Context

The transport planning team at East Sussex organises home-to-school journeys for Torfield School in Hastings, a split-site SEN facility with campuses two miles apart.

Historically, this provision was delivered by a single contractor. By 2019, the contract covered 21 routes and over 300 passenger miles daily, costing the council approximately £836,500 per year.

Challenge

The primary barrier to efficiency was the manual planning process.

• Time intensive: Planners relied on Google Maps, spending 6-7 hours to plan a single SEN school.
• Rigid: Because the manual process was so slow, the team lacked the time to test alternative scenarios or vehicle mixes.

Uncertainty: As Robert Sullivan, Principal Transport Officer, noted: “When routes have been manually planned there’s always the niggle that it could be better.”

Stage 1: Automated scenario planning

With the contract up for retender, the council used the opportunity to plan provision from scratch using QRoutes. The goal was to optimise routes for a fleet of 16-seat and 8-seat vehicles, ensuring no journey exceeded 75 minutes.

The speed of the software allowed the team to move from ‘hours to minutes’ when planning.

• Initial output: The software proposed reducing the network from 21 routes to 11, cutting mileage by nearly half.
• Real-world adjustments: Over the summer, pupil lists changed (6 leavers, 6 joiners). Unlike manual planning, where this would require a full replan, the team quickly modified the solution in QRoutes to accommodate the new starters.

The final, operational model settled on 15 routes – still a reduction of 6 routes compared to the previous contract.

Stage 2: Stakeholder engagement

Efficiency changes often cause anxiety for families, so the council paired the new routes with a strong engagement strategy.

• Consultation: The council consulted pupil groups early, agreeing on larger vehicles with a higher staff-to-pupil ratio.
• Familiarisation: When a new operator won the tender, families and children were invited to a ‘familiarisation visit’ to meet the drivers and the council team before the first day of school.
• Peer support: The school elected ‘taxi monitors’ and prefects for vehicles with three or more occupants, helping on-board staff manage the journey.

Outcome

The move to automated planning had an immediate impact. The daily transport cost dropped from £4,402 to £2,956 – a 33% saving.

Based on these results, Robert Sullivan commented that “extrapolated across SEN and mainstream schools across the rest of the region, total savings are expected to exceed £1 million.”

Key results

• Financial: Annual saving of ~£275,000 on a single school contract.
• Operational: Reduced fleet requirement from 21 vehicles to 15.
• Environmental: Cut daily mileage by 115 miles.
• Pupil welfare: Saved 3.26 hours of combined pupil travel time every day.