Hampton Township School District WORK SESSION Monday, March 07, :00 p.m. Dr. Harold Sarver Library. TRANSPORTATION AGENDA, Mrs.

Transcription

1 Hampton Township School District WORK SESSION Monday, March 07, :00 p.m. Dr. Harold Sarver Library TRANSPORTATION AGENDA, Mrs. Lueers, Chair TO: Ms. Balason, Mrs. Hennessey, Mrs. Lamagna, Mrs. Litwiler, Mr. Shages, Mr. Stein, Mr. Vasko, Mr. Wesley Dr. Hoover, Mr. Kline ACTION ITEMS PRESENTER 1. *Approve the proposal from Transfinder for student transportation and Mr. Kline routing software (subject to review by the District s Solicitor.) OLD BUSINESS PRESENTER There is no report this evening. NEW BUSINESS PRESENTER There is no report this evening. *Attachments Transportation Agenda page 1 of 1

2 To: Hampton Township School District ATTN: Jeff Kline Date: February 17, 2016 Prepared by: Mike Bernhard Sales Consultant The purpose of this document is to ensure that the Transfinder team has understood your specific needs and addressed them fully. It will also provide you with pricing for your Project. This is not a contract, this document is intended to verify information. If you would like to move forward with us, we are happy to draft a formal agreement to be signed. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. Situation Summary On 2/16/2016, a demonstration of our software was arranged to show how Transfinder s software can help the district, and the challenges you face. The general feeling from the presentation is that our company can provide a number of benefits to the district in several tangible ways. This document outlines some specifics, and includes initial pricing based on our understanding of the district s needs. Ultimately, we will be able to save your operation both time and money, while providing powerful tools to measure the effects of proposed changes. District staff can work with their Transfinder Project Manager to gather the existing safe stops and routes, then perform an initial assessment for possible changes to save money in measurable areas. Beyond that, we will provide customized training to help your staff learn our software and plan outstanding routes that are both safe and efficient. Specifically, Transfinder will help you by Offering intuitive software that makese sense Providing excellent customer support with real people, & quick turnaround times Having software automation that is safe, not just purely based on parameters Working with local GIS data for accurate student locations Minimizing mileage, maximizing efficiency, retaining stop safety Detailed route sheets that are customizable to your needs Giving tools to help improve communication to the community This proposal includes a discount of $2,500 and expires on 3/20/16 1

3 Map Data Working with EXACT map data Transfinder has done some research into your area, and found what appears to be an EXCELLENT map source for you to utilize. Map data looks to be available that includes not only streets with address ranges, but also tax parcel/ 911 address point information. Based on the initial assessment, you will be able to see where every house is located in your community. This will help with accurate marking of students, accurate mileage, and most importantly, confirmation that stop locations are SAFE. Your map in our software should look like this: If you have ever typed a local address into a web search, and had the address come up in the wrong location, chances are the map is based on address ranges. This is what most routing software is based on, and you have to enter such a project expecting students to map in an approximate location. Coding a road segment on Smith Road is from 1-100, does NOT mean there are 100 houses on that road, with all of the evens perfectly one one side and the odds on another. House #50 is rarely right in the exact center of that line. Using exact address information with Transfinder is not only easier and more accurate, it can directly affect funding (based on home to school or home to stop distance). Most importantly, students will be kept safer, as Routefinder Pro will show them at their exact location, rather than just somewhere in the general vicinity of their home. 2

4 Use Satellite images in the Routing Program: We will combine the local maps with satellite imagery available from Bing Maps. The routing software will be able to include information at different levels, helping staff make key decisions for safety & efficiency based on real world images. 3

5 Assessing Eligibility & Creating Defined Walkzones The above map shows every student attending the school. Red dots represent students assigned to the walkzone. Blue dots are students beyond the walkzone; a.k.a those that are eligible for transportation. A list of all students in the walkzone can be created in seconds. This list can immediately be used to create a letter or to parents, or a call list for an alert system on campus. Perhaps most importantly, the district can have confidence that the map is accurate, and only students who are safe This section can be removed with a few clicks, based on a router s local knowledge. The district can create a walkzone based on any mileage policy with one click of the mouse. Our program will calculate every address within a specified walking distance (or radius) from the school. Shown here is a 1 mile area based on walking path. This zone can be easily edited for safety via point & click, ensuring that hazardous areas are excluded. Students should not cross certain streets, some areas are troublesome for other reasons, and routers who know the area can easily handle these situations. 4

6 Custom Route Sheets PROPOSAL Transfinder can build customized route sheets to the district s exact specification for no additional charge. Some districts include student pictures on the route sheets also. The above route sheet includes turn-by-turn directions with mileage as an example. This is one of hundreds of route sheets used by our clients. Users can easily type in additional notes & landmarks to be included, as well as make adjustments to times in seconds. All trips can be exported directly to Google Earth for a virtual drive. This can help prepare sub drivers for the road. This is also helpful to communicate ideas to parents, administrators, board members, etc. 5

