The May Route Report: Wrapping Up One Year, Gearing Up for the Next
Welcome to the May Edition of The Route Report, SBL’s monthly recommendations to keep your routing department on track. This month: end-of-year wrap, summer readiness, and fall planning.
As the 2024–25 school year winds down, it’s tempting to take a breather, but now is the moment to double down on preparation. May is all about finishing strong and setting your department up for a smoother summer and fall.
Wrap-Up Mode: Closing Out the 2024–25 School Year
It’s time to finalize summer school routes and begin rollups, but don’t forget to project manage the final steps of the school year, too.
Finalize Summer Routes: Lock in student names, locations, and identify who will be on call for IEP-related transportation needs during the summer months.
Hold End-of-Year-Meetings: Bring stakeholders together to align on summer deadlines and assign roles and responsibilities for key deliverables.
Keep the Database Clean: Continue rollups and create fresh databases for summer and fall, with clear notes on any route changes or carryovers.
Planning Ahead: Enrollment, Riders, and Route Strategy
Looking ahead to fall, your routing strategy should be shaped by more than just geography.
Monitor Registration Flow: Understand how and when enrollment data will feed into your routing software. Stay tight with your SIS timelines.
Forecast Ridership: Analyze last year’s data to estimate the number of actual riders vs. eligible students. This is especially important at the high school level where parking passes may impact ridership.
Account for After-School Activities: Set expectations for handling part-time riders and consider shifting to more centralized stops for greater efficiency.
Policy and Safety Review: Revisit, Revise, and Prepare for Fall
Now’s the time to take a fresh look at your routing, safety, and vehicle policies. Evaluate how things went and get ahead of any update needed for the new year by reviewing policy and procedures.
Routing and Map Variables
Anchor sit time, stop delays, student delays
Boundaries and eligibility rules (walkers/school/district)
Street speeds and timing accuracy
Restricted turns and travel streets
Student and Stop Variables
Max walking distance and ride time
Earliest pickup/latest drop-off windows
Number of students per stop
Stop placement and time windows
Vehicle Considerations
Bus capacity and ridership max
Fleet maintenance status, vehicle age
Sped bus equipment needs and expiration timelines
Safety Audits and Infrastructure Updates
Predator location awareness
Evacuation drills
Planned construction projects and street closures
New neighborhood developments and mapping updates
Routing software updates or reporting tools — flag any needed upgrades or streamlining opportunities
Route Strategy: Build Smarter Routes for the Year Ahead
Once you’ve reviewed last year’s data, it’s time to develop a plan for what’s next. May is the perfect window to test out new routing approaches and solidify your strategy for fall.
Evaluate Routing Models: Are you using line runs, grouped areas, or round-robin patterns? Consider whether your model is still the best fit — or if it's time to adapt.
Balance and Timing: Look closely at route timing, overlaps, and transitions. Make sure routes don’t begin before others end, allow for realistic dead head time, and balance route times against daily guarantees.
Hub Transfers: Review the pros and cons of your current transfer strategy. Are you optimizing load times and minimizing student crossovers?
Stop Strategy: Audit stop loads, number of stops per route, and time spent loading/unloading. Too many stops add cost and wear to your fleet.
Opt-In Planning: Consider implementing an opt-in system for eligible riders — this can give you more accurate ridership data and help avoid overloading buses.
Driver Planning: Survey, Retain, Recruit
Don’t wait until summer to start thinking about staffing. Often, administrators overestimate the amount of drivers who are interested in summer work.
Run Driver Surveys: Check intent to return, but always plan for worst-case scenarios.
Explore Incentives: Retention bonuses, referrals, safe-driving rewards — now’s the time to budget for and communicate these incentives.
Understand Summer Staffing Realities: Admins may assume everyone wants summer work, but the truth is mixed. Be transparent and flexible in your approach.
Recruit Thoughtfully: Consider pop-up hiring events or simplified job roles (washing, charters, maintenance) to entice new candidates. Review how seniority and pay play into your strategy.
Heading to a Tradeshow? Let’s Talk.
SBL will be at a number of upcoming industry tradeshows. If you're attending, stop by our booth — we’d love to talk through any issues you’re facing and how we can support your team.
Stay Tuned for June’s Route Report
We hope this month’s checklist helped you feel more prepared to close out the year with confidence and get a head start on what’s next. In June, we’ll shift into full summer mode — with reminders on routing adjustments, mid-year maintenance, and preparing for fall’s final push. Until then, feel free to reach out with questions or requests.