From Chaos to Efficiency: Managing Field Trips with Bus Routing Software

Most students love field trips - but most teachers and administrators dread them. Field trips can be a great experience, or just get the kids out of a stuffy classroom for a day, but the actuality of wrangling the students can be incredibly stressful. There's so much planning to do, and so many things that could potentially go wrong while on the road.Fortunately, modern computing solutions can make field trips far easier. Bus routing software and associated systems reduce the chances for mishap, and make the entire trip go much more smoothly.

They can...

Plan out routes ahead of time

Bus routing software is typically used to plan out daily routes, but it can be utilized to plan field trips as well. Unlike consumer-grade mapping tools, this software is tuned to the needs of school buses, and will help ensure you stay away from areas that would create problems for buses.  

You can even create alternate routes, so you'll immediately have a backup plan if there's a traffic jam on the highway or other problems.

Calculate costs

Budgeting for a field trip is another major stressor that routing software can alleviate. Your software can produce budget estimates based on the distance driven, including on-road fees. For longer trips, you can even factor in questions like whether it would be cheaper to stay at a hotel for a night or try to do it all in one day.

This can potentially even be tied into purchasing systems, so that you can include estimates on any goods or materials which would be required.

Student tracking

Student tracking systems, such as RFID, are invaluable on field trips. Sensors can detect whenever students get on and off the bus, which means you'll have a quick and easy way to  double-check that everyone has gotten onboard. Leaving students behind on a field trip is one of the nightmare scenarios, and a robust tracking system makes that far less likely to happen.

Of course, manual headcounts are still necessary - but this way, you've got a second checker keeping tabs on the kids.

Centralized communications

Setting up a field trip requires a lot of coordination between the participating staff, students, and parents. This requires good communications, something else which can be easily facilitated in software. You can quickly set up lists of people to be notified about field trip information, as well as being able to easily modify lists of which students will/won't be going along. 

This can also be tied into parent portal apps, which allow parents/guardians to directly access information about their student. If you have any 'helicopter' style parents who are going to be nervous about allowing their student on a trip, a parental app allows them to oversee the trip in progress - without constantly calling your office asking for updates.

BusBoss Makes Your Buses Better!

We are one of the industry leaders in software and technology solutions aimed at keeping your bus fleet in great shape. We offer mapping, tracking, communications, and more - all available from an easy-to-use central software hub. If your transportation system is struggling, BusBoss can help.

In the meantime, have you had any particularly good or bad trips in your career? Let's talk about it in the comments!