While politicians may still argue over the impact of global climate change, few people on the ground still seriously doubt that climate change is real - and it's causing a lot of unpredictable weather. School districts and school bus drivers need to be prepared to deal with weather that can shift rapidly and have ways of dealing with the sudden appearance of dangerous storms.

In May 2018, New Jersey suffered a truly terrible school bus transportation accident. A school bus on a field trip collided with a dump truck, resulting in the deaths of a student and a twenty-year veteran teacher, as well as putting 43 others in the hospital.  Ultimately, it was determined the bus driver was the one at fault. Video showed him taking the bus across three lanes after missing an off-ramp, in an apparent attempt to use the official-use-only highway turnaround. In the process, he cut off a loaded-down dump truck which had no chance of stopping, causing the fatal crash.

In general, school bus safety laws across the nation have been increasingly strict and concerned with protecting child riders from other motorists - except for one strange anomaly last year. In July 2018, the state of Georgia amended its school bus passing laws in a way which seemingly increased the situations under which motorists were allowed to ignore a school bus stop arm, with wording that many criticized as being unclear.  

On January 31, 2019, a driver in Tamarac, Florida, had to deal with one of the nightmare scenarios most school bus drivers hope they never have to handle - a fire onboard the bus. For reasons still under investigation, black smoke started coming out of the engine compartment, followed shortly by an intense fire that destroyed most of the bus's front end.

In 2015, it was revealed that German car maker Volkswagen - along with all their associated subsidiaries - had been engaging in widespread fraud to cheat results of emissions testing on many of their vehicles. Ultimately, VW had been cheating going back to roughly 2008, releasing millions of cars and other vehicles that were in violation of US environmental laws.

There are many aspects of school bus safety that a district transportation manager must oversee, but one of the most critical is implementing measures to prevent onboard fires. Fires on school buses are more common than people realize. In fact, the DOT estimates that one or two fires happen every school day.  Fortunately, most of these happen when students aren't onboard, but tragedies do occasionally happen. On average, 22 people are hurt or killed every year by bus fires.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently made a significant announcement that may impact anyone attempting to manage a school bus fleet: They will be updating their standards on nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions from heavy engines, for the first time in 20 years. Those standards changes will almost undoubtedly include school bus engines and may hasten the need for engine upgrades among districts running older fleets.

When managing a school bus transportation network, there are a lot of factors to keep track of, and sometimes it's easy to let the little things slip by. However, in the case of school bus idling, it's a little thing that adds up to big problems! Your drivers should be trained to avoid idling whenever possible and driving in such a way that minimizes the need for it.

In recent years, school districts around the country have had to improve security in response to ever more shootings, violence, and even terrorist activity. It's a dangerous world, and schools have to be prepared. However, all too often a district will focus all its efforts on their school buildings and other immediate property, while mostly overlooking school bus security.

When it comes to running a school bus transportation system, nothing is more important than protecting the precious cargo onboard each bus. For a long time, transportation administrators had limited options for improving bus safety, but in recent years we've seen a big boom in research and development of new bus safety features.

So in today's article, we wanted to highlight some of the new safety systems that may be coming to your school bus transportation system in the near future.

In a recent webinar, the President of ROUSH CleanTech, Todd Mouw, made a bold proclamation: "Propane [in school buses] is going to be the lead horse for the next decade," referring to its status as the most commonly used alt fuel. ROUSH CleanTech provides a variety of alt-fuel vehicles and conversion systems, so he doesn't have a horse in this race, so to speak. As one of the major players in this field, he would be in a position to know which alt-fuels were leading.

Most people in the industry - including Mouw - believe that electric vehicles will eventually become dominant in the school bus industry. However, that day is at least a decade off, possibly more. In the meantime, a fuel is needed to bridge the gap between gasoline and pure electric buses.

Is propane that bridge?

Are school bus seat belts a feature that would save lives, or are they more trouble than they're worth? For decades, the conventional wisdom was the latter: Buses are already so safe that any benefits added by belts would be minimal, and counterbalanced with new safety problems they'd create. However, more and more evidence is starting to challenge this perception.

According to School Transportation News, there have been 14 accidents near school bus stops in 2018 - with five of the accidents occurring in November alone! Of those accidents, eight resulted in student fatalities - tying the number of deaths in 2017. In every case, the accident would have been preventable.

Do your bus drivers feel well-supported by management and other employees of your school district? With the school bus driver shortage still causing problems, this is an important question! A district needs to maintain awareness of their drivers' morale. Otherwise, they could be easily poached by other districts, or decide to move into other areas of commercial driving work.

Here are a few ways your district can support your bus drivers and ensure their morale remains high.

When it comes to school bus safety, there's a tendency to focus on features that provide physical safety - and understandably enough. However, security is also a major element in bus safety, and should not be overlooked. Fortunately, companies involved in school bus technology know this, and have been putting new solutions on the market that help improve awareness and oversight of a bus fleet.

The right technological investments can help you prevent unwanted guests on your bus, keep track of your buses and riders, and keep your fleet secure when it's not in use. These are some of our favorites.

If a school district is looking to expand their bus fleet without breaking their transportation budget, buying used school buses would be an easy way to do it - at least in theory. School buses don't hold onto their value very well, so it's relatively easy to find used buses which cost a fraction of what a new bus would.

First days of school are often hard on the children, but it seems like it's becoming common for that first day to be hard on the parents as well. In this age of "helicopter parenting" it can be difficult for parents to wave goodbye to their children as they board the bus for the first time. Some parents may even resist using school bus transportation systems, specifically because they don't want to let anyone else drive their child.

Your bus routes will run a lot more smoothly if you can help parents become more comfortable with the idea of bus rides. Here are a few tips on how to ease parents' fears.

The numbers are a bit fuzzy, but somewhere between 1-2% of students are diagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a developmental disorder that creates social and communicative impairments. Autistic students can be difficult to deal with - particularly for those who aren't trained in working with them.

Many school districts looking to improve their school bus safety are starting to turn to seat belts as one potential answer. However, the debate over school bus seat belts is surprisingly complicated. Plus, in any case, retrofitting an entire bus fleet with belts on every seat is a very expensive proposition.

Without wading into the question of whether school bus belts will actually save lives, we've got some suggestions for more cost-effective alternatives to improve school bus safety.

School buses are extremely expensive, and represent a huge investment for any school district which has purchased a fleet. It's entirely understandable that a district would want to get the most possible use out of their buses. However, nothing escapes the ravages of time, and at some point any school bus will outlive its usefulness.

Pitching a major fleet upgrade can be an uphill battle, but sometimes it's simply necessary. Or, at least, the cost-benefit analysis points towards old buses being too much of a liability. Here are some big warning signs that those older buses should probably be replaced.

When it comes to the costs of a school bus fleet, fuel is usually the number one line item - but school bus maintenance costs are rarely far behind. Buses can be expensive to maintain but, of course, it's absolutely necessary to keep the buses running safely and on schedule.

Maintenance costs will always be needed, but they can often be reduced. Here are some tips for getting your ongoing costs-of-ownership as low as possible.

As things stand, there are a lot of arguments in favor of embracing a school bus tracking system, and very few reasons not to. Tracking your school buses on the road gives you much better insight into your bus operations, provides plenty of data to help lower your on-road costs and, of course, substantially improves school bus safety.

Bus tracking is an investment into your fleet that easily justifies the expense, and will quickly pay for itself through lowered costs.

Insulin-dependent diabetics got a big piece of good news this month: Thanks to a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rule change, it is now much easier for them to receive commercial interstate driver's licenses.

Are you having much luck hiring new school bus drivers? If you're like many districts around the country, this is a constant source of frustration. The bus driver shortage shows no signs of abating, with some outlets even referring to it as "the new norm."

To get qualified drivers into your district, you need to be creative about your recruitment techniques - but without sacrificing any quality in your hires. We've got some suggestions for how to do just that.

Is yellow the new green? It would be if more people knew the environmental benefits of school bus transportation!

School buses bring numerous benefits to a community, but all too often, the environmental aspects are overlooked. Buses can genuinely help reduce a community's reliance on automobiles, improve the local atmosphere, and prevent needless gasoline waste - among other positives.

This is a great topic to bring up with parents, or even students, whenever the matter of school bus transportation comes up. It can be especially useful when it's time to talk about funding upgrades for your bus fleet!

