Prep your bus fleet for rolling back to school
Evaluate your operations while your buses are idle.
As schools, parents and students prep for resuming classes, so do student transportation fleets. While buses sit idle over a break, ensure your operation is ready to roll when the bell rings again. Operational planning, vehicle maintenance, fleet technology implementation and driver training make everyone’s day back run more smoothly.
Download our complimentary white paper, Prep your bus fleet for rolling back to school, for more on shaking off the dust and enhancing operations before students step back on board.
Clean up transportation data.
In the hustle and bustle of everyday operations, fleet system data can become untidy. Use this opportunity to clean up vehicle, student and driver records. If you’re a Zonar customer, use our secure web portal Ground Traffic Control® to view and manage your fleet’s information. And make sure inspection procedures still make sense.
Manage every school bus, including EVs, side by side.
If you’re adopting electric school buses, pay particular attention to the section in the white paper about managing them and ICE-powered vehicles together on a single platform. Electric and ICE-powered school buses run as one fleet. Locate, track, monitor and manage each vehicle through a single pane of glass.
This white paper also touches on:
- why have OEM-grade or OBDII telematics control units installed
- leaning on experts to properly adopt EV school buses
- strategically planning yard parking for electric school bus battery charging
- making sure chargers are fully operative
- planning routes within the EV’s range
Enhance on-time reliability with turn-by-turn navigation.
Take planned downtime over a break to plan, run, record and review routes and stops to create a library of trusted, approved routes. And deploy a turn-by-turn route navigation solution to drivers’ tablets so they can access those routes to steer curbside, regardless of how new or experienced any driver may be.
Also read about making your back office more efficient by streamlining how routes are created and optimized.
Find and fix kinks in bus health.
While a bus is in its yard, make sure it’s properly maintained and reliable when the time comes to deploy it.
Read about enhancing uptime with a single diagnostic platform, expert-recommended action plans for fault codes and a remote TPMS for real-time tire pressure monitoring
Also learn about cleaning up inspection records and prioritizing repairs that were put on hold.
Time for your next step.
Returning to school after a break is hectic for everyone involved, including your transportation department. Download our complimentary white paper, Prep your bus fleet for rolling back to school, for more about making sure your fleet is ready to safely and reliably transport students again; from shop to office to vehicle to driver.
Learn more about the topics already touched on, plus a few others.
- Preparing and cleaning Zonar hardware such as driver tablets and 2010 handhelds.
- Open communications with parents early to start the school year more smoothly.
- File Medicaid reimbursement paperwork, and make gathering the data easier and faster.
- Refresh your technicians and staff on using the Zonar technology that touches their role.
- Evaluate what other fleet technology your fleet may need and futureproof drivers’ mobile devices
Schedules, routes and ridership change quickly, especially these days. Industry-wide driver shortages further complicate everyday operations. Every fleet is different, with different processes, goals and challenges. Let’s discuss how we can help you with yours. When you’re done reading, contact us to connect with an expert.