Routing the old fashioned way
Paper-maps, pushpins, string, pen and paper were common tools used for routing before the advent of the computer; in fact they are still used to this day. Although the fundamental concepts used are relevant for developing effective routes by any means, this manual routing method is inefficient.

Manual routing takes an enormous amount of time, and effort is required to analyze information and complete the yearly routes. Time, staffing, and financial constraints often limit a transportation department’s ability to consider alternative routing scenarios. Besides mapping students with pins, and creating routes with string, bus lists, route descriptions, driver and vehicle schedules have to be produced manually.

Routing met the computer – the first evolution
When computer software was first applied to routing for pupil transportation, the supposition was that mathematical optimization would simplify and dramatically improve the efficiency, effectiveness and safety of bus routes.

This theory assumed that all the pertinent variables, conditions and parameters could be "programmed" into the software where an algorithm would crunch the data and produce suggested stops, students assignments, routes and schedules.

Although this methodology is still marketed today, most who have tried this technique have found that it just doesn’t work the way they had hoped. They testify that the fixed nature of the software is unable to successfully handle all the exceptions to the rules. Special needs and out-of-district routing pose significant dilemmas to mathematically based routing software. It is commonly known that overriding "the software system" became the accepted norm for those who gave it a try, while others reverted back to manual routing with paper maps and pins.

Mathematical systems also bear the reputation of being expensive, over-complicated, difficult to use software programs that typically require a massive effort to implement and maintain.

Transfinder, the latest evolution in pupil transportation software, offers a better solution!
Realizing that asking software to mathematically generate routes falls short, many have turned to Transfinder the intuitive, interactive, computer assisted routing, scheduling and boundary planning software system. As a management and planning tool, Transfinder’s solution is to help transportation professionals do their jobs better rather than try to do their jobs for them.

Better, safer, more efficient routing comes from improved information control and a better tool; a tool that simplifies the task at hand and breaks it down into manageable pieces for you. It is then you, with your expertise and experience interacting with the Transfinder software that yields quality results that are realistic solutions to the many routing and scheduling puzzles.

How does Transfinder do it?
Transfinder is a powerful geographic information system (GIS), that supersedes the traditional "paper maps, push pins and string" used in the manual method. Transfinder enables "Visual-Thinking" to occur; presenting your data in more meaningful ways thus enhancing decision making.

In the following example, we can see students who drive a car to school depicted as cars on this map viewer. If routing for high school students is the task at hand, you may make different decisions concerning busloads in certain areas depending on the number of students known to drive rather than ride.

With a few clicks, Transfinder can present special needs students by need type on the map.

The examples shown are just two of the many ways Transfinder’s GIS power can be geared to evaluate various types of student information geographically. As the saying goes, "A picture tells a thousand words."

Railroad tracks and subsequently railroad crossing locations are common attributes in map data used in Transfinder. One-way roads, hazard areas, narrow roads, seasonal roads, low-clearance bridge crossings, and other important map attributes can be portrayed on your maps.

Transfinder enables a router to create and or edit multiple trips (runs or routes) simultaneously. Whether updating routing for the upcoming school year or summer program, or just modifying today’s routes to meet the needs of a growing population, Transfinder readily displays objective, quantitative data that serves to enhance decision making while designing or editing bus routes.

This routing map displays color-coded routes for buses going to a school or group of schools. Student locations (home or alternate sites, such as childcare sites) are distinctly displayed on the correct side of the street. Stop locations and sequence (order), driving path and school position are clearly visualized.

With a few clicks of your mouse, current stops can be reassigned to different trips (runs or routes) or new trips can be created to balance busloads and maximize vehicle utilization. Vehicles can be re-routed to drive down different roads, which may produce fewer dead head miles and increase safety. Again, Transfinder will instantly reveal the impact for each "what-if" scenario that you evaluate.

Now that the students, bus stops, routes, etc. have been mapped out, scrutinized and updated, Transfinder’s relational database takes care of collating and recording all the information. Bus lists, route descriptions, routing efficiency reports, state reports, student/parent notification postcards, letters or bus passes, and schedule reports for drivers, vehicles, bus aides and students can all be produced with a few more clicks of the mouse!

Transfinder will empower you to visually analyze and manipulate route, stop, and student schedule data as you create and edit bus routes. By doing so, it helps to uncover hidden efficiencies that you could not previously see. You can create unlimited "what-if scenarios" and then choose the best.

Transfinder can help you project future transportation purchasing needs based upon district enrollment or visualize the effects of a proposed school redistricting or non-eligibility policy change on your current infrastructure. All this output with far less effort than the manual approach and with fewer headaches than the mathematical approach.