There is no doubt that nearby drivers are one of the biggest dangers to students riding school buses. Every year, cars ignoring bus safety lights and stop arms endanger, injure, or even kill student riders. This is a problem that should be preventable, if only there were better public education - and now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is trying to make that happen.

Sometimes it seems like people do things that we shouldn't need to say are completely inappropriate...like trespassing on school buses. Unfortunately, it happens. In fact, in recent months there have been several high-profile cases of unauthorized individuals boarding school buses to harass students or staff. Worse, some districts - such as the Escambia County School District - have discovered there aren't even laws on the books preventing it!

While not the most common threat to student bus safety, school bus trespassing is a legitimate problem that districts should be prepared to confront. Here are some of the things you and your drivers should be aware of.

When it comes to school transportation safety, few issues have been more contentious than the matter of school bus seat belts. Do they do more good than harm? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? For much of the 20th Century, the general conclusion was “No.” Seat belts, it was said, added significant costs to buses without adding substantially to physical safety, and even introduced new dangers in cases where students were wearing their seat belts incorrectly.

One might say that there are three "pillars" of a safe and successful school bus transportation system. You need great drivers, as well as safety-minded riders. However, what can occasionally be overlooked is the importance of maintenance. A bus is only as reliable as its last maintenance check, and sometimes, it becomes easy for a district to skimp on school bus maintenance - particularly if budgets are becoming tight.

However, this isn't an area where corners can be cut! So in today's article, we want to talk about elements that should be in everyone's school bus maintenance plan.

When a school district is growing, it can be difficult for their transportation system to keep up. Beyond the basic logistical challenge of procuring (or outsourcing) more buses and finding drivers for them, there will also be significant new back office challenges as well. Managing the buses, keeping them maintained, creating routes... these all become increasingly difficult as the size and complexity of the bus system grows.

Fortunately, companies developing school bus technology are well aware of these challenges! There are numerous products available which are capable of reducing the workload within large bus systems, and usually by streamlining operations to find cost savings.

All school bus drivers, at some time or another, have been frustrated by motorists ignoring the stop arm and endangering students near the bus. Stop-arm violations are one of the single biggest dangers to students during a school day, and there's relatively little a bus driver can do to stop it. However, a driver in Sutton, Massachusetts, came up with a very creative solution - unfortunately, one that was also illegal.

"Is it safe?" Every parent asks this on a nearly daily basis, and understandably so. Parents need to be reassured that their child will be protected when out of their care, such as when riding the school bus. Since any school bus crash tends to make big headlines, that tends to make people worry about school bus safety.

However, in this case, there's no reason for parents to fear: School buses are incredibly safe. In fact, they are among the safest activities of any sort that a child could engage in, and certainly the safest way for a child to get to school. This is information that parents need to know, so we wanted to discuss the topic a bit in this article.

Have you reminded your district's parents and guardians about why riding the school bus is important?

School buses have been part of American school life even before the invention of the motor engine, with the earliest "buses" being horse-drawn. It's easy for people to take them for granted. Unfortunately, sometimes this attitude is detrimental to districts - particularly if they need funds to upgrade their school bus fleet, and the community doesn't want to pitch in.

There has recently been a boom in technology designed for the school bus fleet, and that creates an interesting problem for district transportation managers. On one hand, you have so many new options for improving the safety and functionality of your fleet, but on the other, there are far too many new products to ever buy into them all.

Now, more than ever, school bus fleet managers are under pressure to find ways to lower the operating costs of their buses. Fuel costs are always a target, as they usually comprise one of the single largest line items in any bus fleet's budget. So, if a district could cut fuel use simply by changing tires, wouldn't that be a good thing?

One question a school district often hears from community members is, "Why does it matter how kids get to school?" From what we've seen, this seems especially common among people without children of their own, objecting to the idea of paying for school bus services with their tax dollars. Well, even aside from the legal requirement that districts provide transportation, the fact is that there are many reasons why riding the school bus matters.

School buses are by far the best way for children to go to and from school, for numerous reasons. If you ever find yourself in a position of defending your bus transportation system, here are some arguments to make.

There is no doubt that the most dangerous time for any student riding the bus is when they are getting on and off the bus. The entire perimeter around the bus has been dubbed the "danger zone" due to how exposed students are. So, one major focus of school bus safety initiatives has been to find ways to make that danger zone less dangerous.

Now, we may be a lot closer to that goal than ever before. One of the leading bus technology vendors, Safe Fleet, has announced a new series of products all aimed at protecting students near the bus's perimeter.

Nothing will make the danger zone 100% safe, but if Safe Fleet's new products live up to their sales pitch, they will substantially improve school bus safety.

One of the most important aspects of being a school bus transportation coordinator is also one of the most difficult: school bus routing. Creating proper routes for the school buses is absolutely essential for the semester to run smoothly, but it takes a lot of work and preparation. Automated route-creation software can significantly reduce the workload, but you still need plenty of information for the routes to be effective.

Are your bus drivers doing everything they can to look after any special needs students riding the school bus?

Of course, every student on a school bus deserves care and respect, but special needs students need a bit more care. It's vitally important that your drivers understand how to work with special needs students, and how to ensure their needs are taken care of. This helps the students directly, as well as decreasing the chances the student will cause problems on the bus ride.

More and more districts are discovering the benefits of embracing a school bus routing system. The right software can radically optimize your routes, while requiring only a fraction of the time needed to create bus routes by hand. They can even offer ongoing benefits, like tracking critical data needed to further optimize your bus operations.

However, this new push for software-based routing solutions has also invited a lot of new software companies to the table - and not all your purchasing options are equal. As one of the first companies to produce a highly effective school bus routing system, BusBoss has some tips on what to look for.

Managing buses and routes in any city can be a major challenge, but it's hard to even imagine the difficulties involved in planning school bus transportation in New York City. And there have been plenty of challenges! In the past year, parents across the five boroughs have been complaining about a high number of bus delays and other problems, to the point that the NY city council commissioned a study into the matter.

While interesting for those who follow transportation news, is there anything that other districts can learn from New York school bus delays and their causes? Let's take a look.

It seems like school districts are now being continually bombarded with new ideas and technologies for improving school bus safety. With so much technical innovation happening across the transportation industry, it's inevitable that many of these new technologies would make their way onto buses. But, which ones are actually worth the money?

One easy answer to this question is also one of the most well-established technologies available: video cameras. Camera systems are affordable, and bring a lot of benefits with very few actual drawbacks. They're among the best all-around investments you can make into your school buses.

A genuinely unique case involving a student riding the school bus recently happened in California, and it could mean districts across the country will have to re-evaluate some of their policies.

All too often, being a bus driver can feel like a thankless job. School bus drivers have to work genuinely inconvenient hours, and spend most of their time on the job getting yelled at by their passengers, district parents, or both. Not to mention the stress of being directly responsible for the lives of dozens of children every day!

It's easy for drivers to feel unappreciated, or even burn out and leave the job entirely. Often, however, all it takes is some small gestures to help them feel acknowledged and appreciated. The holidays are a perfect time for this, so let's look at some ways of improving your drivers' morale.

If a school district were looking for a single piece of software which would do the most to streamline its operations and potentially cut costs, school bus routing software is easily one of the best options. It's an affordable all-in-one package that will take a lot of burdens off your shoulders, while creating better maps that will almost certainly save you money on every bus route going forward.

Here are just a few ways that school bus routing software pays for itself.

On Tuesday, September 4, 2018, the West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, police department received a disturbing complaint. Two middle school girls were alleging that their school bus driver had committed "inappropriate actions" towards them, which were implied to be sexual in nature. Normally, an accusation of this nature - by itself - is enough to ruin careers, but the driver had the truth on their side: truth backed up by school bus video!

Various states are always trying new experiments in how to improve school bus safety, but a recent initiative in West Virginia has been raising eyebrows. According to their new Policy 4336 (PDF), all children in grades K-3 must be "supervised" at bus stops for both pickup in the morning and drop-off in the afternoon.

It's back-to-school time, and that means preparing students for their new year at school. There's a lot of information to convey - all of it important - but very little is more important than ensuring safe usage of your school bus transportation system. Any student who uses the bus needs to be prepared to board, ride, and disembark safely.

We've put together a quick list hitting the most vital elements that any bus rider should know before they start their daily trips on your bus.

