Even the most carefully designed route can diverge from reality once a school bus hits the road. That gap between planned and actual routing is one of the most underrecognized sources of inefficiency in school transportation. IT is also where data analytics come into play.
Craig Berndt, Geotab business segment manager of people transportation, noted GPS and post-route analysis, close this loop.
“When a transportation department can pull a daily report comparing planned mileage against odometer-confirmed actual mileage by route, by driver, and by day, they have a feedback mechanism that simply didn’t exist before telematics,” he said. “The goal isn’t to penalize drivers for deviations. Most deviations have legitimate causes. The goal is to make the routing software reflect reality, so the plan you’re managing against is accurate.”
Berndt noted that the most effective departments he works with treat this as a continuous process rather than an annual audit.
“They review variance reports weekly, push corrections back to the routing software monthly and build a culture where drivers report deviations because they know the data is used to improve routes, not to discipline them,” he said.
Ron Johnson, director of support operations for Indian Prairie School District #204 in Aurora, Illinois, noted his district’s use of Onscreen GPS software to review when and why drivers deviate from the planned route path.
“If a driver consistently takes an alternate path because it is safer or faster, the planned route path is updated,” he said. “If the deviation is inefficient, targeted driver coaching can correct it. This continuous feedback loop ensures that mileage reduction is achieved without compromising student safety or service reliability.”
Comparing planned versus actual routing allows the district to ensure that the actual route is as efficient as possible, said Jason Hibbard, supervisor of transportation for the Chenango Valley Central School District in Binghamton, New York.
“We regularly analyze our routes to minimize the amount of students having to cross the road at a stop,” he added. “We have adjusted stops when we find hazardous conditions, be it excessive cars passing through the reds, blind corners or just excessive traffic.”
Rich Casto, transportation supervisor for Jackson County Schools in West Virginia, noted analytics are helpful in viewing a planned route versus the actual route and accounting for unnecessary mileage.
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“Occasionally, there will be a situation where sometimes the analytics will have a route laid out that may or may not be possible for a larger vehicle,” Casto explained. “There are a lot of factors involved. Road conditions and clearance issues play in the equation. Sometimes not every produced path is a viable path for a bus.”
There is often a distinct gap between a route designed in a software environment and how it plays out in real life, noted Kathy Calkins, North Clackamas (Oregon) School District transportation director.
“Common disruptions include unexpected road construction, driver workarounds, shifting student addresses, and substitute drivers navigating unfamiliar areas,” she said. “To bridge this gap, we rely on a combination of GPS tracking, telematics and post-route analysis. Good communication from our community partners regarding construction before it starts, so that we can identify exactly where drivers are forced to detour. This allows our routers to update routes well in advance, without compromising student safety or service levels.”
