Automate and optimize school bus routing
Every district has a routing system that holds its stops, students, and bell times. Many still rebuild routes by hand each year, deciding how many buses cover every tier, which students ride which bus, and in what order, as separate steps. Let's solve them as one problem, without breaking a ride-time limit or a student's Individualized Education Program (IEP).
One solve plans every bus, every run, and every bell tier
Timefold solves bus assignment, stop sequencing, and multi-tier reuse as one optimization problem. Bus equipment, seats and wheelchair positions, bell times, maximum ride times, IEP windows, driver duty limits, and electric bus range are enforced as hard constraints, so every route is safe and compliant before it reaches the driver. Within those rules, the model puts the fewest buses on the road, then drives the shortest total distance, then keeps student ride time short.
Where Timefold goes beyond manual route rebuilds
Four places where manual route rebuilds fall short. Timefold bakes each one into the model.
Fewer buses for the same students
The model chains bell tiers on the same bus, so each driver covers more runs and the district needs fewer of both.
IEP requirements are rules, not notes
Equipment, aides, individual windows, and shorter ride limits are enforced for every student who needs them.
Students without a ride surface early
When the fleet runs short, the plan names exactly which students need other transport, before the bus does not show up.
Published routes stay familiar
Locks hold, served stops stay frozen, and a replan only moves the students it must.
Every bus on the road is a driver the district has to find
School buses run on drivers that are hard to hire almost everywhere. Route design decides how many buses and drivers a district needs, and what each student costs to transport.
Of students ride a school bus every school day
Each one needs a seat, a stop, and an arrival before the bell.
Districts report a shortage of bus drivers
In recent surveys, too few drivers is what limits school transport the most.
Runs one bus can cover when bell times are staggered
Chaining bell tiers lets the same bus and driver serve more schools.
Every bus on the road needs its own driver
So every bus a better plan removes is one less driver to hire.
Constraints the model expresses today
When scheduling works, everything works.
Less waste. More control. Teams that trust the plan.