As we start the new school year, one of the most important issues on the mind of every transportation director should be school bus safety. Even though school buses are already by far the safest vehicles on the road, they can always be made safer.

We've made a list of suggestions, ranging from the simple to the more complicated, that a district might consider implementing in the name of bus safety.

For many districts, onboard video camera systems represent an excellent solution to many school bus security issues. With video cameras, you can keep a close eye on the behavior of students and drivers, while always having footage available if there are disputes between drivers, students, and\or parents.

That said, video cameras can create problems of their own, particularly if students or parents are concerned about privacy. Having a clear policy outlining best practices for use of the cameras will go a long way towards preventing these problems!

It wasn't long ago that "diesel" was a dirty word when talking about fuels. However, diesel has come a long way since then. Modern diesel engines, backed by technologies to clean the fuel and prevent harmful emissions, are making a major comeback in many areas, including school bus engines. Proponents say there's no reason to embrace more experimental technologies, like propane or CNG, when diesel is already widely available.

 As a school district transportation manager you always have a lot on your plate, but that shouldn't stop you from taking time for personal development and networking. There are several major school bus trade shows around the country every year, and they are genuinely excellent opportunities to meet, greet, and learn.

If you haven't gone to any trade shows recently, here are a few reasons to think about attending at least one in the 2018-19 school year.

There are many difficult jobs associated with being the transportation director of a school district, but perhaps none are as difficult - in terms of labor - than laying out school bus routes. Doing school bus routing by hand is a time-consuming and tedious process, and one which is almost impossible for a person to optimize well. Worse, significant migration in or out of the school during the course of the year might mean having to recreate the bus routes multiple times.

Recently, we came across an interesting School Bus Fleet article about a petition proposing a change to school bus lighting systems that, according to the petitioner, would improve school bus safety. It's far from the first time such an idea was proposed. The problem of cars either ignoring or not seeing school bus warning lights consistently creates dangerous situations for student riders.

Student bus transportation safety is an all-important topic, and one which tends to become controversial whenever there's any sort of incident involving a bus accident. The tendency of the media to blow up any accident can often overshadow how incredibly safe school buses really are. Parents and other concerned people in your district should have plenty of information available, helping them understand that American school buses truly are among the safest forms of transportation anywhere in the world.

When adopting new technology in your school bus transportation processes, there's always the promise that it will help simplify your administrative life and streamline operations. In many cases, this is true. However, problems can arise when a district adopts too much new technology, too quickly. When a desire for new solutions becomes too prominent, the technology can simply become a new kind of complexity - creating as many problems as it solves.

For decades, one of the most controversial subjects involving school bus safety was the matter of seat belts: Should school bus seat belts be mandated?

The debate has been reignited this summer with the introduction of Ohio House Bill 680 on May 22, 2018. In response to a recent tragic crash which killed a student and teacher, the bill would require all buses purchased after June 1, 2019, to come with lap/shoulder belts on all passenger seats, as well as mandating an aggressive upgrade policy for existing buses.

For the past decade, many school districts have shown increasing interest in switching to alternative fuel systems. On paper, the benefits are clear: they’d see lower fuel prices and easier maintenance while also reducing the harm their fleet does to the environment. Unfortunately, these projects often seem to fall short.

These are exciting times for those in the school transportation industry! There has been so much innovation in the world of vehicles, particularly when it comes to integrating computer technology into existing systems. It may take a little while for new ideas to make it into the world of school buses, due to the much greater safety and security concerns, but there are still plenty of new options for districts to take advantage of.

 One of the cornerstones of a proper school bus safety training program is an emphasis on the "Danger Zone." That is, the area immediately surrounding the school bus where children could be in danger of being hit by other cars - or the bus itself - and are potentially hidden by the bus's blind spots. Drivers must understand the threat represented by the Danger Zone, and be thoroughly trained on how to minimize the actual danger to their students.

Will your incoming 2018-19 students be ready for their first bus rides? Summer is the perfect time to help parents prepare their children!

There's probably no more challenging time for a school bus transportation director than the first week of classes. Students are having to learn their buses and bus schedules, plus many of the younger ones may have never ridden a bus alone. That first week can go a lot more smoothly if the students are prepared in advance.

Few aspects of school bus loading and unloading are more dangerous than the appropriately-named “danger zone.” The danger zone includes areas near the bus where a student cannot be directly seen by the bus driver, and where incidents involving other vehicles are most likely to occur. The danger zone can be considered to be a rectangle stretching 10 feet from the bus in any direction, with the most dangerous areas being the immediate front of the bus as well as anywhere within arm’s reach of the back half of the bus.

 It’s well known that student bus transportation costs are a huge part of a school district’s budget and a truly unavoidable expense. It’s only natural for school districts to look for ways to minimize the costs. Now, some districts are beginning to design their bell times largely around their transportation needs, but bell times impact every aspect of a district. Any major change will cause ripples across the entire city. Even if changing bell times would allow a district to cut thousands – or millions – of dollars from their transportation budget, is it worth the disruption?

Bullying is a hot topic at the moment, with many seeing the proliferation of bullying as one of the biggest problems in modern school districts. Administrators are under pressure to cut down on bullying and, in particular, shield disabled students from attacks which they often cannot defend themselves.

Overcoming the Challenges of School Bus Fleet Management

It’s generally agreed that loading and unloading are the most dangerous times for a child riding a school bus. In fact, the loading and unloading area is even occasionally referred to “the danger zone” because of how many problems could potentially occur. The students are beyond the driver’s direct control and exposed to traffic and other hazards.

 When it comes to drawing up bus routes, most districts try to do it at the beginning of the school year and stick with it. Sometimes that’s just not possible, and circumstances beyond their control dictate that routes may have to be re-planned during the school year. This brings up a big problem – how to inform parents of school bus route changes and ensure every child still gets on the right bus home.

 The topic of school bus fuels and the environmental harm done by bus fleets is being treated with increasing concern. With the majority of school buses on the road still being powered by diesel engines, they’re responsible for a lot of pollution. Many districts would like to explore alternative school bus fuels, but the expenses involved can be daunting.

 One morning in 2015 a nonverbal, autistic high school student named Paul Lee was left behind on his Whittier, CA, school bus. Eight hours later, in temperatures approaching 100 degrees, he was dead – not discovered until it was time for the bus’s afternoon route. It was a genuine tragedy, one which highlighted how important it was to always guarantee no students were forgotten on school buses.

So let’s take a look at what might be your district’s next vehicle investment!

 When drivers endanger school bus riders thousands of times every day by ignoring stop-arm signals, it’s clearly a problem that needs solving. But how?

One of the more common solutions being adopted is the use of stop-arm cameras, which work in roughly the same fashion as traffic light cameras. The camera attempts to capture the license plate of anyone speeding by a stopped bus, and the resulting stop-arm fines are mailed to the offending driver’s address on record.

Staying on top of school bus safety is a never-ending challenge for any district transportation coordinator. There are plenty of ways that a school bus and its routes can be made safer, and never quite enough time to address them all. Undoubtedly, any bus safety plan has some "holes" in it, or areas which aren't as secure as one might like.

This will vary substantially from district to district, but there are still some common holes we see in our own consulting work. Let's talk about some of them.

As difficult and frustrating as city driving can be in an automobile, the problems are multiplied when driving a school bus. Buses can be up to 45 feet long, which makes maneuvering them around city corners a real challenge. Plus, with a full load of passengers on board, it’s easy for school bus drivers to become stressed out, which can diminish their effectiveness in an emergency.

The challenges your drivers face are going to be largely particular to your city. However, with proper training, there are certain strategies which will help mitigate the chances of problems while on city streets.

Many applaud the new laws; others fear they go too far. Let’s take a look.

 In a perfect world, cost wouldn't be an issue when it comes to school bus safety. School buses would be outfitted with the latest in safety features to ensure the highest possible rates of safety and accident survivability. Unfortunately, that’s not the reality. Most districts strike a balance between having high levels of safety without having excessive costs with a lot of debates over how to achieve that balance.

School bus seating is often at the center of this discussion. How do we make school bus seats safer? Are seat belts actually effective or worth the cost? People have been going back and forth on that for decades. However, new technologies could substantially change the debate.

 If you follow school bus safety news at all, it’s hard to avoid headlines about students being accidentally left behind on buses. It happens several times a year, at a minimum, and always causes concern. Sometimes the police are involved. Sometimes, careers are ruined for that one mistake alone.

