Summer is often the busiest season for school transportation employees because a significant amount of work is required to plan school bus routes in preparation for fall. Many school district employees must work late nights to ensure every route is planned out carefully before the start of the new school year.
School districts that don’t utilize route optimization software have more difficulty planning efficient routes than schools that use bus routing software. Routing software also makes the day-to-day workload more manageable for school bus transportation program administrators and employees, especially over the summer.
By making use of fleet management software in preparation for fall, many districts are able to save on transportation costs for the following year, which frees up the budget for important school programs. However, there are a number of factors to consider when planning school bus routes.
Districts that have successful school bus transportation programs usually follow a schedule over the summer in preparation for the first day of school. Often, these programs make use of route optimization software to ensure efficient routes.
Whether they are planning for cut-off dates in the second week of June or creating school bus routes for non-public school and special needs students, school transportation program employees are knowledgeable of the date each task must be completed.
Once each bus route is planned, school districts must inform the parents, by generating emails to parents, sending out post cards, routing letters or maybe bus passes. Districts may require bus passes on the first day of school or in order for students to board the bus each day.
Despite all the hard work that goes into planning school bus routes over the summer, changes still occur throughout the year as students move, parents request different buses or the school district is notified of extenuating circumstances. For example, a student may require two bus stops due to split custody situations.
Overloading buses is a beneficial way for school districts to reduce the number of school buses running routes throughout the day. However, school bus transportation programs must be careful not to overload certain buses when the majority of students on the bus ride that bus every day.
It is not advisable to overload elementary school buses because, on average, 100% of elementary school students ride the bus every day. Conversely, overloading high school buses allows districts to safely reduce the number of buses running early morning routes.
When planning for overloading a bus, consider the following data regarding the average percentage of students per grade level who ride the bus:
While overloading buses according to this data increases school bus transportation efficiency, districts should never overload high school buses by more than 25% in case of a school evacuation or emergency. Route management software helps school districts manage the process of bus overloading with increased accuracy.
It is an unfortunate reality that many children enrolled in school do not have homes. During the 2012-13 school year, 1,258,182 students who attended public school in the United States were homeless. Of this number, 75,940 were living on their own.
Student homelessness poses many challenges for school bus transportation programs. While homeless students often live in motels, the school district is still responsible for providing them with transportation.
Students may stay in a motel one day, at a campsite or in a car the following day. In situations such as these, it is up to the parent or guardian to notify the school district. So what happens if the student is on their own? Who is responsible then?
In order to provide homeless students with transportation, school districts can use route optimization software to create alerts for bus drivers that instruct drivers to look for a student at or around an unusual location.
Individualized Education Program (IEP) students may have the option to receive individual transportation to school from a parent or guardian under a contract that reimburses parents. Parents are usually paid according to the state’s IRS formula for a period of 9 months.
Understanding which special education students need school district transportation services and which students require contracts is the first step towards routing IEP students efficiently. Districts may use routing software to keep track of the necessary paperwork when providing transportation or contracts for IEP students.
Planning for overloaded buses, homeless student transportation and IEP student bussing is essential as your school bus transportation program prepares for fall. Taking these factors of bus routing into consideration helps ensure a successful beginning of the school year.
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