Municipalities Mini-Series: School Bus Fleets

Municipalities Mini-Series: School Bus Fleets

Welcome to the first part of our mini-series on municipalities applications. School systems have numerous fleets to manage in their operations. Whether it be school buses, building and grounds equipment, or district loaner cars, utilizing a smart fleet management tool is beneficial in many ways. You can improve your operations by lowering costs, increasing safety, and extending the life of the equipment.

Using a fleet management system with GPS, filter life, and security capabilities is one of the simplest, most cost-effective ways to better protect your people and your school.

Predictive Benefits to Proactive Fleet Management: 

1. Extends the life of vehicles and equipment.

• School bus fleets represent one of the most capital-intensive aspects of a school’s budget. Investing in new school buses or administrative fleets is no small decision and caring for these assets is top of mind.  
• Senzit’s predictive maintenance platform will help prolong the life of your fleets by monitoring filter life, engine hours, and the overall health of the equipment. You can optimize your maintenance schedules as Senzit learns what each piece of equipment needs. 

2. Reduces maintenance spending. 

• Regular maintenance on buses and landscaping equipment usually consists of oil and filter changes. These costs can quickly add up when you’re changing them before it’s needed. To maximize the life of filters and minimize your costs, predictive maintenance platforms can pinpoint exactly when you’ll need to make repairs in the future.  
• Senzit can notify the needed personnel when a piece of machinery or bus reaches their filter capacity or engine hour requirements for an oil change. This keeps you from prematurely changing oil and filters when some buses may sit idle over the summer or are used in less rotation.  

3. Tracks your assets. 

• Lost and stolen equipment is a problem NO ONE wants to deal with, especially when it comes to your buses sitting outside during the summer. You don’t need us to tell you how expensive these things are to replace, and it can lead to a logistical nightmare if school is in session.  
• You can track all of your equipment through Senzits web portal and mobile app. With live data displays, you can ensure your buses aren’t moving after hours, and especially if they’re off course.  

4. Can improve communication. 

• Having clear communication between bus drivers and operations back at school is a clear-cut way to keep your bus routes running smoothly. Senzit’s GPS feature will allow you to locate any driver at any point in time. If drivers take a wrong turn and need help navigating, you’ll have their back, too!  
• Senzits platform can also help you communicate between cross-functional departments within your school systems. Whether you’re scheduling maintenance or reviewing bus drivers’ hours after school, the platform will empower you with all the data you need to make decisions and communicate clearly. 

5. Keeps your fleets running on time. 

• A platform with GPS capabilities can show you where each bus is on its route, allowing you to better manage departure times. You can dispatch specific vehicles to the right locations with one look at the platform’s dashboard. 
• Senzit can ensure your resources are being put to work where they’re needed most. And when a parent calls wondering why their child’s school bus hasn’t arrived at their stop yet, you’ll be able to pull up the exact location of that bus. 

6. State of the Art Machine Learning Delta-P Algorithm.

• Platforms that use a smart, machine-learning, based algorithm go the extra mile for your fleets. These systems aren’t a “One Size Fits All”, and neither are your buses!  
• Every machine’s maintenance needs are different, and a tool that can personalize your needs to what each machine needs will save you money and time in service. Over the lifetime of your bus fleets and lawn care equipment, Senzit will learn how each individual piece of equipment is operated, and send you predicted maintenance alerts throughout your subscription.  

Investing in technology to maintain your most important assets is crucial to keeping your operations running smoothly. Senzit’s predictive maintenance platform can help you keep your buses and other fleets at your school running smoothly.  

Implementing numerous forms of scheduled maintenance and tracking is helpful, regardless of what programs you use. If you’re looking…try to find a program with GPS tracking, maintenance optimization, and alerts. This will get most of your bases covered! As for other goodies, filter health is always the utmost priority for mechanical fleets and you’ll want to find software with that too. Senzit has all of those features and a handful of other bonuses we think you should check out! 

Our platform utilizes predictive maintenance and machine-based learning to minimize your costs and maximize your productivity. This will keep your operations running like a well-oiled machine! (HA HA, get it??) 

Still weighing your options for predictive maintenance platforms that get smarter over time to manage your fleet? Good; as you should! But when you find Senzit could be your best option, we’re only a call away.  

You can reach us at 919-920-7920 or info@senzit.io.