POTTSTOWN PA – When Pottsgrove School District bus schedules are publicly released Wednesday (Aug. 24, 2011), they likely will generate sighs of relief among parents anxious to know what routes their students will ride to reach school. They might also make bus drivers happy, because over time routing will become more efficient. They could even bring a smile to the faces of taxpayers, who recognize that busing can be an expensive exercise, according to district Director of Technology Michael Wagman.
- Pottsgrove’s new transportation software tracks buses in real time using GPS, and gives details about each route
Pottsgrove in years past has issued its bus schedules by the third week of August, giving parents and students two weeks’ advance notice of their assigned routes. That wasn’t possible this year, Wagman noted, because the district changed its transportation routing software, causing routes to be redesigned. “We expect … this change will yield cost savings to the district without compromising service,” Wagman said in an e-mail last week.
A business-related bonus accompanies the switch, too. The new computer package is being licensed from Orbit Software, a long-standing Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township business that currently operates from offices on East High Street in Sanatoga. Orbit’s BusBoss software and other products are used by school districts across the country to shorten the distances their buses travel.
In some instances it can save parents and school secretaries time, Wagman noted. Once fully implemented, he said, the software will work with PowerSchool, the district’s information portal for students and families. That will allow things like address changes and new registrations – if a family relocates within, or moves into, the district – “to be shared in real time” with CMD Services Inc., the district’s bus contractor located on Farmington Avenue in Pottstown.
- The Sanatoga offices of Orbit Software
Compare that, Wagman added, to the current lengthy and potentially error-prone process: School offices receive information in a phone call from a parent. The offices contact CMD by phone or fax. CMD then enters the information into its routes.
Taxpayers should not anticipate immediate savings in the bus budget, Wagman said. The district is paying for BusBoss primarily “to improve the efficiency of the transportation system … to have access to better information more quickly … and to “be more responsive to our families. Initially, there will be little savings.”
That should change, however, as the software tweaks and streamlines district bus runs, Wagman added. “By making them more efficient, we can cut down on the miles traveled each day, the amount of fuel consumed, and perhaps cut down the number of buses on the road.” This year’s bus runs will be evaluated, and improvements could be proposed for the following school year.
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