Artificial Intelligence Routing System

The Vendor is required to provide information on AI-driven efficiency solutions capable of analyzing current student transportation operations and delivering data-driven recommendations to improve operational performance, reduce costs, and enhance service reliability.
- Solution must complement and integrate with the Division’s existing routing and transportation management system.
- The primary objectives of this initiative include:
•    Reducing inefficiencies related to fleet utilization, mileage, and labor
•    Improving multi-tier routing and asset utilization
•    Evaluating bell time configurations and alternative service models
•    Supporting executive-level decision-making through clear, transparent, and explainable analytics
- Solution, addressing the following:
•    Research and evidence demonstrating experience with similar technologies and K–12 clients
•    Tiered levels of customer and technical support
•    System capacity to support both yellow bus and non-bus (white fleet) operations
•    Available resources and support services
•    Integration approach and requirements
•    Implementation and system setup process
•    Data management practices, including year-over-year data handling
•    Reporting capabilities and analytics features
•    Professional development and training (initial and ongoing)
•    Software update and upgrade processes, including frequency
•    Roles and responsibilities of the Division in system maintenance and upgrades
•    Ongoing technical support services
- Operating Environment
•    System must be compatible with Transfinder Routefinder PLUS 
•    System should operate under Microsoft Windows 11
•    System should be able to run on a virtualized server.
•    System should work on Windows Server 2022 or higher or provide cloud-based solution (Preferred)
•    Please provide a list of minimum and recommended hardware configurations.
•    System should use Microsoft SQL Server as the system database.
•    The database must allow the District to connect to the database with third party software, if desired.
•    All proposed software systems should come with electronic, context-sensitive help files.
- System Security
•    The system shall provide MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) capabilities. 
•    The system shall provide the necessary data security to meet CIPA and FERPA requirements in protection of student data.
•    The system shall provide encrypted connections for the transport and storage of all data.
•    Access rights should be defined by user groups, with each member of the group inheriting the group rights.
•    Each user should be assigned a unique user ID and password.
•    The system should support Active Directory.
•    System provides a fine grain of control over functional elements of the system so that users may be allowed “view,” “edit” and/or “print” abilities.
•    System provides multiple levels of access to different functionalities, such as read-only or full read-write access.
•    Browser-based applications should provide for the use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption or better.
- Reporting
•    The system should give the user the ability to create user-defined reports without vendor intervention.
•    The system should be able to provide a speeding report with official posted speeds for each road already populated and updated as required.  System should also allow customizable travel speeds for individual streets and specific areas.
•    The system should be able to provide arrival/Bell time reports for each school within our geographical areas of responsibility.
•    The system should include the ability to restore and report on any archived data.
•    The user should be able to alter fonts and font sizes on reports.
•    The user should be able to drag and drop fields on the report to change their location on the output.
•    The system should be able to store frequently used (user-defined) custom reports that all users can access.
•    The system should all reports to be printed to standard file formats, such as .XLS, .RTF, .XHTML, .HTML, and .PDF
•    The system report writer should have the ability to create charts and text.
- Route Consolidation and Optimization
•    The system shall analyze existing route structures and identify consolidation opportunities, including projected cost, time, and resource impact, before any changes are committed.
•    AI recommendations shall account for tiers, bell times, ride time limits, walk distance thresholds, and all district policy constraints already established in the existing routing platform.
•    The system shall support analysis of resource assignments and vehicle utilization across multiple transportation tiers, including shared vehicle and driver utilization recommendations.