7 School Boundary Planning & Redistricting Routefinder Pro lets you manage your district s school attendance zones easily. The map below shows all elementary students on a map. The children are color-coded by the school code in Infinite Campus, and the legend in the top left of the map gives attendance counts based on Infinite Campus. The redistricting map can quickly show how many students physically live inside each planned boundary, and compare that instantly with students actual current assignment. When considering changes, balancing grade levels and attendance numbers is critical. Considering the community impact of keeping children in neighborhoods together is also vital to such projects. This system allows users to loop up an area to find a count, as well as the names, grades, & addresses of students in any given area. This can help the district quickly consider the effects of possible boundary changes. 6

8 Share Information With District Staff The Infofinder le system will allow the district to share key information with the most important people you work with. Infofinder le is a browser-based program that allows unlimited users to view information in the Routefinder Pro database through a simple browser interface, with read-only access. Each user can have customized permissions based on their role, school, position, etc. This program includes: The ability to run reports (standard or custom) Looking up students to see routing assignments, maps, documents, notes, etc. Searching routes to see stop times, rosters by route and by stop, maps, etc Online field trip request & approval Ultimately school secretaries, principals, and district administrators will be able to lookup information without calling the district Transportation department, saving everyone time & stress. If the district works with Transfinder to build the appropriate custom reports that the schools need on a regular basis, school staff will be able to run those reports themselves without calling transportation. This is the place for any staff member to check first, before calling transportation for every question. Especially at busy times of year like school opening, everyone on campus can see student assignments, answer parent questions, and respond to situations all while Transportation staff are solving other challenges at the same time. 7

9 Lookup Access For Unlimited District Staff Beyond just looking up student assignments, users will be able to also see route details including Stop lists Students listed by stop Maps of the bus runs Documentation about students/routes (discipline forms, special notes, etc.) 8

10 Streamline Field Trip Request & Approval Process Teachers can request a field trip, an will be automatically sent to their principal who can approve or deny the trip. If approved, an will go to the next level for approval. Once approved, Transportation will be notified in Routefinder Pro that there is a new field trip to approve, and assign a driver/vehicle to the trip. Sample Request: (Note the district can force a request lead time, and have required fields) Unlimited users in Infofinder le will have the ability to look up the status of a field trip request, and run reports about the trip. Example: the Treasurer could come into LE and run a report to find out the cost of all trips at one school, broken out by department year to date. 9

11 Manage Field Trip Details & Costs Efficiently All of the information from the request form flows into Routefinder Pro, where Transportation staff can look at the trip details, assign & track driver/vehicles, etc. After the trip, details about the time, mileage, and cost can all be tracked in the system. This can be associated with department, billing codes, trip types, etc. Users can pull up lists of upcoming or recent trips: By date range All trips of a certain type Any trips at a certain approval level In a calendar view to see the big picture 10

12 Your Implementation With Transfinder Project Management through implemenation, and 6 months of online training A dedicated Project Manager, to help you plan out the stages of your implementation, and point you in the right direction as you have key decision points. An assigned Application Specialist / Trainer, who will conduct personalized training sessions with you via phone & web conferences. Access to the best reference & training tools in the industry: MyTransfinder - an exclusive part of our website dedicated to your organization offering Webinars, Training Videos, User Manuals, our Knowledgebase, Download Capabilities and more. Your users will have access to free training webinars, searchable documentation, frequently updated training videos, etc. This is a significant help to implementation. First Year s System Maintenance and Support included Free access to system upgrades & newly released functionality. Our company makes at least two major product updates each year, based upon customer feedback. These updates are typically adding functionality to directly help find ways to save money. Technical support for complex questions beyond training, helping you implement the software solutions within your IT & Network structure in the best possible way. Participation in Regional User Seminars (Offered occasionally throughout the U.S.) Unlimited Custom Report creation. Transfinder customizes specific reports to meet your exact specifications. Custom Data Integration module modifications and maintenance as needed. 11

