Transporting students from home to school or anywhere else is a system that needs critical management, but many school heads ignore this fact. Many also need help improving your school’s transportation system. If you have a tight schedule, you can decide to outsource student transportation from a company offering such services, such as Zum.
Nonetheless, you should also know what roles you should play to ensure your school’s transportation system is among the best. This phenomenon feels overwhelming, but this article will give you the best tips for improving your school’s transportation system.
Improving Your School’s Transportation System with Modern Technology
Taking advantage of modern tech is one of the best things you can do when improving your school’s transportation system. If you do not take advantage of modern technology and the internet, you will be lagging in managing your transportation system.
Innovators and developers in the technological world have created outstanding software you can leverage to ensure your operations are as smooth as possible. Managing bus and van routes manually is a thing that has been overtaken by time.
Today, most schools use routing software to identify highly optimized roads for more efficient movements. Computers can help your drivers locate millions of potential routes in and outside your locality. That gives the driver an easy time maneuvering.
Inspect the Vehicles When Improving Your School’s Transportation System
Many people assume that as long as their school buses and vans can move from one point to the next, it fits the job. However, you should not fall under that category. The best way to improve your school’s transportation system is by ensuring you embrace regular motor vehicle inspection, maintenance, and repair.
You should also understand that driving an unroadworthy vehicle can land you into trouble with the authorities and even cost you substantial amounts. Therefore, if you want to improve your student transportation system, you must ensure all the vehicles serving your school are in their best condition.
Routine Driver Monitoring
Monitoring your drivers starts with ensuring they have adequate qualifications for the job. Additionally, it is critical to keep track of how well they obey road rules in your state and any unscheduled stops they make in transit. Moreover, it is advisable to consider regular driving training.
This will ensure that their skill levels are uniform, contributing significantly to seamless driving optimization. This training is critical if you have several drivers in your school. It’s also a big step towards improving your school’s transportation system.
Emphasis on Safety
You are transporting human beings, regardless of their age. Therefore, you need to prioritize human life and ensure the passengers are safe while traveling from point A to B. There are several things to check to ensure the students are safe on the road. The first and most critical one is ensuring all the seats have safety belts.
These items will not prevent an accident, but they will reduce the impact of the incident. Having reliable drivers and well-maintained vehicles are two aspects that also contribute to the safety of the students, the driver, and the bus or van. Additionally, it is advisable to avoid pick-up points in hazardous areas, such as blind spots, curves, and hills, affecting the drivers’, parents’, and children’s visibility.
Minimize Stops
Many stops lead to starting and stopping the engine frequently, leading to more fuel consumption. You can consider combining a few stops into one, as long as it does not inconvenience the students. Think of how long some students may have to walk to the bus stop if you combine a few pick points. High schoolers can walk for an average distance, but elementary students cannot make it past a few meters.
Having a well-managed transport system for your students is not a thing to take for granted, considering that it can even cost you a lot of time and money, both in the short and long run. Following the above tips on improving your school’s transportation system will ensure you optimize this system and get the best results.