Managing transportation for a school is not easy — the transportation department is required to manage countless tasks daily. In an effort to tackle these challenges, Miami-Dade County Public Schools adopted BusPlanner Software in the fall of 2019.
To walk us through their journey and share the lessons they’ve learned, BusPlanner hosted an engaging webinar with Chris Rayneri, Supervisor of Centralized School Bus Routing at Miami-Dade Public Schools.
Moderated by Binford Sloan, a BusPlanner Solutions Consultant and former Transportation Director with over 20 years of experience, the discussion covered the following:
- Why Miami-Dade County Public Schools chose BusPlanner
- BusPlanner implementation process
- Efficiencies driven using BusPlanner
- Operational wins
- Overview of BusPlanner Workflow
What Drove Miami-Dade County Public Schools to BusPlanner
The transportation department at Miami-Dade County Public Schools needed a comprehensive solution – a suite of applications that could streamline workflows and improve efficiency without compromising the students’ travel experience.
As they explored various vendors, they discovered BusPlanner, a platform that stood out with its robust suite of tools. The main routing software, in particular, caught their attention for its ability to simplify complex operations.
After thorough research and careful evaluation, the transportation department chose BusPlanner as the ideal solution to meet their needs and drive efficiencies across their system.
Implementation Process
With many senior employees who had been with the transportation department for over 25 years, some hesitation toward switching to new routing software was expected. However, the user-friendly design of BusPlanner quickly eased those concerns.
Chris described the transition as incredibly seamless, even with the unique challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. As Chris puts it, “It was fortunately the perfect timing for us to be able to migrate to BusPlanner.”
Efficiencies Driven Using BusPlanner
Chris described some of the operational challenges Miami-Dade County Public Schools faced before using BusPlanner:
- Manual assignment process: Assigning buses to students was a labor-intensive task that relied heavily on manual paperwork.
- Inefficient request handling: Parents were required to complete transportation request forms, which were then faxed or emailed to the school before being manually handed over to route technicians managing operations.
- Student categorization challenges: The process involved manually categorizing students who had requested transportation into two groups – those assigned transportation and those eligible but not yet assigned.
Miami-Dade District took the lead with proactive measures with automation, matching the number of routes to drivers and reducing ride time. And the results were impressive!

Minimizing complaint calls from school boards, principals, parents and students, enabled the staff to focus on other work rather than acting as a call center.
Chris highlighted the impact of this transformation, stating, “When I started working in this department, we had 25 route technicians and now, we are down to 15! And those route technicians are very actively doing their job by using the software to the fullest of its capabilities.”
Overall, costs went down by 25%!
Using BusPlanner Workflow
Miami-Dade District integrated BusPlanner workflow into their system in May 2023, and since then they have designed over 27 forms and generated almost 41,000 forms.
With the workflow’s customizable design, Chris explained how Miami-Dade was completely able to automate the student transportation requesting journey.
“We received almost 9000 requests, and about 30-40% we directly received from parents, they receive communication that they’ve submitted it, and they get an email saying a custom message letting them know it will take 2-3 days to assign them. It sends them an email when my routing staff looks at it and you can have an email sent when they’ve approved it letting them know to go look at BusPlanner Web for their assignment.”
Chris described BusPlanner workflow as “an integral part of the job that we do and as critical as the routing software” although they have only been using it for 15 months.
Conclusion
“Thank God we switched to BusPlanner, especially after all the support we received from the team after the COVID-19 pandemic,” shared Chris Rayneri, Supervisor of Centralized School Bus Routing at Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
At BusPlanner, our goal is to keep exceeding expectations, ensuring our clients are satisfied and supported every step of the way. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools – helping them streamline processes, improve efficiency, and reduce costs while delivering exceptional service each time.
To learn how BusPlanner can boost efficiency for your district’s transportation department as well, get in touch with us today!