School Bus Blackouts
Force Parents To Find Alternate Transportation

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School Bus Blackouts Force Parents to Find Alternate Means of Student Transportation

The morning scramble to get kids ready for school while also preparing for work got more complicated for parents in Nevada this past school year.

As a result of the nation’s ongoing school bus driver shortage, officials in the Churchill County School District, which includes the town of Fallon, decided in January of this year to institute dayslong blackouts when certain routes would not run at all.

The measure, which was put in place for the remainder of the 2023-24 school year, forced parents to find alternate modes of transportation for their children to and from school.

“This decision was not an easy one to make but we are doing our very best to ensure we are communicating with families,”
Superintendent Derild Parsons told the Nevada Appeal. 

“It may seem repetitive, but we plan to continue to send messages home, print reminders in our local newspapers, and post to our Facebook page to be sure our families are aware of the blackout schedule.”

The bus driver shortage in Churchill County meant the district was no longer able to meet its transportation needs. 

The Nevada Appeal reported that the district was “looking at hiring incentives and other recruitment efforts in hopes of seeing a rise in bus driver applicants.”

One of the issues amplifying the shortage across Nevada and the Southwest is the fact that written tests for prospective drivers are often conducted in English only, limiting school districts’ ability to hire Spanish-speaking and other non-English-speaking would-be bus drivers.

“We’d have a lot more nonnative English drivers if we could offer the test in Spanish,” Randy Mondragon, a veteran bus driver from Santa Fe, N.M., told neaToday, the reporting arm of the National Education Association. 

“They speak English but are intimidated by the written test because it’s not in their first language.”

Enter Bytecurve360.

School Bus Driver Shortage: A nationwide epidemic 

According to research by the Economic Policy Institute, school bus driver employment continues to be far below pre-pandemic levels. 

There were approximately 192,400 bus drivers working in K–12 schools in September 2023, down 15 percent from September 2019. 

“As the school bus driver shortage drags on,” the neaToday report added, ”there are just 27 drivers for 35 routes in the Santa Fe school district. And that’s after six routes had to be eliminated.”

 

School bus route blackouts have taken place in other communities as well.

In Olathe, Kans., near Kansas City, the school district imposed similar measures during the 2022-23 school year in response to the chronic driver shortage.

“The district has previously warned families that its bus driver shortage has reached an “all-time high,’” The Kansas City Star reported. 

“Officials said there was  a “substantial waitlist of families unable to receive transportation, as well as several buses that regularly arrive up to 30 minutes late for pick up/drop off, impacting instructional time.”

Olathe school district officials said in a statement that: “locally and nationally, school districts are facing a bus driver shortage due to competition from other industries and drivers choosing not to return to the profession.”

School bus route blackouts significantly affect parents in several ways:

1. Increased Stress and Inconvenience: Parents have to rearrange their schedules to accommodate the lack of bus service. This often means driving their children to and from school, which can be particularly challenging for working parents or those without flexible schedules.

2. Financial Strain: Some parents may need to hire private transportation or arrange for carpooling, adding to their financial burden. This can be especially tough for families already facing economic hardships.

3. Safety Concerns: Without reliable bus services, some children might have to walk longer distances or wait at bus stops for extended periods, raising safety concerns, especially in areas with high traffic or unsafe neighborhoods.

4. Impact on Work and Productivity: Parents might have to adjust their work hours or take time off to transport their children, potentially impacting their job performance and productivity.

5. Educational Disruptions: Inconsistent transportation can lead to increased absenteeism or tardiness, affecting students’ academic performance and overall school experience.

How Technology Can Help Optimize Bus Routes

Technology can play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of driver shortages and optimizing bus routes. 

Here are several ways technology can help:

1. Routing and Scheduling Software: Advanced routing software can optimize bus routes by using algorithms that account for traffic patterns, student locations, and driver availability. This ensures that routes are efficient and minimizes the number of buses needed.

2. Dynamic Routing: Real-time data and GPS tracking allow for dynamic adjustments to routes based on current conditions, such as traffic or weather. This can help in making immediate changes to avoid delays and improve overall efficiency.

3. Driver Management Tools: Platforms like Bytecurve offer tools for managing driver schedules and availability more effectively. This can include automated shift scheduling, tracking of driver hours, and ensuring compliance with regulations.

4. Parent Communication Apps: Mobile apps can keep parents informed about bus schedules, delays, and route changes in real-time. This transparency helps parents plan better and reduces uncertainty.
5. Predictive Analytics: Using historical data, predictive analytics can forecast potential issues like driver shortages or high-traffic days, allowing districts to proactively address these challenges.

6. Automated Attendance and Route Planning: Automated systems can track student attendance on buses and adjust routes based on actual ridership, ensuring that buses are not running empty and routes are optimized for the number of students.

7. Safety Features: Technology can enhance safety with features like live video monitoring, geofencing, and emergency notifications, providing peace of mind to parents and school administrators.

Practical Example: Bytecurve’s Solutions

Bytecurve offers comprehensive solutions that leverage technology to address these challenges:

• Route Optimization: Bytecurve’s software can create the most efficient routes by analyzing multiple variables such as student addresses, school start times, and traffic conditions. This reduces the overall number of routes needed and maximizes the use of available drivers.

• Real-Time Adjustments: The platform allows for real-time monitoring and adjustments, ensuring that any disruptions can be quickly managed and communicated to parents and schools.

• Improved Communication: Bytecurve provides tools for real-time updates for administrative staff and drivers, ensuring they are always informed about the status of any delays, or route changes.

• Driver Scheduling and Retention: By optimizing driver schedules and reducing unnecessary overtime, Bytecurve helps improve driver satisfaction and retention, addressing one of the root causes of the shortages.

As the only software solution that merges GPS Fleet Tracking and routing data into a new solution, Bytecurve360 is the fastest growing technology serving the student transportation industry thanks to its ability to significantly improve: 

• Payroll operations, including the streamlining of different pay codes and jobs or tasks between and among staff members 
• Dispatching operations, including the ability to alter routes, runs and tasks in real-time to respond to later and/or absent drivers 
• Real-time app-powered communications, including the ability for drivers in the field to respond to route changes via the app

The integration of real-time GPS fleet tracking, optimized routing, instant mobile app-powered communication, and data analytics collectively contribute to a safer and more efficient transportation system. 

 Bytecurve delivers all of these features today to dozens of districts that impact more than 40,000 drivers and hundreds of thousands of students. 

Technology can significantly alleviate the impact of bus route blackouts on parents by optimizing routes, improving communication, and enhancing overall transportation efficiency.

And solutions like those from Bytecurve provide practical tools to implement these technological advancements effectively.

About Bytecurve

Founded in 2018 by GP Singh after many years on the frontline of student transportation operations with one of the country’s largest private student transportation providers, Bytecruve is designed as the 360 view of operations.

By blending routing and GPS fleet tracking data, and adding a payroll capability as well as mobile app for two-ways communications between dispatch and drivers, Bytecurve 360 has created a new category for student transportation excellence: the dispatch command center.

“We believe many school bus operators still don’t appreciate all the potential improvments they can deliver by taking two powerful yet independent systems and merging them into a new layer of visibility and action,” Singh said. “We’re integrated with all the major providers of routing systems and GPS fleet tracking so virtually any school district with both systems can take advantage of our transformative technology.”

Trusted by dozens of districts across North America, more than 40,000 school bus rely on Bytecurve technology to improve their efficiency and safety.

“I know from first hand experience what school bus fleet leaders need to perform at their best, and we work tirelessly on our product and with our customers to deliver this experience so they can know they are investing in the safest and most efficient fleet.”