By Peter Mannella Several years ago, at an annual conference I was planning in New York, I invited a guest speaker who specialized in child and family social trends and conditions. My intention was for her to share information with the pupil transportation professionals in the room about the children who get our attention […]
Today “safety” has taken on a new meaning and school transportation safety standards are evolving in response to COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines. If you are just looking, seriously considering, or comparing alternative school transportation solutions, there are key product and service features that make all the difference. We share the ways in which we […]
Thirty miles east of Indianapolis, with 1,150 students split between two elementary schools and two combination junior high schools, Shelby Eastern Schools provides transportation to approximately 950 students each day across 18 bus routes. When Katrina Falk, director of transportation, arrived at Shelby Eastern Schools, she was not a stranger to implementing best routing practices. […]
By Tim Ammon Congratulations: you are making it through the pandemic. Now you get the opportunity to begin thinking about how the pandemic-related economic disruption will start impacting your budget. You will be doing this in the context of school re-starts, expanding service expectations, and pent-up frustrations with lockdowns, shutdowns, and schedule changes. Faced with […]
School officials in New York are singing the praises of new routing technology powered by Artificial Intelligence Optimization (AIO). Transfinder, since 1988 a developer in routing, scheduling, and fleet maintenance solutions, released the first major overhaul of its flagship routing software in Spring. Transfinder President and CEO Antonio Civitella said that Routefinder PLUS – Transfinder’s […]
I remember my first school bus run in 1989; my heart beating from the anticipation of transporting students for the first ti me while double clutching and shifting my way to second gear. I remember approaching the bus stop on Gerber Road in Elk Grove, California. I opened the door, loaded students, watched their smiles, […]
COVID has created myriad disruptions to normal school transportation, but one of the most impactful is how much the pandemic has disrupted transportation for children in all grades, all socioeconomic classes, and all district types. While we understand the immediate term impact of this disruption, the longer-term effect on both student development and district operations […]