These can be particularly helpful to know, if you’re in a position of arguing in favor of embracing tracking systems in your district. When you’re standing in front of the school board or PTA, being able to talk about how tracking systems will benefit them directly is going to help your case!

Worse, once that student moves or graduates, it could be years before the lift is ever used again, making it a massive sunk cost with no foreseeable returns.

 There’s a lot of new high-tech devices being used in schools, and it’s easy to get confused about what they do, particularly when they seem to be similar products. So it’s not surprising that we get a lot of questions about GPS trackers versus Bluetooth trackers and what sets them apart.

In fact, pretty much the only thing the two technologies have in common is that they’re radio-based tracking devices. Otherwise, they have very different purposes and goals. Let’s explain:

 Big changes to how entry-level school bus driver training is handled are coming, with new hurdles that new drivers have to clear before getting their license. These changes are coming from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a part of the Department of Transportation, and have been in the works for a number of years. Originally, these rule changes were to have gone into effect already, but several legal challenges to them delayed implementation. In November 2017, it finally became official: New bus drivers will have higher standards in 2020 and beyond.

 An electric school bus is one of those ideas that often seems to sound better on paper than it is in practice. Everyone knows that fossil fuels won't last forever, and they’re bad for the environment. But the costs of moving to electric, and the significant drawbacks of the technology, cause a lot of districts to stick to what they know. Some have even opined that it's just not possible to create an all-electric bus with sufficient range and power to compete with traditional engine technologies.

However, that may soon change. Two major manufacturers, IC Bus and Daimler have recently announced their intention to create all-electric school buses which are fully capable of performing the job. These buses were announced November 2017, and are currently targeted for 2019 release.

 No one likes to contemplate the idea of a school bus being involved in a major accident, such as one which leads to it flipping or rolling. But, the reality is that such accidents are always a possibility. Even the best-trained school bus driver can be undone by circumstances beyond their control.

So, bus evacuation is an aspect of bus safety training that simply can't be ignored. The school bus driver and the students need the best possible chance of escaping a bus, even under crisis conditions.

The two go together hand-in-hand, if you're using the right app. There are a lot of options on the market, so here are some of the most important features to look for.

It’s a situation bus drivers have seen countless times: They bring the bus to a stop, extend the stop-arm, begin to let students disembark – only to see a car behind them ignore the stop sign and speed past. Every time this happens, children are endangered, and estimates are that it happens millions of times a year in America.

There’s one tactic which has shown promise in cutting down on this trend: stop-arm cameras. Much like stoplight cameras, these can capture the details of cars which disregard the bus’s stop sign, sending automated tickets to violators. Tests performed in districts with stop-arm cameras have suggested it can decrease violations by 15% in only a single year.

In previous blogs, we’ve covered many of the most obvious solutions to the problem, such as higher wages, better benefits, or more opportunities within the district. Today, let’s get a little more creative. Not all of these ideas may apply to your district, but perhaps they'll give you some ideas.

In today's blog, we wanted to touch on key aspects and best practices when working with your mobility-impaired students. If you haven't checked to ensure you're up-to-date on wheelchair policies, it's a perfect time to do so.

 Just as with every other aspect of your district, it’s important to have goals for your student bus transportation in the coming year. Some of these may simply be along the lines of “stay within all relevant regulations,” but some might be a bit more ambitious – areas – you’re hoping to improve, investments you want to make, or new initiatives you’d like to launch.

If you haven't decided on all your goals for 2018 yet, here are a few ideas...

 Vehicle technology is advancing at an incredible pace these days, probably the fastest since the early days of automobiles. The convergence of tech fields such as cloud computing, vehicle tracking, high-resolution optics, and artificial intelligence is causing a renaissance in vehicle safety features!

It’s already common for new features and safety initiatives from the trucking industry to become part of school bus driver safety as well. However, it does tend to take some time, since tech has to be very proven – and more affordable – before school districts will invest. It’s not hard to look into the future and see what may be available 5-10 years down the line.

Of course, those tactics can also backfire over time, particularly if they are holding your district back from realizing much better solutions that would be safer, easier, or more cost-effective. Sometimes, a more major overhaul is needed for long-run improvements.

 It seems like a problem which should be preventable, yet it still happens with some regularity: children being forgotten and left behind on school buses. Proper school bus safety procedures mandate the driver always check for overlooked riders, but mistakes happen or perhaps the child hides in such a way he or she isn't easily seen, such as underneath a seat.

If you currently don't have much in the way of bus safety training, here are some ideas we've seen in action which might provide effective ways of increasing safety.

Providing such training to bus drivers is far from universal, but it could be well worth the slight addition to your training program.

If your district is considering bus upgrades, but don't quite have the money, this could be a major opportunity. The submission period for 2017 has passed, but it's time to act if you want to have a chance of getting some of those rebate funds for the 2018-2019 school year.

The iconic school bus is a familiar site during the fall months. Driving this vehicle is still a major responsibility, but advances in transportation technology have done their part to improve the school bus driver experience and make the daily ride safer for students. Here are just some of the tools that are transforming the way the school bus operates.

Is it time to consider student tracking systems? For an increasing number of school districts, the answer is yes. Student tracking, such as through RFID systems, offers many distinct benefits in terms of both safety and streamlined administration, with relatively few drawbacks.

School districts across the country are struggling to fill vital school bus driver positions. There’s a reason that great school bus drivers are difficult to find and keep: driving a school bus requires more than just driving skill and patience. The job requires a unique skill set, and it’s not as easy as you’d think.

School districts all across the country are implementing GPS Student Tracking programs. The reasons for implementing GPS technology vary, and it can be confusing to know who benefits most from it. However, there are distinct reasons why school districts, parents, and students benefit.

Taking preventative measures to reduce risks when routing children is especially important in all sectors. Managing risk is an important component of school bus fleet management and technology is helping to ease the burdens that transportation officials face.

Radio frequency identification, also known as RFID, is a state-of-the-art technology that is used for many purposes, including keeping students safe. A student’s unique information is stored on a chip within a special ID card. This chip transmits identification information to a special transponder when a child gets on or off a bus. Digital information is forwarded to school district computers so that officials can track the whereabouts of each student.

There are a lot of factors behind the current shortage of school bus drivers. One of the biggest reasons is that school bus driving can be seen as an unattractive career choice. There are many common problems and complaints about school bus driving which can prevent otherwise qualified people from pursuing it. A school district should look to mitigate these factors and offer school bus drivers what they want from their jobs. This will go a long way towards ensuring their routes remain fully staffed.

There are many challenges involved in running and managing a school transportation system, but the issue of transporting special needs children is its own special category. Because schools are generally obligated to provide services and work around the needs of the children, it can create extremely unique challenges for each district.

The school bus driver shortage isn't getting any better. In recent nationwide surveys of school districts, nearly all reported difficulty in maintaining driver staffing levels and roughly 30 percent described their shortage as "severe or desperate." Many schools are beginning to have to take truly drastic action, even cutting services, due to their problems with driver recruitment and driver retention.

For trend-watchers, these are exciting times for school bus technology. Unlike many other fields where tech trends are pushed by frivolous consumer whims, technology for school buses is inherently practical.

BusBoss stays up-to-date with the technology trends. Check Our Products for the newest student routing and scheduling technologies.

The top priorities for district transportation systems include lower costs, easier administration, and safer rides. These are the areas modern school bus technology tries to target.  

Alternative fuels such as propane or compressed natural gas (CNG) are a hot topic within the transportation industry, including those involved in school bus fleet management. Everyone knows we have a limited supply of petroleum on the planet and that regular and diesel gasoline are harmful to the environment.

The current school bus driver shortage means that holding onto your existing drivers is of paramount importance. If you lose a good driver, it could be months - or more - until you find a suitable replacement. Unfortunately, due to the pressures and problems with school bus driving as a career, most districts are seeing higher-than-normal levels of driver turnover.

Parents need to know what is happening with their children once they leave their home and are in the custody of their district.  Here are just a few things you can do to ease their concerns.

1. Have multiple forms of contact

Don't rely solely on telephone, email or the postal service for parent notifications. You can’t know which method a parent prefers or checks most often. The more ways you have to communicate with parents, the more likely it is your message will get through.

