Routing Solution for Student Transportation

About the Client

The client was a company that helped US public schools increase the routing efficiency of student transportation. As each US school district provides commuting services for schools within their jurisdiction, they have a well-developed transportation system with dedicated vehicles at their disposal. Generally, each school district hires drivers who are to follow established routes. However, as each driver demonstrates a personal driving style along a given road path, their routing efficiency can be questioned from various perspectives such as fuel consumption, travel time, distance, etc.

Goal

Fuel efficiency and routing optimization are critical for school districts as they generally have a large number of vehicles to manage. The goal was to minimise fuel costs and improve fleet efficiency with the help of an automated transportation solution. It was used to compute an optimal bus route based on ETA, road obstacles, speed, and other parameters. 

Work Description

In the first phase, we designed an optimal routing algorithm that could save fuel based on external factors that were not associated with the driving style. We considered the following metrics:

• Number of turns
• Traffic lights
• Traffic data
• Road inclination
• Road intersections
• Speed bumps

In the second phase, we analyzed driving behaviors with regard to the above metrics. On-track metrics included each driver’s driving habits such as breaking, acceleration, and turning rates. 

As for monitoring fuel consumption, it was located on a special embedded monitor that dispatched fuel consumption data and other associated metrics.

All the metrics received and processed were submitted for further analysis and evaluation.

Work Stages

1. Procure business requirements
2. Design architecture
3. Follow Agile development process
4. Provide Quality Assurance
5. Deploy in production

Results

Our team helped the client to overcome the challenges of everyday bus management. A robust routing design was created to tackle those challenges and generate efficient routes to avoid extra expenses. The client cut fuel and maintenance costs by 5 to 40%.