banking, on-demand home deliveries, virtual meetings, remote learning, and spontaneous school bus routing. Even though sup- ply chains slowed down, communications got faster. School Transportation News surveyed its readers to learn how
customer-vendor trends evolved during the pandemic and sup- ply chain shortages. Nearly a quarter of the respondents say that 12 hours or less is their new expectation for a vendor to return a phone call or online inquiry, even though 24 hours is usually the acceptable standard. Survey respondents also expressed their appreciation for the extra time and care their vendors took to resolve a problem directly associated with supply shortages
Benefits of Close Customer-Vendor Ties It comes as no surprise that the already-tight relationships existing in school transportation only deepened during the pandemic Close relationships paid off for the Wa-Nee Commu- nity Schools in Nappanee, Indiana. The School Transportation Association of Indiana brings together transportation directors, bus contractors and dealers. During the pandemic, the organiza- tion collaborated remotely through video conferencing to solve urgent issues across the state. Those relationships are credited for faster communications about vendor services as well as quick responses to deliver spare parts, masks and sanitizers to districts. “Vendors in our area were great,” said Amy Rosa, transporta-
tion director for Wa-Nee, which depends on 55 school buses and outsourced vehicle maintenance. “Our best vendors do a periodic status check. They ask how we use their products or software. They want to ensure we aren’t overpaying or missing any new items or technology that would improve our operation.” Resolving the parts-shortage issue took more than an instant in another case, but it was the extra customer care in the mo- ment that mattered most to the Reardan-Edwall School District in Washington state. The transportation department had trouble finding replacement parts for its 20 IC Bus models. RWC Group, a bus sales vendor in Spokane, went out of its way to deliver re- placement parts by finding other sources or trading a favor with a competitor. “It is true that getting parts has been challenging in this pan-
demic. It is a common thing nowadays to hear, ‘Sorry I’ll have to order it,’ or ‘It’s on national backorder,’” said Mike McCain, direc- tor of transportation for the Washington district. “Every one of the employees at RWC Group is always willing to help. It doesn’t matter what it is.”
Technology Serving School Transportation Customers Technology vendors also found innovative ways to support school transportation customers in micro moments of learning, tasking, purchasing and transporting. The past two years have given companies several opportunities to showcase flexibility built into applications or add resources to address unique student transportation issues associated with the pandemic. In the pro- cess, customer-vendor relationships certainly strengthened.
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Quentin Kuhns Sales Manager
AUTO-JET.COM 800-247-5391
www.stnonline.com 17
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