Given how badly the school bus driver shortage is affecting school districts around the country, it's absolutely vital that school transportation directors and administrations do whatever they can to retain the drivers on their payroll. In many areas, this can even be a case where unusual or drastic action is needed because of how hard drivers can be to replace.

School districts across North America are switching to alternative fuel sources for their bus fleets, and for good reason. Propane helps to reduce the costs of school bus transportation while also helping to reduce emissions.

New standards for medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, which includes school buses, were designed to improve fuel efficiency and decrease pollution. Both the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued these standards that were called for by the President’s Climate Action Plan.

Depending on the state where your school district is located, you may be receiving Medicaid reimbursement dollars for the transportation of special needs students. As with any reporting for government funding, the process of collecting and communicating this transportation data can be complex. Fortunately, student transportation software is helping transportation departments to create thorough and accurate reports.

The debate over the installation of seatbelts in school buses isn’t likely to end soon. Many states now require, or have introduced legislation to require, seatbelts on vehicles that transport students. While it’s easy to assume that installing seatbelts would be the solution to ensuring school bus safety, the issue is rather complex, with compelling arguments made on both sides.

One of the main arguments against the installation of seatbelts is that buses are considered extremely safe. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that an average of six students die in school bus crashes each year, compared to the 42,000 people killed in other types of traffic accidents.

School districts across North America are seeking out ways to reduce their carbon footprint, and transportation departments are playing a major role in this process. Of course, switching to propane or other cleaner fuels to power school buses is one way to make a positive impact. Some districts are even experimenting with electric buses and solar-powered equipment. There are also several additional ways that transportation departments are keeping things clean on the roadways.

There are things we do in BusBoss to minimize left turns, but we do not prevent them.  Specifically, in the routing algorithm, we assign a "value" for navigating an intersection.  It's not exactly like this, but it's close enough for discussion purposes.

A Policy Overhaul

Keeping students safe from accidents and violent behavior in the classroom is naturally a top priority for school districts across the country. Student safety is just as important during the trip to and from school, where small distractions can lead to devastating consequences. As Beaufort County School District prepares for its first year of managing its own school bus fleet, they’ve incorporated stricter consequences for students who don’t follow the rules.

Though national safety groups, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, are now advocating for the installation of seatbelts on buses, most states do not require this feature. Nebraska State Senator Robert Hilkemann would like to add his state to the list of those who have a school bus seatbelt law on the books.

Ensuring the safety of wheelchair-bound students can be a challenge. School bus safety has come a long way in the last several years. Specific regulations now include safety provisions for all students, regardless of their ability.

In 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced its endorsement of seat belts on school buses. The National Safety Council (NSC) now shares this view and has made its endorsement of seat belts on school buses public.

Options in gasoline alternatives for student bus transportation continue to expand. As we've talked about before, both propane and natural-gas engines are becoming more popular with school districts, thanks to their lower ongoing costs and better emissions. However, both of those are still derived from fossil fuels, and aren't a "magic bullet" solution to alternative-power issues.

Use of alternative-fuel school buses continues to expand around the country, and represents a promising shift away from unsustainable (and polluting) oil-based fuels. Today's news comes out of North Kansas City School District (NKCSD), in Missouri, which has recently made an unprecedented purchase of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered buses.

But is that about to change?

Millions of students ride school buses each day, and they are considered to be one of the safest forms of transportation. Unfortunately, emergencies do happen and it’s important for drivers to be prepared, especially when they transport students with disabilities.

School districts across the country are struggling to determine how to best utilize the limited number of dollars that are available to them. As these districts face sharp increases in expenses, revenue is decreasing, forcing them to be tight with resources in order to keep budgets balanced.

For some districts, this means cutting necessary services including student transportation. Along with reducing transportation for field trips and extracurricular programs, many districts are reducing the number of buses in their fleets and drivers on their payrolls. So what solutions are available to districts feeling the crunch?

With a combination of GPS-based school bus tracking systems and RFID-based student tracking software, it's far more difficult for a school system to ever lose track of a student. When you know exactly which students are on each bus, and you know exactly where each bus is, there's never any guesswork involved.This automatically brings numerous benefits to administrators and transportation directors, who can do their jobs with far more efficiency. However, it can also be a major help to parents, as well as to any staff who might interact with them, should anything happen to delay the bus that their students are on.

With good student tracking software, it's not even necessary to wait for parents to call wondering where their children are. A district can be pro-active, and put the information out there in a central location which virtually any parent will check: social media.

Illegal passing is an enormous school bus safety concern around the country. One recent New York study shed some light on the problem and just how vast it’s become. According to the report, tens of thousands of vehicles pass stopped buses each and every day.

School buses transport millions of students each day to and from schools and special activities. During an average school year, around 10 billion student trips are made. Buses come in many designs and capacities and different districts have varying requirements regarding the age that each bus should be in service. Both of these factors, along with the size of your fleet, influence the total cost of school bus maintenance for your district.

More school districts are discovering that propane could be one of the big keys to cutting school bus transportation costs. In fact, according to a 2014 Department of Energy study, "Propane buses are now mainstream, and represent the nation’s fastest growing transportation fuel." Many states now have hundreds of propane-powered buses in their fleets, including Arizona, Texas, California, Nebraska, Oregon, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Every year, school buses across Ohio transport more than a million students to and from school. School bus safety is a top concern and a recent training hosted by Austintown schools focused on ways that drivers and administrators can keep students safe.

Earlier this year, the New Jersey Governor signed a law that requires all new school buses to be equipped with motion sensors. These sensors will detect people or objects that are in the blind spots in front of or behind the bus. Legislators and safety experts hope that this will prevent tragedies involving small children near school buses.

Student safety is a major concern across the country, and in California, specific measures have been taken to improve air quality so that all residents breathe easier. Student bus transportation programs are required to do their part by following certain rules and regulations regarding idling.

With school district finances being stretched to the max, administrators are being asked to find innovative solutions for saving money to avoid cutting programs. School District transportation departments are often called upon to minimize their budgets and seek out new ways to save money on transportation costs. Focusing on fuel management is one way to cut costs. Here are 5 ways that you can do just that.

School bus maintenance is vital for keeping students safe on the road, but ensuring that maintenance staff stays safe should also be a top priority. It’s estimated that over 15,000 accidents leading to hospitalization or death happen each year because of vehicle lifts. Many of these accidents may have been prevented by using the tips below. Here are five ways to optimize vehicle lift safety:

Someone call Hank Hill: Propane could be one of the solutions your school district is looking for in lowering school bus transportation costs!

The laws surrounding the operation of school buses vary from state to state and even district to district, but by utilizing specific best practices, drivers are helping to keep students safe when they enter and exit the bus.

Loading and Unloading School Buses Safely

The vast majority of school-age children who are killed in school bus related crashes annually are killed outside of a bus. Half of the students killed are ages five to seven. Small children are difficult to see, making it critical to follow safety guidelines when loading and unloading buses. Here are some best practices.

It’s no secret that school districts across the country are having a difficult time balancing their budgets. Whenever a school district faces financial challenges, the transportation department is a likely target for cuts. Eliminating bus stops and changing routes often concerns parents and administrators. Fortunately, bus-routing software can help you to optimize your routes without compromising student safety.

The Internet has literally changed the face of American education. Unfortunately, for some students in rural Minnesota it is nearly impossible to access the Web once they’ve walked out of the classroom doors. This has led educators and lawmakers to find new ways to bring the Internet to students who might otherwise miss out on valuable educational experiences.

School-related violence is on the rise in the United States and this has parents and school district officials worried about the safety of students on buses. Bus drivers work in tight spaces and must constantly multitask. This stressful environment can be tricky to navigate, but specialized training for school bus drivers can help them to manage conflict and prevent violent, potentially tragic scenarios.

School buses continue to be touted as one of the safest forms of transportation around, but does school bus ridership also influence student engagement? An Education Week report suggests that student engagement starts to drop between the fifth and sixth grade. The decline in engagement appears to happen alongside a slide in school bus ridership, though the correlation between the two is not completely understood.

This fall, Wisconsin implemented an eight-way light system for school buses throughout the state. This measure aims to increase the safety of students who rely on school bus transportation. A law that went into effect on August 16 now requires the eight-light system on newer buses statewide. The new law will apply to all buses manufactured after the 1st of January, 2005.

