New AI-Powered School Transportation Dashboard Will Increase Visibility and Efficiency Across Districts’ Transportation Systems

Today we are launching a first-of-its-kind AI-driven transportation planning platform as part of our RouteWise AI^™ software. 

Why? We need major advancements for school districts focused on safe, reliable, and efficient transportation options. HopSkipDrive understands the need to provide comprehensive visibility into unlimited scenarios and national benchmarks. 

Now that artificial intelligence can analyze thousands of possibilities, including the risk of delays at existing bus stops and the impact of changing bell times, we are harnessing its power for this student transportation platform. 

School districts often lack the time or resources to quickly analyze transportation data in one place and implement meaningful changes. RouteWise AI bridges that gap, providing schools’ decision makers, board members, and other officials actionable insights directly from their existing routing systems to boost efficiency, reduce costs, and ultimately improve student outcomes.

Launched in 2023, HopSkipDrive’s RouteWise AI software has helped dozens of school districts around the country improve on-time arrivals, reduce transportation cost by up to 20%, and address chronic labor shortages. 

For instance, Denver Public Schools implemented RouteWise AI’s suggestion of increasing the efficiency of small vehicles, leading to savings of more than $500,000 annually. And in Colorado Springs’ District 11, efficiency went up 46% when RouteWise AI increased the share of high-utilization bus routes (defined as 30 students or more), using the same number of drivers and addressing the district’s shortage.

“We’ve been working with RouteWise AI to assess our operational efficiency and support our district in sustaining operations through a driver shortage,” said Veronica Schmidt, transportation director at Snohomish School District in Snohomish, Washington. “RouteWise AI brings together all of our data — ridership, history traffic, route policies and more — to deliver detailed optimization recommendations that aren't possible with our current tools.”

Our new RouteWise AI dashboard gives district leadership insights into the metrics that matter, including student ride times, costs per rider, and bus utilization rates. Users can compare these metrics against national averages, allowing them to benchmark against peers and track improvements. Our team of transportation and change management experts collaborate on the best transportation plan for each district that fits into existing routing software or platforms. 

In addition, RouteWise AI is collaborating with EZTransportation™, a leading transportation management platform, to deliver seamless end-to-end experiences for school district staff.  This reinforces the RouteWise AI “Compatibility Promise” to ensure complementary efforts with, and not replacements to, districts’ existing technologies. This includes the range of solutions EZTransportation provides, such as daily route management, school and parent communication, driver management, fleet maintenance, and activity trip coordination.

Connect with our team to learn more about transforming student transportation with RouteWise AI.