T
he similarity between the words “route” and “rou- tine” are obvious, the former being the root—no pun intended—of the latter. But for those charged with getting students to and from school, the
routing process can be anything but routine. In a time of historic nationwide school bus driver shortages and other complexities, this may be truer than ever—especially when serving children with disabilities and special needs. “Students with special needs have some of the most
diverse and challenging transportation requirements,” commented Jon Hanover, the senior vice president of marketplace for transportation solutions for transpor- tation network company HopSkipDrive, focusing on its RideIQ, ride and ridership management platform. “Among other things, it’s difficult for rout- ers to find existing bus routes that will get the child to their specialized programming without everyone spending too much time in transit.” In fact, given the special needs and
family situations of many children, it’s commonplace for the demands of door-to- door transportation to pose a combination of challenges, noted Weston Bartlett, sales manager at Tyler Technologies and a former transportation director at a Texas school district. “Transportation teams sometimes arrive
for pick-ups, not realizing transportation is not needed on a particular day,” he not- ed. “The inability to effectively communicate daily changes and ride or no-ride options forces departments to underutilize assets in an effort to meet the student’s needs.” Conversely, when parents can commu-
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technology that has become the norm in other indus- tries. They may help visualize routes but not support analyzing the system and making data-driven recom- mendations. To close this gap, he said, HopSkipDrive RideIQ In-
Most Common
Routing Changes Implemented for Driver Shortages: Doubling routes
• Canceling routes • None – Adequately staffed to cover existing routes
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Non-school bus service/ contracting out more routes
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Changing bell times
• Rotating bus service
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nicate their needs directly to transportation teams, staff can adapt quickly and save time and money in the process. That’s a feature of the dynamic routing offered by software such as the Tyler Drive tablet, which displays routes that are calculated on the fly based on student scans and the district’s routing rules. Similarly, the use of data science and advanced geospatial technology such as that offered by HopSkipDrive helps transportation staff find the most efficient placement for all students. School districts are realizing that what looks like a bus
driver shortage problem is often an optimization prob- lem, Hanover explained. “The increasing complexity of student transportation needs makes it difficult for routers to fill up their buses without kids spending an unacceptable amount of time in transit,” he observed. “That leads to very low utiliza- tion on most buses.” Hanover added that a weakness in some tools for bus routing is their lack of modern decision support
36 School Transportation News • JANUARY 2023
Extending walking zones
(Out of 192 responses to a recent STN survey.)
sights help districts optimize the system as a whole, by identifying opportunities to route vehicles more effi- ciently while also matching the right-sized vehicle with the right group of students. This can support supple- menting buses with smaller vehicles while using the system’s insights to lessen bus driver shortage problems, reduce time in transit and improve cost and carbon efficiency. “This is a growing trend among forward-thinking school districts [that] we believe is soon going to become the norm across the country,” Hanover said. The capacity to factor in each student’s
unique transportation needs is a must, added Mitch Bowling, CEO of alternative transportation company EverDriven. “This is especially important to parents of students with disabilities because they can specifical- ly request a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, car seat or safety equipment,” he said. His company’s routing software for use
in smaller capacity vehicles is integrated into the app used by parents or guardians, providing visibility to where students are at any given point during transport. Trips can also be canceled up to one hour in advance directly from the app. Keeping all students organized with their buses and routes can be the big- gest advantage of using software, said William Andexler, coordinator of trans. portation for Akron, Ohio, Public Schools. The district uses Routefinder PLUS from Transfinder. “We can see on the screen ways to make
things more efficient and can adjust routes easily,” he said. He added that he especially likes the capability it offers
for reacting quickly in the event of changes such as road closures caused by construction, a frequent challenge in the urban area served by his department.
Adapting to Local Needs For school districts large and small, routing software can bring a welcome measure of efficiency to everyday operations. At Salem-Keizer Public Schools in Oregon, Tyler’s
Student Transportation routing and planning solution is used for special needs routing while Edulog is used for general education routes, reported David Jorgen- son, manager of transportation operations. The district
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