Indiana recently began conducting its standard yearly school bus safety inspections on all the vehicles across the state, and the good news is that there were very few problems. According to police conducting the inspections, most of the problems found were relatively minor and easily fixed, and one of the districts surveyed passed with 100 percent on the first try.

Survey results released by the Florida Department of Education indicate that illegal passing of school buses is a continued problem. Nearly 10,000 drivers across the state participated in the survey, which documented the number and type of illegal incidents, along with what part of the day they took place. Unfortunately, illegal passing is not unique to Florida. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that most violations go unreported, so the problem may be extraordinarily widespread.

Fulton County, Georgia, is implementing a new program that will use stop-arm cameras to catch drivers who illegally pass school buses. School districts across the country are finding success with similar programs, designed to enhance school bus safety. Stop-arm cameras provide photographic evidence of vehicles that pass school buses while they are preparing to unload or load students.

Sleep apnea is a serious health condition that affects millions of Americans. Those that suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) experience pauses in breathing throughout the night, which can lead to daytime sleepiness, lack of concentration, decreased memory, and a higher risk of accidents, along with additional health concerns like high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. This concern led the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to consider the potential screening of commercial drivers for OSA.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has proposed regulations for entry-level commercial truck and bus drivers to complete certain training prerequisites before obtaining their commercial driver's license (CDL).

Bullying on the Bus

Close to 1,500 employees of the Orange County School District in Florida met at the Orlando Convention Center to discuss emergency response techniques and bullying on the bus. Discussed were some of the signs of bullying and what to do when bullying is suspected. Though most teachers and school administrators receive training on bullying prevention, school bullying often takes place outside of the classroom setting.

Most experts agree that taking students on field trips is a positive educational experience. A recent study cited by the National Education Foundation found that, regardless of a student’s socioeconomic status, gender or ethnicity, students who take field trips benefit from higher grades, a higher graduation rate and a greater chance of future success.

Unfortunately, many school districts are forced to cut back on field trips due to budgetary concerns. The good news is that today’s transportation management software makes field trips easier to prepare for while allowing you to make the most out of your district’s field trip budget.

Even though big yellow buses are most commonly associated with schools, that doesn't mean school bus transportation is only about schools. A fleet of buses is a genuine asset for any community, and they can be put to creative use in ways that go beyond their daily student transportation.

This is especially good to keep in mind when you're pushing for more investments into school bus programs and school bus routing software. With the residents of many communities being so reluctant to pay for more services, being able to talk about added benefits of having a school bus fleet can be a major selling point. Convince the community that school buses can be good for everyone and they'll be more likely to sign off on funding. Some of these could even be revenue-driving opportunities.

It's no secret that many school districts around the country are looking for creative new ways to make up budget deficits, but some ideas are going down easier than others.

The Dallastown Area School District (DASD) in Pennsylvania has made headlines recently for its latest budget-boosting move: Beginning in January 2017, it will be charging $2 per student, per day, for school bus transportation to or from daycare centers rather than to the students' homes.

Unsurprisingly, this is not going down well with parents or daycare administrators.

One of the most critical --and often overlooked-- areas of school transportation systems is the problem of maintaining high standards and high morale among school bus drivers. It's a high stress and often seemingly thankless job, yet an absolutely vital position in any school district.

This is something the Hillsborough County Public School District (HCPSD) in Florida is uncomfortably familiar with. Theirs is a district which has faced problems with bus transportation for years, and much of it directly relating to issues surrounding their school bus drivers. Multiple audits over the years have shown that their drivers were underpaid, undertrained, undersupported, and suffered from poor morale. Accordingly, the district has also faced a chronic shortage of drivers, compounding all these problems.

Returning to school after a fun-filled summer, the last thing that will be on your mind is checking your credit or worrying about your identity being stolen. This unexpected crime to students leaves them being the least prepared to ward off identity theft out of the whole population. It is a growing crime which cannot just affect anyone, but where college students are a prime target.

School bus transportation is one of the easiest and safest ways for students to get to and from school. Students with special needs, however, may need certain accommodations to ride the bus safely. School districts across the country are assessing the effectiveness of their specialized transportation services and determining how they can provide the safest and most efficient bus rides for every student.

This summer, School Transportation News, along with the Propane Education & Research Council, presented the first annual Leadership with Propane Autogas Awards to three seperate school districts. These school districts were honored for adopting alternative-fuel buses and planning for future improvements to their school bus fleets. Propane is one of the alternative fuel sources for school buses that is hailed for its cost-saving and environmental benefits. It is also considered safer for students with allergies or respiratory issues.

Indiana is now leading the way in the push to increase school bus safety with stop-arm cameras.

The East Noble School Corporation (ENSC) in Indiana has been awarded a $50,000 grant by the state's Department of Homeland Security specifically for the purpose of adding both back and forward facing stop-arm cameras to their entire school bus fleet. This follows a successful pilot program introduced this past spring, testing the use of such a camera on one bus.

Introduced by California State Senator Tony Mendoza, the Paul Lee School Bus Safety Law was developed after the death of a 19-year-old special needs student who was left on a school bus during a dangerously hot day. This new school bus safety law, scheduled to go into effect prior to the 2018-2019 school year, will require child reminder systems to be installed on all California school buses.

Autism is a term frequently used to describe a group of neuro-developmental disorders. Students on the autism spectrum generally experience challenges related to communication, social interaction and restrictive or repetitive interests or behaviors. These special needs students may also have additional needs due to medical issues, anxiety, sensory sensitivity and differences in coordination or muscle tone. Transporting students on the autism spectrum takes thorough advance planning and special accommodations.

School bus drivers have a tremendous responsibility. They are, after all, transporting precious cargo. Not only do they need to possess the skills to operate a large vehicle safely, they also need behavior management, problem solving, and risk management knowledge. In Texas, school bus drivers must complete specific training, be issued a commercial driving license, and those who operate certain school buses are also required to have their driving records reviewed by their employer each year.

In recent years, many school districts have experienced an uptick in the amount of requests to transport service animals. In fact, some states now require this service by law. There are many reasons that a student may work with a service animal, usually a dog. These special animals help those with visual impairment, help to alert a student that they have a low or high blood sugar level, are about to have a seizure and even provide comfort during an anxiety attack.

Student bus transportation technology has advanced tremendously over the past several years. Today, transportation professionals are relying on Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to increase efficiency and manage their programs with ease. Here are 5 of the benefits of GIS routing for student bus transportation.

To outsource or not to outsource? For decades, this has been a pressing question which student bus transportation coordinators have wrestled with.

A recent study by The Mackinac Center for Public Policy looked at outsourcing by school districts in several states, including Pennsylvania. They found some interesting distinctions that made Pennsylvania a special case for school bus contracting:

State laws regarding school transportation and required school bus safety procedures vary vastly from state to state. Until just last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommended against the use of seatbelts on school buses. Now they suggest the use of lap and shoulder belts. Florida is one of the states that now requires seatbelts on school buses.

The subject of child safety restraint systems such as seat belts on school buses has been hotly debated for many years. Properly installed child safety restraint systems keep small children restrained in their seats during bus travel. They can come installed in school buses from the factory, or added to buses at a later time. Though there is no federal mandate, many individual school districts and states are choosing to install these safety tools on their buses. So, when and why, would you install safety restraint systems on your district’s buses?

When school budgets are tight, many districts turn to their transportation departments to cut costs. There are many ways to save money, when it comes to school bus fleets. Switching to alternative fuels, minimizing field trip transportation and contracting out services are all frequently used tactics. While all of these options can save cash, maximizing efficiency through fleet optimization remains one of the best options for achieving financial stability.

As technology advances, many school districts are incorporating state-of-the-art safety equipment into their transportation programs. This means that along with keeping buses in good working order, many school bus maintenance departments must now consider integrated systems. When developing your school bus maintenance plan, don’t forget to include your video systems. Just like any other piece of electrical equipment, regular maintenance will help keep cameras working well and extend their lives.

It’s understandable that parents and school district staff would wonder about the safety of school buses. After all, school buses carry their most precious cargo. Though accidents do happen, school buses remain the safest way to transport students to and from school.

The school bus route management process has a reputation for being complex and difficult to manage. Fortunately, route optimization software has eased the burden for school districts across North America. Bus routing software allows districts to create hypothetical bus routes to increase the efficiency of student transportation.

