and convince the school board of the purchases, they better do their homework. “Have examples of other districts that you can cite, make sure you can show that this will save the district money and prevent further layoffs. Tere are hundreds of studies that have been done showing efficiencies of software, make sure you know them.” Directors can further their efforts by monitoring and continu-
ously evaluating key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure fleet performance. Tese specific metrics help measure the per- formance of fleet operations and can be used as benchmarks, or comparison figures, to determine how the operation compares to last year, last month or even yesterday. “Defendable technology purchases will have a positive impact
to both KPIs and budgets,” said Versatrans’ Tien. These are just a few ways for transportation directors to
prepare to battle for a piece of the budget. 247 Security’s Rob Scott also advises department heads to go to trade shows, read the trade magazines and even ask the vendors them- selves to visit you on-site. “We hold regional meetings that are part training, part pro-
motion,” said Scott. “These are good places to learn and talk to others with experience in buying and operating with ad- vanced technologies.”
Making Progress Whether it is through research or first-hand experience, more
and more districts are understanding how these technologies mesh together to create savings in both the fiscal and personal sense. “Tey are looking and beginning to understand how the com-
binations available out there are more advantageous to them in these hard economic times,” said Larry Vaughn, president of Zen- Tinel Company. Before Somerville made his way to the vendor side of the in-
dustry, he learned first-hand that technology can help in the worst situations. “While I was an assistant transportation director at a school
district in Alaska we had two elementary children killed near a stop one morning,” remembered Somerville. “Information gained over the radio identified it was a boy and a girl. Trough queries in our transportation software, I was immediately able to ascertain a great deal of information. I knew who the children were at that stop and could contact their parents, I knew the children that should be on the bus and would need counseling after seeing two of their classmates killed, I also knew who was still waiting in the freezing temperatures of Alaska for a bus that would not come. “I can assure anyone that having that information in that situ-
ation at that time was well worth all the money we had spent on the system.” n
KEEPING YOUR FLEET RUNNING AT PEAK PERFORMANCE KEEPS GETTING HARDER.
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FORMERLY
www.TransTechs.com | 888-637-3776 54 School Transportation News Magazine May 2010
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