BusPlan vs RollCall

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.

RollCall provides school bus management and duty-of-care tools for schools and bus operators. Students tap on and off during journeys, updating parents and school staff with real-time journey information. Families can use the parent app to track buses, manage absences and bus changes, and make payments. Smart Route uses verified stops to help schools plan routes and reduce student transit times. Bus Guardian records a bus check when a driver or supervisor taps the control board at the back of the bus. Listed integrations include TASS, Sentral, Veracross, Compass, FACTS, Wonde, payment providers, and Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace sign-in. Schools connect their own payment provider, and RollCall says it takes no cut of payments. Its managed service supplies and runs devices and SIMs, and handles enrolment and support. RollCall states that its information security management system is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified, data is hosted in AWS Sydney and encrypted in transit, and security specialists conduct monthly penetration tests. The parent app is free; schools or operators subscribe at tailored pricing, with a quote or demo requested.