While infrastructure upgrades are necessary and beneficial in the long term, they have a huge impact on daily routines, especially when it comes to school transportation. School buses, which rely heavily on consistency and timing, are often hit the hardest when there is construction leading to detours and delays.
Here is how construction affects student transportation and what school districts can do to tackle the challenges head-on:
Rerouting Required to Avoid Construction Sites
School buses are forced to take alternate paths when a street is blocked or narrowed due to construction. These reroutes aren’t always pre-planned. This means drivers may be navigating unfamiliar roads on the fly, often during peak traffic hours.
Route optimization tools can help planners quickly generate the shortest, safest alternate routes when construction becomes a roadblock. Additionally, mobile apps for student transportation can help provide turn-by-turn directions to the driver. This minimizes confusion for drivers and hence delays.
More Traffic Congestion
According to the New York City Council, heavy traffic is the most common reason for school bus delays over the last 4 years!
Construction doesn’t just block roads — it slows everything down. Even when a detour is available, it’s often clogged with increased traffic as everyone tries to get around the same closed-off area. This leads to significant delays in pickup and drop-off times.
School bus GPS tracking systems can monitor real-time traffic flow. If a bus hits a bottleneck, dispatchers can redirect other buses to less congested roads, helping reduce delays.
Longer Routes
The alternate routes around construction sites are rarely as efficient as the original ones. Students may end up spending more time on the bus, which can be uncomfortable and exhausting, especially for younger children. Moreover, it could lead to higher fuel costs.
Optimized routing can help reduce unnecessary mileage and idle time, which can significantly cut fuel usage over time.
Handling Complaints From Parents
When school buses are delayed without prior notice, it’s only natural for parents to become frustrated. The lack of timely communication from school districts or transportation departments often makes the situation worse, leading to a flood of phone calls from concerned parents seeking updates. This increases stress and pulls transportation staff away from other critical tasks.
Live GPS tracking and parent notification systems enable schools to share real-time updates, provide accurate ETAs, and clearly communicate the reasons behind any delays, keeping families informed and reducing unnecessary confusion.
Conclusion
Construction zones are unavoidable. However, effective tools and strategies can be adopted by schools to minimize the impact of construction on student transportation.
Contact us to learn how the BusPlanner’s suite of student transportation solutions can help your district stay efficient, informed, and timely, even when construction slows things down.
