Frequently Asked Questions

We always aim for perfection, but it isn't always attainable. We'll get your routes 80–90% of the way there. From there, your team's local knowledge and expertise fine-tunes them.

AlphaRoute optimizes your existing stops through smarter stop sequencing and stop consolidation. We'll never suggest new bus stop locations for your district. That takes a level of local expertise only your transportation team has.

Bell time optimization adjusts school start and end times to reduce the number of buses on the road. Our algorithms can also model multiple bell time scenarios, showing how your transportation solution would change if start times moved later, earlier, further apart or closer together.

It depends on the project, but you'll almost always share information on your fleet, school locations and bell times, students, and bus stop locations. Some projects need more. For example, bus tracking requires information on the GPS devices on your buses.

Implementation can be sped up or stretched out to fit your timeline. We usually recommend a slower rollout because it's easier to manage. Some districts have phased in successfully over several months; others have gone live in a few weeks. Whatever your timeline, we support you through every phase.

It's your call. AlphaRoute can run alongside your current software for as long as you need, so you can phase out your existing system as you phase in ours. If you'd rather make a one-time switch, we support that too.

Yes. Every new customer gets a dedicated customer success team to manage the migration of your data, with recurring check-ins to keep the transition on track. Once you're live, that team stays your point of contact. Questions, feedback and feature requests are logged and followed up on, so you always hear back from us.

Reach out to the data analyst who set up your software or solution. You can also contact any member of our Customer Success team, and they'll connect you with the right person.

Only for bus tracking, which requires a GPS device on each bus. If your buses already have GPS, we'll work with what you've got. If not, we partner with Geotab and can help you get the equipment you need.

Yes. We'll work with your district to find the hardware that fits your needs, including QR or RFID student scanning, rugged tablets with RAM mounting hardware, and GPS devices for your buses.

When your buses run both a GPS device and a driver tablet, our software pulls location pings from both sources. That makes it far less likely a bus ever goes dark on the map.

Automatically. AlphaPortal syncs with the data in AlphaPlan, our routing software module.

Each module takes work off a different part of your team, and they all share the same data.

• AlphaPlan (routing): Simple, easy-to-use routing that lightens the load on your routers. Built-in algorithms suggest more efficient routes, optimize stop order and path of travel, and auto-assign new students to transportation based on your eligibility rules.
• AlphaSchool (schools): Gives school staff visibility into transportation, including viewing and managing transportation requests for their students and tracking the buses that serve their school.
• AlphaPortal (parents): Lets parents submit transportation requests, view their student's transportation information and track their student's bus, all in one app.
• AlphaDrive (drivers): Digital routes with audible turn-by-turn directions, pre- and post-trip inspections from the tablet, live messages from dispatch, incident reporting, student ridership tracking and more.
• AlphaView (operations): Lets dispatchers and office staff track buses in real time, follow progress along each route, and pull historical reports on routes as driven. It also covers inspection reports, driver and vehicle availability, student tracking, and vehicle diagnostics and events.
• AlphaCom (communications): Makes it easy to reach families with templated, scheduled and personalized messages about late buses, registration deadlines, substitute buses and more. Automated messages go out when requests are approved or denied, and when students are picked up or dropped off.
• AlphaCore (permissions): Customize access so every user has exactly the permissions they need, no more and no less, and personalize the experience for your team and families.

Any web browser, plus any iOS or Android device.

Standard reports include student tracking, on-time performance, substitutions and inspections, plus reports on students, schools, runs, stops, fleet and more.