School bus systems are possibly the greatest public transportation system in the US. Every year, over 25 million students ride the bus to and from school - an incredible number of people being transported safely and efficiently. School buses are statistically the safest form of road transportation available, and they make school accessible to many children who might not have other options.
On top of all those other benefits, school buses serve another major role that's easily overlooked: they keep more cars off the streets. It's estimated that more than 17 million cars don't drive around schools, thanks to school buses. This increases student safety near the school, and also reduces street congestion in general.
Unfortunately, this may be changing. Due to the ongoing bus driver shortage crisis, and budget cuts for schools, many districts are choosing to significantly cut back their school buses and routes. The results of this will be major traffic problems, and increasingly unsafe situations for both parents and students.
The Problem of Cutting Bus Routes
A random motorist in August 2024 perfectly captured how badly things can go if a school cuts its bus routes. Driving near a middle school in Cyprus, TX, driver Zerin Dube saw a line of cars waiting to pull into the pickup area which was more than a mile long.
This is because the local district had recently slashed its bus routes, cutting 79 routes, and forcing hundreds of parents to drive to the school twice daily, and creating a traffic nightmare.
Of course, such a long backup doesn't only affect the school itself. While Dube's video doesn't show the larger picture, there was undoubtedly sprawling traffic congestion stemming from the school's mile-long line of parents. It would be hard to even estimate how many people were inconvenienced in total.
As more districts take such drastic measures, the large scale impact of bus route cuts will have huge knock-on effects for the community at large:
In short, cutting school bus routes is bad for an entire community, not just for the students. It should be seen as a last ditch option, not a go-to cost-cutting opportunity.
AI School Bus Routing Can Help!
Before thinking about cutting routes entirely, schools should first look to optimize their bus routes. Most school districts' routing is inefficient, wasting both time and money on routes that could be doing more with less.
AI school bus routing software solves this problem. The latest generation of routing systems can take in a huge variety of factors within a district when building route maps. These aren't simply glorified GPS systems - they can take factors under consideration such as average traffic patterns, dangerous areas to avoid, and students' special needs. They can even handle complicated routing situations, such as students of divorced parents staying with different guardians on different days.
By tightly optimizing your routes, and keeping them optimized, the total number of buses used may even be reducible without cutting student ridership.
BusBoss is on the cutting edge of school bus management software, and committed to making your transportation system as efficient as possible. Contact us to learn more!