Leander ISD in Texas reviewed routes with a vendor partner to focus on optimization and efficiency.
ing pickup times and driver identification. Additionally, a Leander ISD router handles third-party requests, and they are inputted into the vendor’s software and assigned. “We can see all the GPS data points that they’ve done,”
Tichi added. “We can see when they pick the kid up. We can see when they’re on route. We can see who’s driving them. We have the ability to see everything real time with their software.” In pursuit of greater efficiency, Leander ISD partnered
with AlphaRoute, separate from the district’s routing software provider, to optimize existing routes. “They just started asking all the questions that we
hadn’t asked ourselves in a few years,” Tichi said. “It didn’t really occur to us to go check out all the rules and regulations that we have that were set here by people that are no longer in the district. So, we went through everything and figured out which constraints really mat- tered and which didn’t. And Alpha [Route] has a really good, intense questioning for districts that will make you take a hard look at your own district. That’s really what started us our on optimization need.” She noted that sometimes the answers were, “I don’t
know why we do that. We do it just because we’ve always done it. And that hurts your ears to hear,” she shared. Tichi added that because Leander ISD started looking at optimization in the middle of the school year, staff
didn’t want to make any drastic changes. Instead, she said AlphaRoute suggested ways Leander ISD could opti- mize. Between November and February, staff eliminated nine routes. Denver Public Schools is on a similar optimization journey, partnering with RouteWise AI from HopSkip- Drive. Tyler Maybee, Denver’s director of operations, said last summer marked the full implementation. RouteWise created a base layer of routes using district data, which school district routers then reviewed and adjusted. “It was still very hands on. RouteWise in its current
state would never replace a routing team,” Maybee said. “I don’t think that’s the original intention of their proj- ect anyway. I think it’s just to create better efficiency because there’s something that computers can do that humans can’t, looking at every single option.” At the same time, routers understand nuances technol- ogy may miss, such as temporary road speed changes or safer pickup locations. Currently, RouteWise does not in- tegrate directly with the Denver’s routing software, which Maybee said is shortcoming of the main routing software, and requires manual transfers. Maybee said he hopes for eventual full API integration so solutions could automati- cally populate within routing systems. “There are routing software now that have that effi-
ciency tool already built into their system that will tweak your routes and offer suggestions. … [B]ut the routing
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