Here’s an interesting little press release about a startup company and their first successful installation … tracking campus shuttles at a school in Utah.  No, it isn’t "that" school of Ag (live demo here

There’s a really simple. yet insightfully intelligent quote in the article, I’ve highlighted for you:

USU bus riders can watch shuttle path online via GPS

Posted: 2:36 PM- LOGAN – University shuttles have nowhere to hide.
    Riders at the bus stop now don’t have to wait and wonder where the bus is and when it’s coming. Each Utah State University bus is now tracked by GPS and can be seen as little arrows darting around a town map at http://aggiebus.com
    "This system is a wonderful addition for the university," said USU alumnus Justin Rees, who developed the technology. "It is designed to fit the needs of the university students and anybody who rides the bus on a regular basis."
    The Web site shows the shuttles’ real-time locations using the vehicle number, heading or speed. The university said it’s already popular among students even though it’s only been in use a short time.
    Web-enabled phones will be able to access the map this fall, and there are plans to include shuttle locations by text message and installing map-display monitors near the bus stops.
    "The whole key with GPS to make it worth the investment is to get people to use it," Rees said.
    Rees developed the system when he was in charge of making Aggie Shuttles simpler for drivers and passengers. He found that drivers would use a pen and paper to count passengers and would record daily bus maintenance checks by hand.
    "I found it was really inefficient, and it took forever," Rees said. "You had to gather all the paper and figure out what they’d written then re-enter it back in the computer." …

I can’t tell you how many times I have seen this sort of inability to focus on reality by transportation management folks.  Whenever someone proposes managing more efficiently (and helping riders make it easier to ride) they immediately jump into the "We don’t have the money" excuse mode …never looking at what they are spending the money on now.  Often there are dedicated data entry persons … thousands and thousands per year each (don’t forget the overheads which often add up to more than the salary of lower-wage folks).  If there are not data entry persons wasting hours then more highly skilled people like drivers, maintenance technicians and supervisors are doing the work.  I dealt with one fleet who used a chargeback system that had a CPA sending nearly20 hours per week reconciling mileage reports.  yet they didn’t have money for a GPS?

Think about what aspects of your operation you could make more efficient with nothing more costly than a cell phone and the wonderful resources Google supplies with their free to the public map service.

Henrico (county, Virginia) schools may get GPS for buses

A proposed pilot global positioning system program in Henrico County Public Schools’ 2008-09 budget could give the transportation office and parents information — and peace of mind — more quickly.

The program, budgeted at $275,000, would allow personnel to instantly know the location of any school bus, which could allay parents’ concerns over bus delays and increase office efficiency. It also could assist in planning bus routes.

The GPS item is part of HCPS’ proposed $508.8 million budget. A similar proposal in last year’s budget was removed.

Currently, when a parent calls one of the four area offices or main transportation office, a dispatcher radios the bus for its location and estimated time of arrival. The information is then relayed back to the office and the parent… read the full article here.

Well now let’s see.  The total budget is supposed to be $508,800,000.  Wow, half a billion dollars.  The GPS proposal is about a half a percent of that.  Wow, really throwing that money around down there in Virginia, aren’t they.  Now they did get a little bit of the puzzle right … but they ignored some big potential savings here as well:

• Eliminate thousands of hours of labor in radio position checks
• Eliminate confusion or out and out lying about where busses are
• Assist in planning routes … you bet, this can be big on its own

But like the commercial is famous for saying, "Wait, there’s more"!  How about:

• Physical Security … know where the students, drivers and busses are at all times
• Safety … monitor driver performance in real-time, automatically
• Fuel Savings … it’s easy to get 5% or ore, even on routed vehicles … guaranteed
• Pollution Reduction … how many hours a month does each buss idle?  It’s easy to reduce this by 10%
• Location Pollution … federal law limits idling in proximity to school buildings … how to enforce without GPS?
• Elimination supervision … why have paid supervisors driving the country when they can monitor from HQ?

There’s a few more savings hiding in the wings, but this is more than enough to start with … go Henrico … get smart and get it passed this year, I don’t see how you can afford not to.