3 Signs You Need Route Management Software

Are you having a hard time managing and optimizing your school's transportation systems?

Of all the functions that a school provides to its community, its bus service is among the most difficult to do properly. It's a service that has to be provided every day that school is in session, yet it's a logistical nightmare. With hundreds or thousands of students all needing to be placed on thousands of buses, and anxious parents becoming ever-more-worried for their children's safety, it's a huge responsibility.

Route management software may be the solution to many of your problems. A simple piece of Windows-compatible software can take over most of the “heavy lifting” involved in creating bus routes. This leaves you more time to focus on management and, of course, ensuring the safety of all the children who ride.

Is now the time to upgrade to route management software? Here are three signs it may be!

Three Reasons That It's Time To Invest In Route Management Software

I. You're Still Doing It By Hand

Sure, you can lay out bus routes by hand, with strings and pushpins in a map. However, it is incredibly tedious and time-consuming. School districts can end up having to spend the entire summer trying to create their bus routes.

What if we told you that you could do it in a day, instead?

Route management software is a lot like having a whole bunch of GPS mapping systems all running at once. In a matter of seconds, it can compare thousands of potential routes and find optimal runs, even based on your own specified criteria. It can optimize for time, or for distance driven, or even for more esoteric concerns like shortening the walking distances to bus stops.

In one afternoon, you could do as much for your routes as you could in a month while doing it by hand.

II. You Have A Lot Of Special Cases

No matter how brilliant your maps look at the beginning of the year, they're probably pretty jumbled and chaotic by the end of the year, right? As students change districts; parents get divorced, new students come in, and more special cases arise, those beautiful maps tend to get messier and messier.

Another thing a computer is better at doing is coping with special situations as they arise. With route management software, changes in addresses or new students can be quickly and easily added onto routes without making them less efficient. If a student suddenly has two homes they alternate between, this can be accounted for.

The system can work with the needs of your students, getting them wherever they need to be, while still keeping the routes as optimized as possible.

III. You Fear You Aren't Getting All Your State Funds

Do you worry that your state reports may not be accurate, or properly reflect the costs you're putting into your transportation system? In a state which reimburses for these costs, that's a major concern.

However, our route management software includes robust options for creating reports, going back for as far as you have data. From fuel consumption to ridership rates, it only takes a few clicks to generate perfect reports that accurately reflect your costs.

In some cases, this alone may pay for the cost of the package, if you can discover enough areas where you're not being properly reimbursed for your expenses.

Bring It Together with Route Management Software

Once you move to a computerized map creation system, you're not going to want to go back. At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, it really is that easy. Why do the hard work yourself, when you've got a machine in your office who can do it for you in seconds?

One affordable routing software package gets you better, more efficient routes, better reporting capabilities, and a load of work taken off your shoulders.