A webinar sponsored by Zonar saw Katrina Falk, director of transportation routing and training compliance at Madison Consolidated Schools in Indiana, share tools and tips that help her maximize student safety and school bus routing efficiency.
Falk, also a certified pupil transportation specialist through the National Association for Pupil Transportation and frequent speaker at events organized by School Transportation News, Transfinder and Zonar, said Thursday technology provides accountability and efficiency opportunities for managers dealing with ever-rising fuel costs, which have increased to over $5 per gallon for diesel in her area.
When it comes to evaluating planned versus actual routes, she said she uses Zonar maps and reports to carry out route reviews or high-level audits in mid-August and during spring break.
“We do a quick shakedown to make sure everything is going to work properly when school is in session again,” she commented.
She explained that she works with route sheets turned in by drivers, updated student housing or eligibility information, and special education or related accommodations. Her audit keeps safety as the bottom line by confirming safe and appropriate bus stop locations, verifying that students end up where they need to be, and ensuring drivers comply with state and local laws.
She shared the benefits of updated, accurate route sheets, including reduced operational costs, fuel savings, route consolidations or reduction, accurate information on parent apps and therefore happier parents, and improved driver adherence.
Quality data received means quality decisions made, not “garbage in, garbage out,” Falk quipped. She explained that decisions the transportation department makes rely heavily on information flowed in by parents and schools, such as enrollment information and authorized bus stop locations.
She noted that small data entry errors can create large operational and money-wasting problems, such as a bus repeatedly going miles out of the way on a country road to pick up a student who is not there because they moved. Accurate, timely updates about new enrollments, withdrawals, or schedule changes are essential, she said.
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Falk reviewed two scenarios of school bus drivers deciding to deviate from planned routes for seemingly innocuous reasons that created major safety concerns. In one case, a time-saving change canceled planned right-hand curbside stops which forced students to cross an unsafe curved road with a history of speeding and stop-arm violations.
The other scenario was a driver adding an unauthorized shortcut, which backed the bus down obstructed roads and an uncontrolled intersection. A bigger issue was the driver habitually running late on her morning run and attempting to make up time by making these on-the-spot decisions.
“This is an accident waiting to happen,” Falk pointed out.
A third situation involved incorrect geocoded locations keeping students from showing up on the routing software, preventing almost 1,000 students from being routed correctly. Suitably utilizing technology and manually reviewing it to catch glitches prevents issues from snowballing, Falk stated.
Bryant Maxey, product marketing manager for Zonar, reviewed triggers such as opened doors or stop-arm deployments that capture data points managers can later review, comparing where the bus really went to where it was supposed to go.
Alerts can also be captured for illegal passing incidents, but Falk added that proving stop-arm violations requires data showing bus performed the stop procedures correctly.
Falk advised transportation supervisors to regularly check their incoming data and request updated information or suggestions from drivers.
“Your local knowledge cannot be replaced with technology,” she declared.
Leave the office, take the wheel of a bus, or watch your routes in real-time, she encouraged.
“Make deliberate, decisive changes backed by data and your local knowledge,” Falk said. “All of these pieces have to be there for the puzzle to work.”
Concluded Maxey: “At the end of the day, we’re all trying to be the most efficient and optimized we can be.”
