Addressing bus driver shortages is possibly the hardest thing that school districts have to deal with. AlphaRoute has proven adept at eliminating shortages, though, and does much more as well through its innovative approach to bus route optimization. True, holistic optimization is hard — that’s why other vendors struggle to do it — but AlphaRoute’s MIT-based technology makes it look easy.
So what does a company do when it’s already tackled the hard stuff? It turns to something easier: Software development! Eric Ries, a popular podcast host, entrepreneur, business consultant and author of The Lean Startup, once said that the only limitation to software is your imagination. AlphaRoute applies this credo to its work everyday, developing customized software solutions for school districts, helping them to transport students safely, reliably, and efficiently. AlphaRoute makes that look easy, too, and even better: It makes software that’s easy to use!
Here’s a look at how AlphaRoute helped to modernize the transportation system used by one of the largest school systems in the country.
Co-Creating a Parent Portal
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) in North Carolina is the 17th largest district in the United States. With more than 140,000 students and about 113,000 students assigned to transportation, the school district was looking for a high-quality parent portal that would allow families to monitor their children’s route information and submit transportation-related requests. CMS Transportation began talking to AlphaRoute in the spring of 2023 about its need to replace its parent portal due to a lack of support from the vendor.
“As a district, we relied on school staff to let families know when their requests were complete, and often no notification was provided to families due to daily demands at the school,” said Kevin Devore, CMS’ Director of Routing, Logistics, and Systems. They needed a system that parents could use to easily request transportation or an alternate stop location if the one they had wasn’t sufficient for their children. AlphaRoute understood their difficulties and knew that customized software was the solution.
On spec, AlphaRoute built the software that CMS needed in order to function successfully. Both parties collaborated on the design of the system, a testament to how vendors and clients should work together, and AlphaPortal was born. AlphaRoute’s parent portal, the application incorporates several complex features, including easy access to student routing information and all the parent requests CMS was looking for.
AlphaRoute knew that alone would not be enough to give CMS what it needed, so it added an integrated ecosystem around the portal. CMS ended up with a suite of modules tailor-made to them, including:
- AlphaPlan: AlphaRoute’s routing software, which CMS could easily use to manage diverse requests submitted by parents and family members
- AlphaCom: A communication system that enables automated messages to be sent to families when their requests are processed, in addition to many other communication and messaging features
- AlphaCore: An administrative module that allows the school system to add new users, edit permissions, control application settings, and perform other administrative tasks
- AlphaSchool: A school staff module, which gives CMS school staff easy access to their students’ routing info and any current student requests, along with the ability to make requests themselves.
These systems turned out to be the answer the school system needed in order to thrive.
A Customized Solution
After coming together in the spring of 2023, the system was developed by the fall, and launched in December. Able to withstand well over 100,000 users at one time, AlphaRoute’s software transformed CMS’ operations.
“The final product saw over 8,000 requests in the first 3 months it was available,” said Devore of CMS. The result is that families are better notified of the status of their requests and schools no longer have to spend time on bus information and can stay focused on teaching and learning!
“Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Transportation wants to thank the AlphaRoute team for building what we needed in our department,” Devore shared. “We were impressed with AlphaRoute’s ability to implement internal processes in their software which helped reduce the learning curve and made the transition to their applications so seamless!”
AlphaRoute understands that utilizing nontraditional ways of thinking is an essential component of solving problems. As seen in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system, game-changing technology can serve as a gateway to changing the lives of students.
To request a demo of AlphaRoute, click here.
