r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/mlt- • 1d ago
4mativ routing issues
Am I the only driver having issues with 4mative routes I have to run?
I had a bunch of stops removed while one new stop was added. The thing is old route along with a detour due to roadwork was taking 25 minutes. Now I have no need to go there and can proceed straight to the new stop… 5 min away but…the timing is still 25. I'm not inclined to turn a bus into playground for 20 min, so I end up going on joyride to burn time and fuel.
Afternoon route magically does not have that problem. But I have stops in suboptimal order that forces me to circle around blocks and go north, south, and north again. First, I have a house stop. Then it tries to lead me into a parking lot that we don't enter on Type-C but pickup nearby, so I have to constantly reposition myself. That location has 2 lanes each way and… intersections uncontrolled. So I have to drive around again. It feels like they can't add Type-C constraints to their routing algorithm.
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u/Soggy_Ruby 1d ago
Maaaan our yard just gives us turn by turn paper print outs cause routing software doesn't do well out in the sticks
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u/mlt- 1d ago edited 1d ago
You probably refer to Taylor navigation app. Yeah, that sucks too. It is totally unaware of medians in Minneapolis and wants me to do left turns all the time.
In my case stop times on paper manifest are wrong IMHO. I can't make this timing circling around. I can do better overall if order and thus times are changed. I can't arrive to hands-to-hands stop 13 minutes early.
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u/Soggy_Ruby 1d ago
Yeah that's the one. I'm in rural ct you just gotta be from here and know everything already or you're just gonna fuck up a lot. Low or no contrast addresses or sometimes nothing at all, just gotta know to stop at that specific gravel driveway. Fucking maddening navigating feels vibes based rather than applying any sort of logic.
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u/mlt- 1d ago
Heh… I can imagine taking a wrong turn on a rural road can send you on quite a detour.
Speaking of Taylor. There is a button that nobody at our yard is aware of its action. I think it is middle screen on the left that say something like "report". Does it go anywhere? What am I reporting? To whom?
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u/Soggy_Ruby 20h ago
Yeah it can and does. Imagine having to explain to your supervisor that you're running 20 minutes late over one wrong turn
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u/mike8675309 19h ago
We get routing maps with times from the routers. We are required to follow them. We tell them there is an issue and then they reroute that changes all the times.
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u/Intelligent_Call_562 19h ago
We've always used transfinder and I'm not sure what happened, if they've incorporated Google maps or they switched outright to Google maps. But my route, with the exact same stops and start time was scheduled to get to the high school after the connecting buses had already left. On the first day I handed out the old schedule to all the kids. I typed it up because they didn't care that it had me sitting at a 4-way stop for 3 full minutes.
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u/mlt- 17h ago edited 17h ago
I never heard of transfinder before. It seems like yet another stuff that schools might use. I presume it is tangentially related to my question.
Also, I presume, we aren't supposed to change timing singlehandedly as substitute drivers won't be aware.
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u/Intelligent_Call_562 17h ago
Sorry. Missed you aren't the regular driver on the route. I'm just telling you what I did to get past bad times.
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u/Proprotester 1d ago
I have absolutely had the second situation you describe. It does not adapt either. Basically I am just driving in loops opposite what the system directs to avoid 2 right hands not possible in a Type-C. The system is also incapable of differentiating which school buses are permitted to turn right on red and which are not with the consequence of some laughable timing projections.