When crafting bus routes, the obvious goal is to make them as efficient as possible. Whether you're optimizing for time, distance, or fuel costs, efficiency will always be a major concern - but not at the cost of student safety.
There other real world considerations which must be taken into account. You don't want to send your students onto unsafe roads, or into areas of town known to be sketchy. Sometimes, a small "unoptimized" detour can increase safety, and that's a tradeoff worth making.
BusBoss helps make these choices easier!
What BusBoss Traffic Control Features Improve Safety?
Our premiere school bus routing software suite gives you full control of your bus routes, with several features specifically intended to improve student safety while on the road.
1 - Roadblocks
On a map, a road is just a line. Sometimes, that line doesn't represent the reality of the situation. A poorly maintained road full of debris and pot holes, for example, would significantly increase wear and tear on a bus, as well as increasing the chances of dangerous incidents such as tire blowouts.
BusBoss allows you to selectively mark your map, telling it to avoid certain routes that you know are unsafe in reality.
2 - No-Go Zones
Some cities have neighborhoods that children simply should not be walking around in, due to known gang or drug activity or perhaps have registered sex offenders living there.
Along with marking roads in BusBoss, you can also create entire zones that the routing software will flag as dangerous. Once entered into the system, these areas will automatically alert users to create house stops, so students can wait for the bus inside their house and you never have to worry about these areas again.
3 - Traffic Alerts
When BusBoss is tied into a driver's tablet app, it can do even more. That app can relay route updates to them, as well as showing traffic status on the road ahead. So if a particular road has become impassible due to an accident or other disruption, the driver will have enough warning to avoid it. If they don't already know a good alternate route, the system can generate a viable detour within seconds.
This can avoid delays, as well as keeping your students well away from any situation that might be potentially dangerous.
These are just a few of the ways BusBoss focuses on student safety throughout a bus trip. To learn more about how we can affordably improve your bus efficiency and safety, just contact us, or request a live demo.
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PRESIDENT
Sonia has been involved with BusBoss since the late 1990’s, and has personally overseen many projects for various customers ranging from large urban and suburban districts to smaller rural school districts from all over the country.