Finding the Best Route Planning Software For Your School Bus Fleet

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.

Choosing the Right Software

When it comes to transportation software, there are many options on the market, so the selection process can quickly become overwhelming. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when choosing the best route planning software:

Is the software compatible with other types of software?

Your routing software will operate most effectively when it is compatible and integrates with other software programs, particularly student information systems, GPS vehicle or student tracking programs. Add-ons can also help you save even more time and money while ensuring student safety.

What Features are Most Important to your District?

The number of users you’ll have, the size of your district and the complexity of your routes will all determine your routing software needs. Most transportation departments benefit from software that includes detailed area maps that can be edited to add new roads, bus stops and travel restrictions. Other useful features include:

• Automatic student bus stop assignment based on user-defined walk-to-stop distances.
• Accommodating right sided pickups.
• Options for scheduling alternate pick-up and drop-off locations.
• Bus pass generation
• Calendar storage
• Ability to create historical student and bus routing data for reporting purposes
• Access to sex offender locations
• Customization options

What Level of Training and Support do you Require?

Your routing software will not be as effective if nobody knows how to use it. When choosing a provider, determine the type of training provided and how it will fit with the needs of your staff. Web-based and in-person training may be available. Your software provider should provide ongoing support and maintenance throughout the roll-out process and beyond.

To learn more about the benefits of school bus routing software, contact the transportation management experts at BusBoss today. We’d be glad to demonstrate our software and help you determine if it would be a good fit for your school district.

Has your school district implemented school bus routing software? Share your tips for choosing the best route planning software provider and ensuring a smooth roll-out.