13 Recommended Option: Professional Services Implementation Note: Our proposal includes a customized online training plan with weekly sessions via GoToMeeting, and we have had many districts enter their current routes into our system as part of the set up. There is no one right way to get the new system up and running. This page outlines the option of having our team do a great deal of the initial set up for you. Implementation Service: Transfinder can work with the raw data from your current routing software, and use it in combination with route sheets and if needed, Routebuilder GPS capture data. Our team will use these resources to enter your regular education morning routes into the Routefinder Pro system. We will deliver the morning routes to the district, and transportation staff can review routes, adjust coverage areas, and then copy the AM route to PM. At that point, adjustments can be made to PMs as needed. This service can help you implement faster, analyze sooner and save money as quickly as possible. Working with the best in the field Dan Roberts Director of Professional Services 40 years of transportation experience Former Transportation Director for Austin ISD and Round Rock ISD in Texas (Over 100,000 students) Helped write the USA School Bus Safety Standards Worked on the National Council of Great City Schools Author of Best Practices in Student Transportation a reference guide used by many districts across the country Directs a team of industry professionals to provide route building and efficiency studies for Transfinder customers. Cost for this service: $6,050* * Based on a district supplied route count of 18 big buses each doing 3 runs every morning. This cost is also based on our experience working with data from Prosoft. We encourage the district to send us a sample extract for review to confirm data details. 12

14 Immediate Route Overlap Analysis As soon as you have current routes in the program, you can immediately view every single bus stop color coded by route. (Red is Bus 1, Orange is Bus 2, etc) This can be for all routes, or all routes on a given tier. For example, the map below shows all of the morning Elementary routes for one school district. Any areas of route overlap are IMMEDIATELY visible, and can be addressed. Routefinder Pro provides you the tools to move stops from one bus to another, consider the best way to resequence these stops into the new route, and measure the effect of the possible change. Net result: Small changes with minimal community impact can find mileage & fuel savings immediately. 13

15 Measure The Effect of Proposed Changes As soon as you ve got your current routes in the program, you can immediately start looking for savings. Many districts are considering ways to save costs with minimal impact to the community. For example: Looking for alternative driving paths that use less mileage Making changes in stop sequence to reduce mileage and time Combining bus stops to reduce wear & tear on vehicles, reduce time, and save fuel Eliminating travel down Dead-ends / Cul de sacs Moving stops from one route to another Considering moving some stop locations to open up new driving paths With Routefinder Pro, you can measure the effect of proposed changes. The report below shows the effect of 3 small changes to a route, and the savings provided if the change was implemented for the rest of this year. 14

16 Price For Recommended Options Your district has expressed a desire to work with Transfinder on a viable project timeline, rather than a rushed implementation. To help encourage this approach, Transfinder is offering a discounted price. This discount expires on 3/20/16. The initial fee can be split between two budget years if needed, as part of a two year agreement. Normal payment terms (one year agreement) Two year agreement $19,795 due March 2016 First annual support fee of $4,050 due March 2017 $10,000 due March 2016 $9,795 due July 2016 $4,050 due March 2017 Annual support fee of $4,050 due March 2018 Transfinder is open to alternative payment plans if required to help the district s financial situation. 15

17 Option: On-site training opportunities Note: Of course, our standard implementation includes a customized training plan with online training via GoToMeeting, where we typically get together once every week for dedicated training time in addition to time with your Project Manager. For in person training, there are three options you could consider. None of these options need to be included in the upfront purchase, they are something you could add if you think it would help you. Any of the 3 would certainly be useful, but are not required. OPTION 1: Transfinder Annual Client Summit - May 18-20, 2016 Albany NY This is our biggest event of the year, where many of our clients join us to gather for 3 days of professional development and training. We offer classes throughout the days, so your staff can attend sessions that are most useful to their specific needs and areas of work. The event is an excellent opportunity to collaborate with other Transportation staff from around the country, and find creative solutions. This would be $599 for the first person attending, and $499 for each additional person. We also offer a Boot Camp for new users on the first day, helping beginners to Transfinder get up and running quickly. This Boot Camp session is a one time fee of $199. Details on costs, hotel, registration, can be found here: OPTION 2: Transfinder University Offered every month TF University is our 3 day training course that happens throughout the year at our offices in Schenectady NY office or Austin TX. This is a small class that meets together for three days, working together. There are videos of our clients talking about their experience at the class: - just look for any video labeled with Transfinder University. This would be $2,000 per person. (This fee includes hotel for three nights, and meals) OPTION 3: On-Site training at the district We can have one of our staff come to your district and offer 8 hours of training in a day. This could be broken out many ways, some time 1 on 1 with your routing staff, or a brief session with your principals/secretaries explaining the lookup access they will have. We would tailor the schedule to your situation and needs. We normally offer on-site training as 2 or 3consecutive days, as this is a useful window that makes sense. For sessions before May 30 th, this is billed at $2,000 per day, plus travel & living billed at cost. Between June 1 st and Sept 30 th it is $2,500 per day. 16

18 Future Option: Access Information Anywhere Allow unlimited users secure access to vital transportation information anywhere they go with their ipad/iphone. Administrative staff can see information without calling the bus garage, and Transportation staff can do their job without being tied to their desk at all times. 17