Board buys program to route school buses

The board had been planning to buy such a program for years.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- School officials say the financially strapped school board spent money to save money when it paid $32,000 for a computer program used to route buses.
The program, bought earlier this year, will be used in the district for the first time this school year. Superintendent Stan Watson said the program should help the district save money by making busing more efficient.
"This software will pay for itself in just a couple years," added Colleen Bagnoli, district transportation supervisor.
About the program
The program, created by VersaTrans Solutions Inc., of Latham, N.Y., creates itineraries of routes for bus drivers. Each itinerary has detailed directions on how to get from one stop to the next and estimates on how long it should take to get from stop to stop.
The itineraries also list the name and address of each pupil to be picked up.
"I think it's going to be great," said bus driver Brenda Grim. She added that the program should "save a lot of time and headaches."
In the past, bus drivers had to create their own routes using a roster of pupils they had to pick up. Bagnoli also created bus routes using marking pens and township maps that were taped to her office wall in Austintown Middle School.
The district buses a total of 6,000 pupils to 23 schools within and outside the district. There are 50 buses.
Saving money
Watson said the program will help school officials ensure that buses are using the shortest, best routes possible, saving money on gas and bus maintenance.
He added that school officials have been planning to buy routing software for the past four or five years, well before the district faced the financial problems it has today. School officials have said that without budget cuts or additional revenue, the district will have a $440,000 deficit at the end of this school year.
The projected deficit stems from what Watson has called "The Big Hits" -- a $1.2 million unexpected tax refund it had to pay to Phar-Mor late last year; a $300,000 decrease in the amount of personal property tax revenue it collected after the Tamco warehouse closed; and a $265,000 cut in state funding.
School officials are asking voters to approve a five-year, 5.9-mill levy in November. The levy would raise about $3 million each year to pay for operating expenses.
Officials also hope voters will approve a 27-year, 2.9-mill bond issue this November that would allow them to borrow $26 million to pay for the construction of a junior high school. The new school would replace Austintown Middle School.
Maintenance software
Watson added that the $32,000 included the purchase of maintenance software that will allow school officials to better determine the condition of buses. Bagnoli said the maintenance software will allow the district to stop using any buses that are not running as efficiently as possible.
The main purpose of the routing software, Watson said, is to make bus trips quicker for pupils.
"The ultimate goal is the kids are on the bus for a shorter period of time," he said.
Bagnoli and other school officials spent much of their time this summer transferring pupil names and addresses from district databases into the routing program. The program displays each pupil as a red dot at their home address on a road map of the township.
At the click of a mouse, a bright blue line, representing a bus route, connects each red dot in what the program states is the shortest and quickest possible route. Bagnoli can then change the program route based on her knowledge of township traffic patterns, keeping buses from making left turns on busy streets like Mahoning Avenue and state Route 46.
The program translates the map route into directions, which are printed out and given to bus drivers.
Changes are easier
Bagnoli noted that the program also makes it easier for her to change routes if a pupil needs to be dropped off at different locations on different days of the week.
For example, if a parent asks to have the pupil dropped off at another relative's house in the middle of the week, Bagnoli simply puts the relative's address in the computer and it is added to another bus route.
In the past, bus drivers were given slips of paper listing daily changes in where pupils were to be picked up and dropped off. The bus driver then had to rearrange his or her schedule around the changes.
"These things change all the time," Bagnoli said.
hill@vindy.com