It’s no secret that school districts across North America are looking into alternative fuels for their pupil transportation, not only to minimize negative impact on the environment, but also to save money. While a majority of school buses are still powered by diesel, more and more districts are shifting to propane.

Each day, school buses transport students around North America to and from school, special programs, field trips and sporting events. Parents and administrators rely on transportation departments to keep students safe, and tire care should be part of any effective fleet maintenance plan.

Illegal passing of school buses is a major school bus safety concern. Though passing a stopped school bus is against the law in most areas, traffic codes vary from state to state. Because this poses such a threat to students, many local governments are cracking down and developing legislation to prevent the practice.

Each day, more than half of America’s K-12 students take the bus to school. In fact, the school bus industry is the largest form of mass transit in the U.S. School buses keep cars off the road and the environment cleaner. Making sure that school buses run efficiently strengthens their positive environmental impact while saving districts money.

School buses are widely regarded as some of the safest, most reliable vehicles on the road; however, brake problems have been noted on buses manufactured by major brands. The frequent stopping of school buses can place stress on brakes, so keeping an eye out for common brake problems should be a part of your regular fleet maintenance program.

When it comes to providing school bus driver training, the key to success is going beyond the basics. Of course, a bus driver must know how to safely maneuver a bus, but the job of a school bus driver is filled with complexities that must be prepared for. Here are five critical tips for driver training to increase school transportation and student safety.

School districts across North America are experiencing the realities of shrinking budgets. Unfortunately, when budgets are slashed, transportation departments are often the hardest hit. As students and parents consider the impact of canceled field trips and discontinued programs, transportation departments are scrambling to find solutions. Here are five ways your district can reduce school bus transportation costs while keeping the needs of your students in mind.

Until recently, diesel fuel was associated with school buses that were loud, dirty and smelled bad. Over the past several years, diesel has become cleaner, though certain myths still exist about its true environmental impact. School buses provide reliable transportation for millions of American students each day, so it’s no wonder that parents and school administrators worry about how diesel fuel affects health.

School bus drivers are typically required to complete extensive training before hitting the road. In most districts, this includes instruction for dealing with emergency situations. Deciding what topics should be covered can be a difficult decision because training utilizes valuable time and resources. Here are some subjects that should be included in your school bus safety training program.

Illegal passing of school buses is a huge safety concern for school bus transportation officials. In a 2013 report for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, during a single-day count, school bus drivers documented over 3,000 vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses.

This problem is not unique to one area of the country. After the installation of stop arm cameras on school buses in Austin, TX, over 1,000 violators were captured during a 30 day grace period.

Special needs students across North America rely on school bus transportation to get them safely to and from school. Though traffic laws and regulations surrounding the safe transport of students of all abilities differ from state to state and district to district, there are certain skills that should be taught to any bus driver who works with students who require special services.

There is no denying that technology advances are affecting the way we work and live our lives. This is especially true when it comes to student transportation.

Advances to the transportation industry in general are mind-boggling. Many cars and buses now come equipped with WiFi, satellite radio and a host of integrations. One study even suggests that there will be 10 million self-driving cars on the road by 2020!

School buses are well known for their safety and reliability. In fact, they represent the largest form of public transportation in the country. Parents trust school transportation programs to keep their kids safe, and video surveillance is helping school districts do just that.

Across the country, school districts are facing budget cuts, forcing transportation departments to make the most out of every dollar. Optimizing routes for maximum efficiency is one of the best ways to save on fuel and staffing costs, while ensuring student safety. The process of organizing efficient routes is often time-consuming and complicated. Utilizing school bus routing software allows transportation departments to achieve their goals easily and efficiently.

Bullying in the educational setting is a problem that has captured the attention of school districts across North America. Anytime the physical and emotional safety of a child is threatened, their ability to learn decreases. According to the U.S. Department of Education, nearly 10 percent of school bullying happens on buses. In order to keep bullying at bay in your district, it’s vital to train bus drivers so that they are prepared to handle threats.

School buses are truly the country’s largest public transportation systems. In recent years, incidents around the country have forced the important issue of student safety to the forefront. As parents, teachers and administrators advocate for increased security for school bus riders, equipping school buses with monitors is on the rise.

School bus seat belt laws exist in six states; however, some argue that bus seat belts are unnecessary, and even potentially dangerous. It’s a hot topic with parents and school administrators, and this school bus safety issue is certainly worth the continued discussion.

School districts and their transportation departments are often required to make tough calls to ensure student safety. One of the many challenges that administrators face is inclement weather, no matter the time of the year.

Depending on where in North America you live, certain weather events can pose extreme hazards to students and staff. Preparing for severe weather should be a part of any school district’s emergency plan. The National Weather Service has developed a set of guidelines intended to help school administrators and emergency management personnel create a personalized weather preparedness plan that fits their unique needs.

Introduced in the 1990s, electronic stability control is a computerized technology that improves the stability of a vehicle by detecting loss of traction, or skidding. Electronic stability control is now available on some school buses, and many districts are weighing the pros and cons of investing in this school bus safety feature.

In an ideal world, school districts would be able to set their routes and utilize them year after year. The reality is, expanding student populations, redistricting, and rising costs mean that school transportation administrators must keep a constant eye on routes and change them frequently.

If you have been wondering if incorporating a satellite tracking app system for your school bus fleet is really worth the investment, there is strong evidence to indicate that it is. There are many benefits to utilizing this technology, and student safety tops the list.

No matter the size of your fleet, implementing the right fleet management software will keep your students safer and save your district money. You understand the benefits of great transportation software, but with today’s rapid technology advances, how do you know when it’s time for an upgrade?

School districts with budget constraints and looming cuts are seeking out ways to get the most bang for their buck. Many are finding that bus route optimization is the perfect solution for saving money.

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.

The jobs of school bus drivers and transportation administrators are vitally important. As the adults responsible for getting students to and from school, field trips, and special events safely, taking appropriate precautions to prepare for and respond to emergencies is an important part of these jobs.

School buses are often exposed to extreme conditions, and the winter months can be particularly hard on your fleet. The addition of ice, snow and chilly weather to an already strained bus can lead to tire slippage, engine trouble and rust. Winter weather can expose the weaknesses in your fleet, and when the air gets chilly, school bus maintenance issues usually spring to life.

Student safety is the number one priority for school transportation professionals. With over 55% of US students riding school buses, finding the best way to operate a fleet impacts millions of students across the country. School districts are facing great pressure to meet the needs of their students with a minimal effect to their budget. Implementing a school bus finder can help your district do just that.

Keeping track of students is a priority that is increasing in importance in school districts across North America and around the world. One of the easiest and most cost-efficient ways to track students is by utilizing an ID system.Meta Description: Student ID badge usage is an efficient and cost-effective way to track students. Learn more about utilizing RFID systems  to keep students safe and save districts money.

Each day, over twenty three million students begin their day with a ride on a school bus. For school transportation experts, student and driver safety is a top priority. Each year, the National Association for Pupil Transportation organizes the National School Bus Safety Week. The 2016 theme is “STOP ON RED.”

Though school buses have not always been known for their fuel efficiency, many school districts across the U.S. and Canada have been making the switch to alternative fuel sources and environmentally friendly transportation management system options. This shift not only benefits the environment, it’s providing cost-saving perks to districts.

Alternative fuel sources are heralded as a healthier substitute for all children, especially those with health concerns, such as asthma. For children with special needs, who might take longer to get on and off a vehicle, the risk of breathing in air contaminated by diesel fuel produced by an idling bus engine is intensified.

School districts throughout North America are being urged to up the level of safety they provide to their students, while at the same time cutting costs. While this is not an easy feat, it’s also not impossible, due to ever advancing transportation industry technology.

School districts across North America are employing several transportation management solutions to increase fuel efficiency and cut costs. Investing in fuel-efficient tires for their buses is one chosen strategy. The question is, do tires designed for fuel efficiency really work? The short answer is, they do, but they don’t necessarily save districts money.

There are certainly pros and cons to outsourcing student transportation, and many administrators hold strong opinions on the matter. With more and more districts facing the stark reality of decreased budgets, transportation outsourcing is becoming a common practice.

According to a recent survey commissioned by the American School Bus Council, six in ten parents are concerned about having their children ride on school buses. While the reasons behind their worries ranged from accidents to bullying, unsafe drivers and lack of information were two top concerns.

