SPECIAL REPORT


and maintenance cycles. “Zum’s telematics help us


identify rough roads, steep grades and high stop-and-go corridors that accelerate tire wear, brake cycles and sus- pension repairs,” Missouri’s Davis said. “Understanding these patterns allows us to reroute buses or collaborate with the city on infrastruc- ture concerns.” Road infrastructure and


its impact on vehicle wear and tear is an area where telematics data can change how districts think about route assignments entirely, Berndt at Geotab noted. Addressing road infra-


We can sit in an office and use the best software available. However, when the driver hits the road, the route will not be perfect. It takes constant work between the router and the driver to ensure


the route is efficient. - Jason Hibbard, Chenango Valley Central School District, New York


structure and vehicle wear, Casto noted his district has examined that against the backdrop of being a rural school system. “We travel a lot of back roads and secondary roads, so


you have to take into consideration road conditions are not going to be what they would be in the inner-city area,” he said. “The biggest benefit of having that analytic option is to look at the route from a bird’s eye view and be able to see that there might a road that’s a little bit bet- ter and wouldn’t be as far for the parents to have to come if we have to move a route to stay on a better road.” Hibbard said it is a daily focus of his staff to consider


hills and brake usage, fuel efficiency, or just adjusting the route based on construction and/or traffic. “When designing routes, we do our best to avoid certain problematic roads,” noted Calkins in Ore- gon. “However, student safety sometimes makes that unavoidable. To manage this, all buses undergo a comprehensive annual inspection, during which every component is thoroughly checked and maintained. This annual review is crucial, as it allows us to clearly evaluate the specific type of wear and tear each vehicle has expe- rienced over the year.”


Understanding Idling Policies Meanwhile, idling has a major compounding impact


on fuel budgets, tailpipe emissions and public percep- tion, especially when buses are queued near school zones and residential neighborhoods, noted Calkins. “We address this through clear, enforced anti-idling


policies [that are] communicated directly to our drivers during professional development and training,” she said. “To uphold these standards, with our new tablets, we will utilize automated telematics system alerts. If a bus idles


22 School Transportation News • AUGUST 2026


beyond a designated time threshold, notifications will be logged, allowing supervi- sors to review the data, follow up with the driver and ensure compliance. This strict- ly limits unnecessary fuel waste and protects air quality around our campuses.” Chenango Valley Cen-


tral School District follows New York state policy on not idling on school grounds unless it is excessively cold, Hibbard said. Jackson County Schools has a 15-minute idling policy. “It’s not a real strict policy,


but what having that avail- able, is a conversation that you can have with the driver to point out here’s a place


that we can make an improvement, here’s what that over-idling costs the county in fuel costs. When you start putting those numbers on paper, you can sit down with a driver and look at that. It really hits home,” Casto said. Vehicle idling is a compounding, costly and avoidable


source of waste in school transportation, said Johnson, adding a typical school bus can burn up to a gallon of fuel per hour while idling. “Under Illinois statute, diesel school buses are gener-


ally restricted from idling for more than 10 minutes with a 15-minute exemption for passenger comfort,” Johnson said. “While running a bus for 15 minutes so a driver can sit in an air-conditioned cabin is a textbook violation, running that same bus to safely operate a wheelchair lift or to maintain a climate-controlled cabin for a student with severe thermoregulatory issues or a seizure disor- der is a legally protected necessity.” By using the district’s routing software to tag specific


medical-necessity routes, the transportation depart- ment can filter out these legally exempt events from its telematics reports, ensuring that driver coaching remains focused on actual waste rather than penalizing life-safety protocols, Johnson noted. While routing analytics and idle reduction limit the phys-


ical volume of fuel burned, transportation directors must also optimize how that fuel is purchased, said Johnson. “Transitioning from standard credit cards to a spe-


cialized government fleet fuel management program such as the WEX fuel card is a critical step in modern- izing financial operations,” he added, noting additional benefits such as automating tax exemptions, capturing volume-based rebates, and providing security by utiliz- ing driver PINS and odometer prompts. ●


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