While schools aim to focus on teachers and students, a lot of management is required for the smooth functioning of a school. From finance to transportation, everything plays a vital role in the well-being of the student. The transportation department is an integral part of the school. However, when budgets are deducted, it is the transportation department that takes the major hit. Proper management of the fleet of school buses can undoubtedly help in optimizing operational costs. A few right steps by the fleet managers can help in achieving this goal.
It just takes a few smart strategies to manage your fleet in an efficient manner. Here are few such strategies.
Route Management
Transporting children to schools can be a strenuous task. The evolution of technology has helped school officials tackle this issue with considerable ease. Nowadays, school bus trackers are used to find the optimal route according to the traffic and other time taking factors.
One has to check the usually followed route for any construction activity etc because buses generally take the most wear and tear when they are not traveling through an ideal route. Small changes in operations such as minimizing routes lead to a significant reduction in the operating costs of the fleet.
Number Of Buses traveling
The operating expenses of buses are huge mainly because of their fuel consumption and maintenance. If the school optimizes the number of buses in its fleet.the day to day costs of the fleet will reduce. These costs are mainly the salary of drivers, fuel expenses, maintenance costs, etc.
It is imperative for the school to know how many buses they need in their fleet. The fewer number of non-required buses you have, the lesser will be the operating cost.
Staff expenses
An optimum number of buses means that the fleet will require fewer employees to handle the operations. Therefore, a reduced number of drivers will lead to a decline in the salary expenditure of the manager.
The fleet management software gives real-time feedback and detailed reporting which will help in safe and efficient transportation. By using a digital software system, GPS tracking system to monitor the perfect route and location, you can eliminate the need for the administrative department to deal with such situations personally. This one-time capital expenditure can help in lowering the regular recurring expenses for a long period of time.
Maintenance cost
Regular maintenance is highly essential to keep the buses safe. Scheduled preventive maintenance can help in reducing the incidents of unexpected failures or breakdowns and the associated costs as well. Managers must not delay the service of the fleet because maintaining the vehicles in optimal condition helps in the smooth functioning of the vehicle.
Unnecessary idling can also waste a lot of fuel and thus increasing maintenance costs. The drivers can reduce idle time by adopting measures like turning off the engine when the bus is not in motion, obeying anti-idling rules, etc.
Trip planning
The number of students at a bus-stop, bus capacities, and stop locations have a noticeable impact on the selection of bus routes. By minimizing the number of trips, you can reduce the number of buses required. This results in increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
With the help of such strategies, schools and transporters can optimize the cost of running the school bus fleet efficiently.
