest season for most school district transportation programs. Instead of managing the same workload your staff handled last summer, consider using a new route management system to make bus route planning more time-efficient. Ensure the rest of your school year runs smoothly by implementing change now.

Ready to discover how route optimization software fits within your transportation program’s agenda? Learn more about how to use bus routing software to not only benefit your school district, but also reduce your workload.