OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Student Transportation Operations Analysis
Student transportation is a key part of the educational mission of a school district. The purpose of MPS’ operations management services is to help our clients ensure that appropriate organizational and operational practices are in place to promote efficient and effective school bus operations. MPS utilizes a unique combination of performance measurement and operational analysis to evaluate the performance of school bus transportation operations against industry standards and determine where improvements can be made.
Within the broad area of operations management, MPS provides a variety of inter-related and customized assessments and services. Each project is specially designed to answer the particular questions and concerns faced by each client. Examples of the broad range of services we offer in this area including:
- School bus routing and scheduling efficiency assessment
- Management mentoring service
- Transportation policy development
- Fleet maintenance operations and efficiency assessment
- Fuel cost control and management plan development
- Bus routing software specification development and implementation assistance
Given the extreme financial constraints being experienced by many school districts, our clients have frequently inquired about ways to reduce transportation costs. Two services that have consistently demonstrated cost savings in transportation include the development of structured reengineering plans, and sharing services through inter-district collaboration. These two services are highlighted below.
Transportation Shared Services and Inter-district Collaboration
The continuing budget pressures on school districts are requiring new and innovative solutions to providing transportation services. Regionalizing transportation can provide a number of potential benefits including: reductions in total number of buses and drivers required; greater economies of scale in purchasing of goods and services; and reductions in administrative and managerial staffing.
MPS has completed more than 20 different shared services studies specifically related to school bus transportation. The lessons learned from those projects have allowed us to assist our clients in assessing opportunities for collaboration that will maximize cost savings, mitigate service disruptions, and improve the utility of transportation services in general. Options to consider include:
- Sharing special needs, non-public, and other low density transportation
- Coordinating of bell times to allow for sharing of buses between districts
- Establishing regionalized maintenance operations and spare bus pools
- Developing shared driver and aide pools across a multi-district service area
- Sharing the cost of technology upgrades such as GPS, routing software and fleet maintenance software.
MPS has an unmatched depth of experience is assessing shared services for transportation. Click here to see previous articles and presentations on shared services by MPS staff.
Transportation Performance Improvement Plans
Now more than ever it is important to be sure your transportation department runs at peak efficiency. Managing the challenges brought on by changes to walk distances, bus stop placement, bell times, and state funding practices is a critical part of ensuring smooth school starts and satisfied students and parents. At MPS, our specialty is partnering with our clients to develop realistic and implementable plans to promote organizational improvement.
MPS has partnered with multiple clients to create Transportation Improvement Plans. These plans clearly articulate the goals and objectives, but also the "who, what, when, where, and how" details of improvement. Our plans also emphasize accountability and results. MPS stays with our clients through the important first phase of implementation to ensure that momentum and results are achieved. Using these powerful but straightforward tools with our clients has resulted in crisis turnarounds and rapid improvement where other attempts have failed.