Alternative transportation isn’t only for students with special needs or housing instability. As school transportation becomes less about taking students to the nearest school at the same time each day, the ability to pivot and to cost-effectively move small numbers of students becomes important. This makes communication and collaboration vital like with traditional school bus transportation.
For example, students are often traveling to magnet schools or specialized schools across the district, regardless of where they live, making it potentially inefficient for a regular yellow bus to zigzag across town.
Students might have specialized programs, meaning they are at school during odd hours. And the shortage of bus drivers can make running a full fleet of traditional buses nearly impossible.
“If the district is only relying on buses, there are cases where there will be really low ridership,” said HopSkipDrive spokesperson Campbell Millum. “You might have a 50-passenger bus, with only six students on it. If you were to take those six kids and put them in small vehicles, you can free up that whole bus with the CDL driver.”
Meanwhile, an STN and EverDriven survey conducted earlier this year underscored how alternative transportation can help districts manage costs, including through more efficient routing.
EverDriven provides consulting services specifically to help districts maximize their routing, including by integrating alternative transportation. EverDriven’s Consolidated Routing Services “pairs advanced route intelligence with deep human expertise to cut costs, reduce ride times and deliver measurable outcomes,” the company said, with participating districts seeing a 15 percent average cost reduction in routing.
“Districts are adjusting routes, consolidating services and exploring alternative transportation models to help serve students whose needs are difficult to support through traditional fixed-route systems alone,” added EverDriven Chief Marketing Officer Courtney Pallotta. “We are seeing districts become more strategic about using the right transportation mode for the right student need, particularly for students requiring specialized transportation.”
From the July magazine: Same Goals, Different Vehicles
Communication and Collaboration in Alternative Transportation
Seamless communication between districts, providers and other stakeholders is crucial, especially given the vulnerabilities of the students being transported.
“What we try to do is communicate as much as possible,” said Philadelphia’s Executive Director of Transportation Thomas Marcucci. “If we know it will be someone different [driving], the vendor will ask them to make sure to reach out to parents or guardians.”
The district is in the process of adopting new routing software that will allow parents to track their kids on alternative transportation. Marcucci sees it all as part of making sure students can get the most out of school.
“We don’t want a student to [start] their day off in a negative way because of transportation,” he said.
EverDriven uses a data portal where districts can “submit and manage ride requests, track onboarding progress, monitor daily trips, view arrivals and no-shows, manage permissions, and run reports tied to compliance and planning,” Pallotta said. “That visibility is important because alternative student transportation should be modern, transparent and available on demand. It needs to complement the district’s existing fleet. The portal helps transportation directors, student services teams, school administrators, and security staff stay aligned and reduce paperwork. It also minimizes miscommunication around student needs, accommodations, routes, and schedule changes.”
Related: From Taxis to Trusted Rides: Alternative Transportation Benefits Illinois Students
Related: Districts Use Alternative Transportation to Support Mckinney-Vento Students
Related: As School Bus Production Spikes, So Do Alternative Vehicles?
Related: NASDPTS Publishes Paper Espousing Safety of School Buses Over Alternative Transportation
Gregg Prettyman, VP of FirstAlt, noted the risks inherent when communication lapses. Once a district did not let the company know that a certain student could not tolerate any phone noise. “A driver’s phone just lit up, and the student got kind of violent,” he recalled.
Communication and collaboration are especially important in serving unhoused students who fall under the McKinney-Vento Act, since students are often bouncing between multiple school districts.
“They might be at a grandparent’s house inside their home district, and next week they might be living at an aunt and uncle’s house outside of their home district,” said Prettyman. “Maybe you pick them up at a shelter in the morning, drop them at the uncle’s house in the afternoon, and then a hotel the next week. So, you need a transportation solution that can be very nimble and adaptable. Sometimes, their home district may also have an arrangement with the district where they are living, to pay for the morning trip, while the district where they currently live, pays for the afternoon trip. In these cases, you also need a billing system just as adaptable as your transportation system.”
Philadelphia has several staffers in the routing department devoted specifically to these students. In all, Philadelphia provides alternative transportation to 3,830 students, and about 20,000 students ride school buses. “It’s better to overcommunicate than under-communicate,” said Marcucci. “It’s our vendor, our district, surrounding counties working together collaboratively.”
Read more about alternative transportation in the July issue of School Transportation News.
