The following tips highlight ways that significant cost-savings, as well as enhanced service and safety performance, can start to be realized today with little-to-no increase in budget or resources.
1. Right-Size Your Fleet
Take a page from for-profit contractors and align your assets with the student population you serve.
- Reduce insurance costs associated with vehicles not being use
- Reduce maintenance for underutilized assets
- Reduce driver headcount by effectively routing fewer buses
2. Revisit (Yet Again) Route Mapping for Efficiency
Don’t fall prey to complacency: Whether by paper and pencil or with cost-effective, easy-to-use software, maximizing routes is one of the most critical components in operating your fleet with high efficiency.
- Optimize total miles traveled daily to reduce fuel and drivers needed
- Maximize trips per vehicle per day for fuel and headcount reduction
- Decrease number of buses running and maintenance overhead
3. Spruce Up Your Driver Summer Refresher Course
Employees who receive the necessary training are better able to perform their jobs—resulting in higher productivity, increased compliance and enhanced safety.
- Ensure clear, measurable performance standards for all drivers are defined, refreshed, and reviewed regularly
- Increase compliance by reviewing safety—an improved safety record can equal lower insurance costs
- Schedule one ride-along per driver regardless of tenure during the first few weeks of every school year
4. Capture and Use Detailed Data to Enhance Performance
Arming yourself with data is an indisputable way to measure performance, catch trends early, coach drivers with facts and prove- up the safe and quality service provided to the students you transport every day.
- With GPS, locate where every bus is in real-time, track scheduled stops, and re-route easily
- Increase driver accountability with off-duty and route visibility
- Use bus door open-and-close data to support route adherence and compliance with railroad crossing rules.
5. Automate Pre- and Post-Trip Inspections
If you are still waiting for a few DVIR’s to be turned in while you are reading this—you know there must be a better way! And there is: Electronic Verified Inspection Reporting.
- Zero-tolerance enforcement to ensure no child is left asleep on a bus
- Save at least 5 minutes on each pre- and post-trip inspection
- Eliminate chasing down, deciphering and keying in handwritten DVIRs
- Increase fleet up-time with preventive maintenance
- Eliminate substantial fines and reputation damage for non- compliance with federally mandated inspections
6. Improve Behavior with an In-Vehicle Driver Assistance Solution
Build a safety culture with your drivers using the information, tools, and motivation needed to drive safer.
- Head off safety issues before they become a problem
- Monitor and analyze performance for fact-based coaching
- Improve MPG, reduce collision costs and lower maintenance
- Meet emission and sustainability mandates
7. Minimize Manual Data Collection Efforts
No operation gets ahead by wasting man-hours pushing paper.
- Manage state and federal reporting requirements with push-button ease
- Replace “I will need to look into that and get back to you” with immediate, real-time answers
- Have relevant data to use for budgeting, forecasting, and bidding
8. Reduce Vehicle Idle Time and Emissions
Be a hero. Fleet telematics solutions deliver immediate, tangible savings.
- Industry average is 1.5 hours of idle time per vehicle, per day; reduce idle and watch your fuel costs drop
- Lower emissions to reflect district green environmental efforts
- Be a good steward of school and natural resources
9. Monitor Speed, Acceleration, and Braking
Safety starts with fundamentals—be automatically notified if driver behavior is outside of standards.
- Reduce fuel consumption up to 10% and increase safety with alerts for aggressive driving
- Respond to speeding complaints with facts, usually in favor of driver
- Reward appropriate behaviors gained with actual performance data
10. Extend Visibility with Parent Self-Service App
Partner with parents to decrease the customer service burden on your office.
- Help parents, principals, and dispatchers know when and where students are arriving, in self serve fashion
- Protect drivers against erroneous service complaints while dramatically reducing parent calls
- React to real-time situations with specific and accurate information
