The pupil transportation program at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) has received local, state, and national recognition in three areas for over a quarter century. First in pupil transportation research in the early 1980’s, which dealt with issues of school bus safety, camera enforcement, seatbelts on school buses, and the use of GPS on school buses. These activities culminated in the creation of the school transportation group in 1999 and graduating the first Ph.D. student (and now a professor) with a focus in school transportation.
Second, this group has pioneered the development and training of the Transportation Information Management System, better known as TIMS. In fact, North Carolina is still the only state in the nation with a statewide implementation of this computer-assisted school bus routing system.
Third, is the Operations Research/ Education laboratory, where the pupil transportation group uses a model of, “Integrated Planning for School and Community,” to inform school system planning and decision-making in the state on factors such as enrollment forecasting and land use and their effects of long-term decisions related to school site locations and redistricting. This long track record of successes will continue to have a positive impact on the safety, operations, and long-term viability of school transportation in North Carolina.
Pupil Transportation Group Achievements
In November 2005, the very first Perley A. Thomas Award was given to the pupil transportation group for achievement and innovation in the field of School Bus Transportation. The award was named after the founder of Thomas Built Buses, a High Point, North Carolina School Bus design company and national leader in the school bus industry.
The group has achieved a few of the nations "firsts":
- First interactive web based school bus safety Web site
- First application using digital camera to address school bus stop arm violations
- First use of GPS to track school bus through route travel
- First to researched and developed typical school bus “driving cycle” in urban/suburban areas for a hybrid/electric school bus
- First to developed best practices for managing school campus traffic circulation
- First to evaluate of three-point restraint seats in school buses
- First to collaborate with school systems for long range school planning
Details for each pupil transportation program's history
Transportation Information Management System (TIMS)
- Installed the first Transportation Information Management System (TIMS) in Durham and Cumberland counties (1986)
- Received award in the category of Operations Automation by the Urban and Regional Information System Association (URISA) (1993)
- First in the nation with statewide installation of computer-assisted school bus routing and scheduling system (TIMS) (1994)
- Develop and conduct training courses using the TIMS software system across the state (1987- present)
- Statewide TIMS User Conference (1991- present)
- First in the nation to incorporate "bus route hazard warning" as a result of Fox River Grove school bus and train crash incidents (1999)
- First in the nation to use Global Positioning Systems to track a school bus (1999)
- Supported the first Ph.D. student in the nation with study emphasis on multi-modal school transportation (2003)
School Transportation Group
- Established School Transportation Group jointly with UNC Highway Safety Research Center to address multi-modal school transportation issues (2000)
- Applied Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) to address illegal passing of school buses while loading/unloading passengers (1999)
- Received national award on Best State Manual for the development of "Special Needs Require Special Care, A Guide for the Transportation of Preschoolers and Children with Disabilities for North Carolina Public Schools" (2003)
Operations Research and Education Laboratory (OR/Ed. Lab)
- Established Operations Research and Education Laboratory (OR/Ed. Lab) to assist school districts to forecast student population enrollment and to produce optimal solutions for future school sites and attendance boundaries (2000)
- Expanded operation beyond North Carolina school districts with the first out of state project in Rock Hill, South Carolina (2003)
View ITRE's History Pages including annual reports, photos, and funding.
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