Education budgets are tight, and in many school districts, the transportation department is one of the first areas to experience cuts. School districts throughout North America are being urged to up their student safety standards, while at the same time cutting costs. While this is not an easy feat, it’s also not impossible, due to ever advancing transportation industry technology.

When it comes to passing school buses, motorists in each state are subject to a different set of laws and regulations. Though most motorists understand the safety risks of illegally passing a bus, it remains a consistent, though dangerous, practice. In fact, a survey conducted in 2012 by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services indicates that there are nearly 16 million violations each school year.

Throughout the many years BusBoss has been bringing school districts transportation management software, we have heard numerous stories about school bus accidents, and these accidents are deeply troubling to us.

While creating safe and efficient school bus routes is the main focus of most school district transportation programs, protecting student, parent and school data should be a major priority. School transportation software offers benefits such as route optimization, but the software also stores sensitive data.

School districts searching for the right transportation routing software to suit their fleet management needs often have questions about how they can customize routing programs. Every school transportation program has different requirements when it comes to dashboard features.

Transporting special needs students to and from school is a challenge for many bus drivers, even when school bus routes are organized and a school district’s fleet management is effective.

Many parents are shocked when they discover their school district does not use up-to-date fleet management techniques for creating school bus routes. Parents assume their children board the same bus every day, but this is sometimes not true when districts don’t use route management systems.

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.

One of the primary concerns of school district administrators seeking to use fleet management and GPS tracking software for route optimization is the amount of time the implementation process takes.

When assessing your school district’s transportation program, there are a number of factors to analyze that make up a successful program. Cost management and benchmarking goals play an important role in determining how well your program operates.

Field trips have a proven track record of engaging students outside of the classroom and paving the way to a successful educational future. As every school transportation program administrator knows, however, field trips are not always simple to plan.

With the tightly packed schedules school bus transportation program employees face every day, there is little room for uncertainty in regards to the school bus routes drivers are expected to follow.

School bus driver satisfaction is an important goal for many transportation programs seeking to reduce employee turnover and provide beneficial work conditions to employees.

Due to the amount of competition involved in winning bids from school bus transportation programs, contractors must provide services that give them an advantage over competitors. GPS vehicle tracking and bus routing software offer benefits that manually creating bus routes simply cannot. 

4 Things Every Transportation Official Needs to Know

Prior to understanding the industry of student transportation I knew my child got on a bus, with a driver and other children and was transported to school.  It was simple right? How hard could it be?  Now that I have an in depth knowledge of the industry I have an unbelievable amount of respect for the men and women that tackle this task every day.  From the directors, to the drivers, to the administrative assistants, I am here to say I could not do what you do! It is not an easy task, there are many factors that come into play.  Below are some tips for transportation officials from a parent’s point of view to hopefully help make your lives a little easier and understand where we are coming from.

Schools have a long history of providing cultural experiences to students through the tradition of the school field trip. While there are expenses such as providing school bus transportation and planning bus routes associated with field trips, many schools view these outside-of-the-classroom opportunities as central to their educational mission. 

School transportation software makes bus route optimization and fleet management easier and more efficient for school district transportation administrators and contractors. 

School districts investing in bus routing software know it is a financially beneficial decision that also increases student safety. These two positive attributes of school transportation software make fleet management simpler and more organized. 

Orbit Software's goal has always been to give back.  Using BusBoss bus routing software for route optimization!  Allowing districts to allocate these savings to other programs that budget cuts have eliminated.

Whether it be to the communities around them through their Orbit Outreach committee or by providing their software program, BusBoss, to non profit organizations in US and Canada.  This year Orbit decided that wasn't enough.  On April 1st, 2015 they released a contest open to every school district in the United States.  Their goal once again, to give back.  

This contest is to give a deserving school district a grant for a public schools route optimization service.  This service could potentially save the winning district thousands of dollars a year through optimizing their transportation, not to mention the cost of the optimization itself could be upwards of $30,000.  All free to the winning district! 

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.

Retaining good school bus drivers continues to be an issue for transportation departments nationwide.  Districts that offer competitive salaries as well as health and retirement benefits find it a lot easier to retain drivers.  However, this may be difficult for some districts that are faced with limiting budgets.  In addition to paying drivers a decent wage, they also need to provide enough working hours, ongoing training and create a supportive working environment.

If you have researched student tracking and bus routing software, you may already be aware of the opportunities these programs provide to improve student safety and achieve a significant return on initial investments. Student GPS tracking may be the best option for your school district in light of the benefits to both your students and your budget. 

Each year school buses transport approximately 24 million students to and from school, covering more than 4 billion miles.  There has been much debate over whether seat belts should be required on school buses.  At first thought, the answer seems to be an obvious yes.  Seat belts save lives in cars, so it would seem logical that seat belts in buses would do the same.

The choice to implement student GPS tracking within your school district is a major decision that requires a great deal of dialogue among administrators and other school district employees. Understandably, those in charge of making the decision on student tracking software and bus routing programs want to know they are asking the right questions, and most importantly, getting answers. 

While student GPS tracking may be an unfamiliar idea to parents in your school district, student tracking software has been proven to increase safety for children who are under your school district’s care. Bus tracking and school bus routing software not only ensure your students are safe, but they produce a significant return on investment (ROI) when used to their potential. 

School bus driver shortages are occurring nationwide, so it is important for school districts to recruit and hire qualified candidates.  Even though there is a driver shortage transportation officials should not relax hiring standards in order to rush and fill open positions.  It takes someone with very special and unique skill sets to be a good school bus driver. 

By now, you’ve likely heard a lot about student GPS tracking. Increasingly, districts are incorporating this technology into their schools for a variety of beneficial reasons. While student GPS tracking isn’t exactly new to school districts, its growing acceptance is. 

Getting students safely to and from school is a priority for everyone.  However many school districts are experiencing a shortage in school bus drivers.  School bus driver shortage is an ongoing challenge that districts repeatedly face before, during and throughout each school year.  There are varying reasons for the shortage, but the effects are clear.  The shortage puts additional pressure on existing drivers and route scheduling.

When it comes to student GPS tracking, data security, privacy rights and other legal issues are a big concern for some parents and school district members. It’s not uncommon for district members to be concerned with the safety and effectiveness of student tracking, while parents may have conscientious or religious objections. 

The best way to eliminate school bus bullying is to create a supportive and positive school bus environment that recognizes bullying early and makes it unacceptable behavior.  It’s very important that school officials, bus drivers and parents all get involved to support ways to eliminate bullying.  School officials, bus drivers, parents and students all play a vital role.

It is estimated that nearly one in five students are subjected to school bus bullying.  A parent’s initial reaction may be to rush in and protect their child.  However, this may not be the best response since parents cannot be present every time a bullying incident may occur.  There are steps that both students and parents can take to prevent and eliminate bullying on the school bus.

Student GPS tracking has been a topic of hot debate amongst parents. While certain myths about student tracking have been spread around, the benefits of this added safety feature to school bus routing software have proven to be far more powerful than the misinformation. 

Students who are being bullied often exhibit some warning signs.  If parents, school bus drivers, teachers and other school officials are aware of these signs they can take action to stop and work on reducing or eliminating the issues.

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. 

Are you fielding too many calls from frustrated parents fed up with inconsistent bus schedules impacting their morning routine? 

Scheduling safe school bus routes is a serious initiative for every school district. As a school administrator, transportation manager or transportation contractor, your main goal is to get students to and from school safely, every day. 

Finding the right transportation management system for school bus routing comes down to doing your due diligence by asking the most important questions of any provider. You need to partner with the right provider to achieve bus routing efficiency and cost savings. 

Is your current manual bus routing system riddled with too many management issues? Are you looking for efficient school bus routing solutions? Don’t you wish you always had an answer when a parent calls concerned about their child’s whereabouts? 

School bus routing software is rapidly catching on with school districts and transportation management companies around the U.S. for its ability to improve route optimization and render significant cost-savings. 

In a perfect world – to protect your students and the environment, to cut back on unnecessary spending and to comply with clean-air government policies – you’d retrofit your bus fleet or upgrade to newer buses to limit your diesel exhaust emissions.

However, with federal budget cutbacks for clean diesel programs and the high cost of replacing old school buses with new ones (think $125k-$175K per bus), you need a more reasonable alternative to reducing carbon emissions.