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Case Study: Volusia County SchoolsSnapshotStudents Transported: 28,000, including 8,000 with special needs Business ProblemThere was a time when the transportation staff at Volusia County Schools in Deland, FL started planning their routes in May using paper maps, pins and reams of paper files. The routes, which cover an area the size of Rhode Island, were usually finished just in time for the start of the school year. Despite four months of work, staff were faced with inaccurate driver and school lists, insufficient information for parents, safety issues and long delays adding new students to routes. For the first few weeks of each school year, the transportation staff, along with five temporary workers, would handle thousands of calls from frustrated parents, schools and drivers. GoalsIn 1990, Volusia County Schools decided to purchase software to automate its routing, reporting, redistricting and scheduling. The district’s goals focused on becoming more efficient and productive so it could meet the needs of its students and communicate better with parents, drivers and schools. The district also needed to improve its safety record, spend less time answering routine questions and quickly generate accurate reports to meet local and state requirements. SolutionVolusia chose Trapeze MapNet because it offered the most complete solution and would be easy for the staff to learn, even though most had very little computer experience. The district has since upgraded to a Windows NT environment and has added transportation fields to its student management system to speed up bus assignments for new students. To help reduce call center volumes and improve communication with parents, students and drivers, Volusia installed the MapNet Web module in 2001, and now delivers zone, route, bus and other transportation information on its web site, updating it as often as five times a day. ResultsIn the 12 years since Volusia started using MapNet, it has become recognized as one of the most innovative transportation organizations in the Southeast. It is also one of the most efficient, with just a small portion of its funding coming from local sources. (The State of Florida funds transportation to a certain level and districts must deliver services within that funding or look to local sources for the balance.) Volusia eliminated the need to hire temporary call center staff each fall and has seen no increase in its routing staff, despite a steadily rising student population. MapNet has freed the staff up to focus on field inspections for safety, long-term planning and working with drivers. Satisfaction among parents and principals is up substantially, and driver turnover has been cut dramatically. Drivers now have up-to-date student lists, accurate map print-outs and explicit driving directions they can download from the web. The district also involves its drivers in its route planning process. Using MapNet drivers can see the proposed routes and suggest changes to make them more efficient. Staff use MapNet to identify safety issues such as dangerous intersections, railway crossings and areas with poor visibility, and then automatically generate routes and stops that avoid these hazards. The biggest test of the software, however, came in 2001 when statewide budget cuts forced the district to trim more than $1-million from its transportation budget. Using MapNet, the staff analyzed routes and tested the impact of route reduction scenarios. The district was able to cut ten routes and dramatically reduce costs without sacrificing service levels. MapNet helped optimize vehicles, reassign students and evaluate where cuts made the most sense. Bottom LineAs an end-to-end solution MapNet has allowed Volusia to better manage all aspects of transportation system and deliver superior services to a growing population despite severe budget constraints and more stringent safety, reporting and funding limitations. |
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