<story><title>One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm</title><url>https://www.routefifty.com/tech-data/2019/08/boston-school-bus-routes/159113/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mattlondon</author><text>Interesting - so is it &amp;quot;a thing&amp;quot; in the US that the city runs a dedicated bus service for all schools&amp;#x2F;students? Quite a surprise for me considering how poor people say public transport is in general in the US?&lt;p&gt;In the UK some schools run their own bus things (in the same way that Goolge, Facebook et al do in San Francisco), but most of the other schools just get by with the public buses.&lt;p&gt;There is often some coordination to make sure buses stop at&amp;#x2F;very near schools, and they may send extra ones at certain times - e.g. there were often several buses parked up and waiting empty at my school so they could be filled at the end of the school day, but any member of the public was then able to get onboard once it was on its usual route after that, and if you were late getting out (e.g. detention&amp;#x2F;sports etc) you&amp;#x27;d just wait at the stop outside the school for the usual bus on its usual route to come by.&lt;p&gt;What do the US school buses and their drivers do for the rest of the day and on weekends? Just sit idle?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sailfast</author><text>Yes. Our population densities are lower, school distances are often not walkable reasonably, and schools being public they want to ensure that their students are not impeded from getting to the classroom for any factors related to logistics, income, etc.&lt;p&gt;Often times these are part-time positions. Set block of hours twice a day. Drivers can take on additional duties or other jobs. The buses themselves are either owned by a transportation company that can also hire them out on weekends or making additional money on field trips &amp;#x2F; sports transportation.&lt;p&gt;My kids are fortunate enough to be able to walk to their school - there are sidewalks and it&amp;#x27;s only a half mile away, but many other students have a longer walk, no sidewalks, or other impediments that leads them to prefer a bus. Kids could take public transit, but typically this is not a great solution in most places, and it doesn&amp;#x27;t deliver you to a school directly. The latter factor helps with truancy, security, and a number of other things. There&amp;#x27;s a cost to it, but it is a norm.&lt;p&gt;It would be straightforward for a school district to agree to change the policy or reduce bus service for cost reasons if public transit and things like walking, biking were preferred options. These are typically the norm for private schools.</text></comment>
<story><title>One City Saved $5M by Routing School Buses with an Algorithm</title><url>https://www.routefifty.com/tech-data/2019/08/boston-school-bus-routes/159113/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mattlondon</author><text>Interesting - so is it &amp;quot;a thing&amp;quot; in the US that the city runs a dedicated bus service for all schools&amp;#x2F;students? Quite a surprise for me considering how poor people say public transport is in general in the US?&lt;p&gt;In the UK some schools run their own bus things (in the same way that Goolge, Facebook et al do in San Francisco), but most of the other schools just get by with the public buses.&lt;p&gt;There is often some coordination to make sure buses stop at&amp;#x2F;very near schools, and they may send extra ones at certain times - e.g. there were often several buses parked up and waiting empty at my school so they could be filled at the end of the school day, but any member of the public was then able to get onboard once it was on its usual route after that, and if you were late getting out (e.g. detention&amp;#x2F;sports etc) you&amp;#x27;d just wait at the stop outside the school for the usual bus on its usual route to come by.&lt;p&gt;What do the US school buses and their drivers do for the rest of the day and on weekends? Just sit idle?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jefftk</author><text>Most US cities and towns have minimal public transit that wouldn&amp;#x27;t be anywhere near sufficient for getting kids to and from school, so they run school buses instead. In some places with good public transit, like Somerville MA where I live, the city doesn&amp;#x27;t run school buses and people walk or take general purpose public transit, but that&amp;#x27;s very unusual here.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s the same deal as the tech shuttles: in places where public transit is good (NYC, Chicago, Boston) the tech companies don&amp;#x27;t run shuttles because there&amp;#x27;s no need.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt; What do the US school buses and their drivers do for the rest of the day and on weekends? Just sit idle?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yes. The drivers typically work a &amp;quot;split shift&amp;quot; with time off in the middle of the day, and the buses sit empty both then and on weekends.</text></comment>