The Hernando County Schools Director of Transportation, Ralph Leath, provided an update to the ongoing issues with Synovia Solutions, a company which uses GPS monitoring to provide data. Many companies utilize GPS monitoring to track their fleet, analyze where they can improve efficiency, and for maintenance needs. For Hernando County Schools, the goal was to provide security for students on the buses by ensuring students were being picked up and dropped off at correct stops, determine the most efficient routes, and provide a better time and attendance method for drivers, thereby saving the district funding.
The contract with Synovia was approved in December 2014 and installation of the hardware and software the next month, but there have been shortfalls in what was promised. Leath’s last report to the HCSB at the workshop on 03/08/16 outlined some concerns that Transportation has had, problems which have taken more than a year to correct. At the HCSB regular board meeting that evening, the Board voted to direct their attorney to draft a 45-day notice of their failure to meet the terms of the contract and provide the agreed upon services.
Leath’s presentation of the current issues showed there have been additional improvements due to the corrective action plan, but not everything is working smoothly yet. Synovia’s director of customer service came to Hernando County at the end of March to update tablets to version 2 and also update bar code readers. From that point, any software updates would be wireless. While the computers have updated and are now on version 5, the tablets are still on version 2, Leath said.
Two schools were part of a pilot program to determine ridership accuracy in April, but in May, Leath increased the program to include four additional schools for a total of 40 buses, and the accuracy reached 96.7%, which is greater than the 95% benchmark figure. This involves scanning a student’s ID card to ensure that a student is on the correct bus and is getting on/off at the correct stop. This was one of the concerns discussed in March which has been corrected.
Other benchmarks that Leath is measuring include payroll reporting, where the driver logs in/out on the tablet. This is expected to be implemented across for all drivers for the 2016-2017 school year, and is being tested during the Extended School Year.
Leath stated the most helpful item in the Synovia package is the ability to view the buses in “real time” on his computer. Tropical Storm Colin gave him an opportunity to utilize this option, which was critical for student safety. With early dismissal, Leath was able to see which buses were still on the road with students and which were returning to the bus compound.
The tablet issues cause problems with efficiency as the tablets must be synced often due to the out of date software. A weekly conference call is held to discuss the difficulties that Leath is having with functionality of the tablets. The functions are available on the computer, but Leath states he would need to manually update the 150 tablets to bring them up to the correct version.
Problems with software notwithstanding, Leath feels the value of the program is priceless in terms of child safety. While time and attendance will benefit the district in cost savings with reduction of overtime, and GPS monitoring and ridership accuracy will benefit the district in determining routes and where students access the bus, Leath states child safety is his paramount concern.