My team tried contacting the South Bend Public School Bus System to learn about how they manage the transportation of students to and from school. We were not able to contact people who worked in the busing system and turned to other resources to learn about how public schools approach the organization of busing routes. A public school system organizing the transportation of students across various regions and districts is similar to how a hospital may organize their transportation fleet to transport patients to and from their health appointments. Here is the information and online link to the public school system that we used to gather our information: The Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public Schools website is located here: http://www.district196.org/
School Bus Organization:
- Parents receive a postcard before school starts each fall showing bus stop locations, bus numbers, and times to take children to school
- School bus drivers do not have the authority to change bus routes or student pick-up/drop-off locations
- Bus stops are typically located at least three blocks apart
- Up to 25 students may be assigned to a bus stop
- Routes are established so no student rides the bus for more than 75 minutes one way (preschool students may not ride the bus more than 45 minutes one way)
- All decisions regarding school bus system organization center around providing safe and efficient transportation for students
Important Insights:
- Proper and even spacing of bus stop locations and times improves efficiency and uniformity among the school district’s busing fleet
- Establishing a maximum time that a student may ride the bus helps prevent long and burdensome bus rides for children (adapted for preschoolers to have an even shorter ride) – this can be applied to patients, having a shorter maximum time for elderly patients that other patients
- The overall goal of the school bus system is to ensure safe and timely rides for students (providing safe and timely transportation is something that all transportation service should strive for)
- The school bus system consistently assesses bus routes and stops and are flexible in making changes to make the system more efficient