If you have more than a few hundred students who change schools each summer when you do your upgrade in Bustops and do not have Eligibility Coding setup in your data, you should consider having us help you do this.
The steps are:
- draw in school attendance and walk boundaries
- draw in group stop areas
- code to the streets in each area, the school of attendance for the roads, grades at that school and the type of transportation students get from the street to that school
Once this is complete, when you assign students to their stops, Bustops will automatically designate the students' stop type, and retain the information of which stop the students on the street should get assigned to.
Having this information setup in Bustops can greatly decrease the number of students you need to individually assign or reassign to stops each summer.
To discuss how this would work for your school district and setup a GoToMeeting appointment give the office a call.
Have a great week!
I've been trying to think of new Webinar Topics we could do, and was reviewing our Tutorial and old Training Class documentation.
I am thinking of doing a 6 week Webinar Series - "A Routing Problem". The series would take us through the steps needed to see the impact of opening a new school on routes.
Each Monday participants will receive an e-mail with information for you to read and ponder. Then, the Wednesday of that week we would have a Conference Call/Webinar to discuss participants ideas regarding the information received Monday, what additional information is needed and what steps would be taken in Bustops to see the effects of the information at hand at that time.
Webinars would be expected to last 30-45 minutes. This will be of most benefit to experienced Bustops users and any School Districts who may redistrict.
Let me know what you think - add a comment to the blog or e-mail support@bustops.com to express your interest. Webinar sizes will be restricted to 10 customers.
I'm really excited about this idea and hope you are too!
In observation of Thanksgiving, our office will be closed on Thursday, November 24th and Friday, November 25th.
The office will reopen at 8:00 am EST on Monday, November 28th.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I want to encourage everyone to call for help with BUSTOPS as needed, no matter how small or large your question seems. It doesn't matter if you're brand new to BUSTOPS or are an experienced user - we are here to help you and answer any questions that you may have.
At this time of year you might find yourself needing help with:
- scenarios in case a levy fails
- new routes based on a levy passing
- scenarios for closing or opening new school buildings in the 2012-2013 school year
- adjusting walk areas or attendance boundaries for existing schools
We are here to help you get the information you need from BUSTOPS. Don't hesitate to ask.
Hope you have been enjoying the warm fall weather we've gotten recently!
October is one of the months in the year when State Reports are on our mind. We're busy helping customers with the New Jersey State Report as well as the Pennsylvania State Report.
Most of you have state reporting you must complete each year. If you are curious how Bustops might help you with this process, give us a call. We have developed processes and procedures for most states, so, odds are that we can help you out.
Hope you're having a good fall season.
In observance of Columbus Day, our office will be closed on Monday, October 10, 2011.
The office will reopen at 8:00 am on Tuesday, October 11, 2011.
If you have any questions or concerns, please call 416-691-1222.
I hope everyone has a nice long weekend.
I trust that everyone has had a smooth, successful return to school. And, I want to congratulate everyone on the hard work they did to get their BUSTOPS data ready for school startup.
I know its hard to start thinking about it already, but I wanted to mention, that should you have any redistricting projects for this year, any school openings or closings or would like to look at optimizing your routes, please call the BUSTOPS Support Staff for help.
On a personal note, both of my daughters are now in school. For the next year they will be going to school every other day, on opposite days from each other. So, if you hear less noise in the background from now on, that's why.
Take care!
