The North Judson-San Pierre School Board hopes an upfront investment in transportation mapping software will save the corporation money in the long run.
The board Tuesday night voted unanimously to spend $14,420 on the Transfinder transportation routing system. Superintendent Dr. Annette Zupin says that cost includes installation, training and mapping. She adds there’s a lot more to bus route planning than there used to be, and having software to assist may allow for the elimination of one or two routes and possibly fewer buses in the fleet.
Additionally the software will be able to generate a passenger list for each bus to make it easier to keep up with the whereabouts of students should an emergency arise. Zupin says the system should limit the likelihood of human error and help the corporation to use resources efficiently.
The initial purchase price and $5,000 annual maintenance cost were both included in the annual transportation budget.
During the public comments portion of the meeting, Larry Wappel questioned the need for the software and the cost to the corporation. He pointed out community members have previously taken care of bus routing and asked if the corporation was sure they would get their money’s worth from the software.
School Board President Pat Goin says she has spoken to Transportation Director Wilbur Collins, and he felt several routes were overlapping. Collins took over the transportation director position earlier this year and personally drove every route before school started.
