Double Clicking on Student Transportation

Over the past few years, the BusRight team has spoken to bus operators from the largest school bus fleets, school administrators from the largest districts, and transportation regulators across the nation. The team collected years of research to outline the evolving school bus industry, and what is on the horizon for our largest mass transit system in the country.

That yellow school bus ambling down your street may look like it hasn’t changed in over a century, and in many ways, it hasn’t despite school busses being an integral part of America’s education system. Approximately 26 million students are transported to and from school by bus every day; this results in over 30 million stops in the morning and afternoon.

Though it provides an invaluable service, the school bus industry faces numerous challenges that impact its service and bottom line. For example, schools district must transport students whose schools are miles from their homes, which makes routing more complex than ever. With such a distance to travel, fuel and maintenance costs are continuously rising. Also, older diesel buses spew thousands of toxins into the air which is not only harmful to the environment but can also be dangerous to the children riding the busses to inhale.

To combat these issues, student transportation directors and school bus fleet managers are gradually upgrading their fleets with new fuels, technologies, and safety measures.

Ride-Sharing

Transporting students to and from school is infinitely more complicated than in years past — school schedules differ within districts, distances traveled are greater, and bell times are changing across the country.

To address this issue, some school districts are using children’s rideshare services such as HopSkipDrive, Kango, and gokid. These services offer flexible scheduling as some rides can be arranged within 24 hours, can be a more cost-effective alternative, and encourage safer transportation systems. However, as student-ride sharing options gain popularity, the number of students taking school buses continues to decline.

Alternative Fuel Buses

Of the approximately 500,000 school buses that travel our streets daily, the majority run on diesel. However, the energy powering school buses is changing. A School Bus Fleet survey showed that 16% of buses sold in 2017 used gasoline; 6% ran on propane; 1% utilized compressed natural gas; and less than 1% were electric.

Alternative fuel school buses have resulted in significant fuel and maintenance savings. A survey by the Ohio School Boards Association showed that school bus fleets using propane can save up to 50% in fuel costs and compressed natural gas (CNG) buses can add 3,000–5,000 miles between oil changes. Over time, these savings can hopefully be reinvested to purchase vehicle assets that run on alternative sources of energy. Additionally, grants can offset the high sticker price of alternative fuel buses. The Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2010 provides grants to replace aging vehicles, and Volkswagen settlement funds may be a source of funding for alternative fuel buses as well.

Thomas Built Buses, Blue Bird, IC Bus, and other bus manufacturers are exhibiting the benefits that alternative buses have. After seeing such data, school districts are becoming more willing to give alternative vehicles a test run.

Better Service through Technology

For centuries, routes have been created with the assumption that total enrollment results in the number of students taking transportation services. With after school activities, sporting events, and students using alternative modes of transportation, the excess of student transportation resources (vehicles, drivers, and fuel) are on the rise. Certain bus operations, specifically in rural districts, must use large vehicles to transport students regardless of the number of students being transported, which results in lots of empty seats and reduced fuel efficiency.

One of the largest issues affecting student transportation as described by the annual Miles to Go report is “data deficiency.” Many school bus fleet operators don’t have access to information that could maximize efficiency, the result of school bus technology being left behind when compared to other advancements in mass transit. Most transit systems nationwide account for information like the cost per ride, percent of seat capacity utilized, length of ride times, and rate of on-time departures and arrivals, but many school transportation systems fail to collect this data consistently, if at all.

School transportation departments are slowly incorporating technology into their school bus management systems. Some of the technology being adopted include routing software that automatically calculates the district’s school bus routes; GPS systems that track each bus’s location, driving habits, idling times, and more; tablets that provide drivers with accurate, real-time directions, and apps such as Here Comes the Bus that alerts parents when a bus is within a certain radius of their child’s bus stop. A 2014 survey conducted by Fleetmatics Group PLC found that 85% of parents agree that “monitoring school buses via GPS tracking would make for greater overall safety and more timely bus service.” Additionally, 77% were interested in the “ability to monitor child’s school bus’s exact location and status.”

These systems are usually based on proprietary software and each service is sold separately, but BusRight, along with other companies, are changing that model. For example, by using software and the latest GPS technology built into mobile devices, tracking accuracy, routing efficiency, and reliability is improved. It also significantly lowers the cost of new technological services, which are sold in one all-inclusive package.

These innovations are making important upgrades to school bus transportation. With more efficient and accurate routing, school bus transportation systems not only provide better service, they also save money — and dynamic routing reduces contaminants released into the atmosphere.

New Safety Measures

The number of drivers who pass stopped school buses is rising at an alarming rate, and is putting children in danger when they exit their bus. In 2019, the School Transportation News recorded 95,319 stop-arm violations in only one day.

To combat this trend, school buses are being outfitted with extended stop-arms which protrude about halfway into the opposing lane. Additionally, stop-arm cameras are being added to take photographs and videos of oncoming vehicles, their license tag, and the driver’s face which is sent to law enforcement if need be.

To further increase school bus safety, the National Transportation Safety Board recently recommended that all states require lap and shoulder belts on large school buses. It also recommended that all new school buses “be equipped with collision avoidance systems and automatic emergency braking techniques.”

Addressing the School Bus Driver Shortage

The school bus driver shortage is a perennial problem, but in some school districts it has reached a crisis. According to a survey of school bus contractors conducted by School Bus Fleet, 28% of respondents indicated a severe or desperate shortage. On average, school bus drivers earn $14.70 per hour which is significantly less than other occupations that require a commercial drivers license (CDL). Some districts offer competitive salaries, provide full health and retirement benefits to their drivers, and developed school bus driver career paths.

Must-Haves for Substantial Change

While the trends covered above are promising, more needs to be done to bring school bus transportation systems into the 21st century.

1. Collection of Data: As mentioned in a report in “Miles to Go” by Bellwether Education Partners, collecting data is the only way school bus managers will know actual student ridership (vs. eligible ridership), how long and when school buses idle, and how many miles are deadhead miles that routes can be made efficient.
2. Sufficient Funding: The Bellwether report says school transportation costs per pupil have increased by more than 75% since 1980. In 2014–1015 that cost was $932 per student transported, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Despite the high cost of transporting students, only three states fully fund student transportation expenses. Without adequate funding, it’s impossible for pupil transportation departments to invest in new technology or alternative fuel buses that will be economical, offer better service, and be environmentally friendly.

Solutions for many of these problems would be solved with incentives to encourage innovation. Technology has proven to have a significant impact on other ground transportation systems, why has the largest mass transit system in the country been left behind?