Busology Tech Routing & Scheduling vs BusPlan

Busology Tech Routing & Scheduling is school transportation software for planning routes and managing schedules across K-12 operations. It generates optimized routes and supports adjustments for road closures, absences, and special needs. Schedules can cover a day, week, or term, with one-time or recurring changes, and teams can model future plans without altering the live system. Routing can account for IEP and accessibility requirements, equipment checks, travel restrictions, and curbside pickup. The platform provides real-time bus tracking and route updates to drivers’ onboard tablets, and the maker says it integrates with most school ERP and student information systems. Parent, Admin, and Driver apps provide tracking, alerts, route updates, and communication; the Parent app is also described as available on desktop. Implementation includes one-on-one training, setup guides, and system integration, with timing varying by district size and bus count. Pricing is on request and varies by bus count and feature level. The service lists Android, iOS, and web platforms.

BusPlan is a free, open-source tool for school districts that generates optimized routes from existing student, stop, and school-location data. It seeks to minimize bus driving time and can impose a maximum student ride-time constraint. The workflow accepts CSV files for locations, students, candidate stops, stop eligibility, and garage bus limits. Preparation instructions create candidate stops within one mile of each student and calculate walking-distance eligibility. OpenStreetMap extracts are used to build OpenTripPlanner routing graphs, which supply route costs. OptaPlanner provides the constraint-solving engine. Results are CSV files listing ordered stops for each route and assigning students to route-and-stop combinations. A script calculates student ride times, and a Jupyter notebook supports route analysis. BusPlan is distributed as source code and setup instructions on GitHub under the Apache License, Version 2.0. The repository does not list a packaged desktop or mobile download or a support service.