Coxsackie-Athens CSD Logs Savings of $75,000 in School Transportation Budget.
Coxsackie-Athens CSD Logs Savings of $75,000 in Transportation Budget
According to articles in the The Daily Mail, Coxsackie, New York’s local newspaper, and the April 2009 issue of School Transportation News, a national publication, Ted Nugent, transportation supervisor for the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District, estimated savings of $75,000 using Routefinder Pro from Transfinder Corporation.
District Profile
Located in a rural community just 19 miles south of Albany, New York, the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District enrolls approximately 1600 students in grades K-12. Coxsackie Elementary School (Grades K-4), Coxsackie-Athens Middle School (Grades 5-8) and the High School (Grades 9-12) all share one campus in the Village of Coxsackie. Edward J. Arthur Elementary School, also a K-4 building, is in the Village of Athens. The district boasts outstanding facilities all of which were recently upgraded in a capital project completed in 2000 with the opening of a new middle school.
SITUATION
Ted Nugent took the helm of the transportation department in 2007. When he arrived everything was “on paper.” The good news for the district was that Nugent brought with him knowledge of Transfinder’s Routefinder Pro routing software solution, which he had used at another school district. He knew the benefits of moving from a manual approach to routing buses and transporting students to a computer-assisted one, and he immediately went into action.
Increased diesel fuel costs had already caused the district to transfer an additional $30,000 into the transportation budget during its last fiscal year to cover expenses. Nugent purchased Transfinder’s solution and started reviewing the entire operation.
SOLUTION
According to Nugent, making the transition from a pen-and-paper approach to Routefinder Pro saved him when he needed it most. For example, the year before he arrived buses traveled approximately 272,500 miles, and after reviewing the district’s 2007 routes, he was able to reduce total mileage to 222,000, saving 50,500 miles worth of diesel fuel. Also, by analyzing where students lived and how they were getting to school, the software showed Nugent that he could use just 12 elementary school routes instead of the 16 he had. By eliminating some routes with one of his two contractors, he also moved from around 60 percent capacity to more than 90 percent capacity.
BENEFITS
Besides the obvious cost savings – a major benefit to any school district - students in this largely rural area are benefiting from Nugent’s use of Routefinder Pro.
Since the savings will remain in the transportation budget, services like field trips and athletic team trips – many of which are being cut by school districts across the country – are still being provided to students in the Coxsackie-Athens CSD.
As Nugent said, “We have maximized our efficiency by utilizing the capacity of our buses, and given the savings we are looking at, we are not planning on cutting any services.”
SOURCES:
The Daily Mail, “Coxsackie-Athens transportation Chief Estimates $75,000 Savings,” August 27, 2008
School Transportation News, “Cutting Routes, Not Service,” p. 45, April 2009
