Find answers to the most commonly asked bus transportation management and school bus routing software questions for comparing, purchasing and implementing BusBoss’. If you don’t find the answer you’re looking for here, we’d love to hear from you.
Q: What are some of the features of your school bus routing software?
A: * Integrated GIS mapping that allows map editing within the same system. * Automatic address geocoding. * Optimized routing for every day of the week. * Up-to-date student rosters. * Postcards and routing letters for parent and student notifications. * Regular Ed and Special Ed routing with door-to-door stops. * Full promotion/rollover with side-by-side comparison and the ability to schedule next year's routes without affecting this year's routes. * Fully integrated walker and rider eligibility policies.
Q: How does this bus routing software help operators to better manage student transportation?
A: * Schedule routing for every eligible student every day of the year with morning, afternoon, mid-day shuttles and alternate routes. * Bus route optimization taking into account load capacities, max ride times, special needs, turn restrictions, one-ways and road blocks. * System-generated driving directions with printed route maps. * Student safety with threat zones/sex offender location warnings. * Live password-protected, web-based student and route look-up functionality.
Q: What are some other benefits of using this bus transportation software?
A: * Manual systems don't have built-in checks and balances, so inefficiencies and errors are not prevented. * User-auditing tracks changes made within the system (user name, date and change details). * Record locking prevents users from opening the same student or route at the same time.
Q: What should a school bus operator look for when selecting school bus routing software?
A: * Software that is simple for everyone to understand and use on a daily basis. * Software costs for unlimited users, not per user license fees. * Data and route conversion services that provide a complete job, not half a job. * Implementation in as little as four weeks. * Reasonable on-site training costs.
Q: We don't use any bus transportation software. Why should I purchase BusBoss?
A: Most school districts that don’t rely on school bus routing software for transportation and routing do rely on someone's extensive knowledge of the roads within the district. That person can usually look at a map and determine the optimal route. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that this person will always be available. With the aid of software, you become less dependent on this person.
Q: We are a small school district. What if we don’t have the budgetary means to purchase BusBoss?
A: You probably need BusBoss more than larger school districts. BusBoss can be purchased through a lease, often costing less that one driver's salary. However, you may be able to optimize your bus routes to eliminate the need for a route or two, thereby saving on salary and bus maintenance costs. This would result in net savings for your school district.
Q: Our bus transportation department is not very computer literate. How can I expect them to use school bus routing software?
A: BusBoss was designed to be user-friendly. Many school districts with similar staffing have mastered the use of BusBoss during just a few hours of training.
Q: What if we don't have the time to enter all of the student and routing information into the computer?
A: BusBoss offers three solutions for time management. If you have an ASCII file with the student information, you can import students directly into the school bus routing software. If you have paper copies of the information, we scan them to create an ASCII file and enter the information into BusBoss for you for a small fee. Or, BusBoss gets all of the information from you to convert the students and routes. We have trained personnel on staff that are able to do all of the work for you. Of course, this last option is the most costly, but it is also the most accurate and efficient method for implementing BusBoss.
Q: Will BusBoss save me time?
A: That is exactly what BusBoss was designed to do! Of course, the ability to import data into BusBoss saves an incredible amount of time. Also, once that data is imported, there are automated tasks that geo-locate your addresses and stops. Then, we are able to automatically assign students to stops and place them on a route.
Of course, during the first year of using your school bus routing software, there are 13 grades worth of students to put on routes. However, from then on, there will only be one grade worth of students to complete, because BusBoss has a graduate student function that promotes every student by one grade, alters their stop information (if they are now going to a different school) and puts them on the appropriate route.
Q: How long will it take to install BusBoss after we decide to buy it?
A: If you purchase only the bus transportation software, the average turnaround time is two days. If you purchase the software and data conversion services, the usual turnaround time is two weeks. However, this step occurs concurrently with our retrieval of your map data. If you would like us to complete your routes for you, this usually takes an additional couple of weeks depending on the number of students transported within your district.
Do you have more questions about BusBoss school bus routing software and transportation management solutions? Click here to connect with one of our bus transportation management experts to learn more about our products and services.
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