PRODUCT
QROUTES
QRoutes is a set of tools for optimising shared journeys when costs, carbon, and journey experience really matter. It’s designed for SEND (and mainstream) transport planners who know and care about what good looks like, and want to find savings of 10%-20% more than competing optimisation products.
What is QRoutes
optimisation?
Route optimisation is the process of finding the most efficient way from A to B minimising time, distance, or cost, while also considering factors like traffic, road conditions, and vehicle capacity.
Optimising school routes has the additional challenges of accommodating students’ individual social and mobility needs, and their maximum allowed travel time.
Reducing SEN and mainstream transport costs through smarter routing
80% of local authorities exceed their home to school transport budget. In some cases authorities spend more on a child’s transport to school than on their school place. Route optimisation helps to find safe, shared journeys which reduce the costs associated with children’s home to school transport leaving more money for their education.
Features
Roadworks
See upcoming roadworks when planning routes. Stay in control of cost variations and manage your client’s experience.
Vantage users can sign up for automated alerts of when a route is impacted by roadworks.
Restricted access areas
Clean air zones, low traffic neighbourhoods and school streets are increasingly common. You can now overlay these in QRoutes to see which routes are affected.
Vantage users can specify which vehicles can and can’t pass through restricted areas (without picking up or dropping off).
Designed to meet all your clients’ mobility needs
QRoutes allows you to see the individual in the crowd by customising how much space they need in a vehicle, how long they need to board, their maximum travel time, and who they can and can’t travel with.
Create your own vehicle fleets
Build fleets from a combination of vehicles – either generic or specified. Add their height and width (or use our provided estimates) to check the feasibility of those vehicles accessing narrow roads or passing under low bridges. Include distance to-and-from depots in the route optimisation.
Why this matters
Spiralling costs threaten services
Pressure on budgets is relentless, but authorities need to preserve vital services. QRoutes helps you meet the complex needs of these passengers while keeping costs down, typically saving 10-20% compared to competing route optimisers.
Shared transport helps clients to have more independence
In many authorities, the use of single occupancy taxis puts a huge drain on resources. QRoutes enables you to quickly find safe, shared journeys that better prepare clients for travelling independently on public transport.
Tailored to your client’s individual needs
QRoutes technology finds efficient solutions that meet each client’s individual mobility needs including extra space in the vehicle, extra time to board, and who can and can’t travel together.
Where QRoutes can
help you do more
Optimise routes and streamline planning. QRoutes’ proprietary algorithm intelligently groups passengers to reduce trips, mileage, and fuel consumption.
Cut reliance on single-occupancy vehicles, improving efficiency and reducing costs.
Apply SEN-specific criteria such as Must Travel Alone, Passenger Assistant Required, or Accessible Vehicle Needed to plan safely and compliantly.
Model multiple scenarios in minutes to compare costs, timings, and vehicle options.
Share clear, visual route plans with colleagues and transport operators.
Provide evidence-based decisions backed by timings, distances, and cost comparisons.
Respond quickly to mid-year changes such as new placements, school moves, or operator issues.
QPATHS
QPaths helps local authorities quickly assess the distance eligibility for home to school transport requests by identifying pupils’ shortest safe walking routes, closest school, and catchments.
Delivering SEN services is not easy as there are so many conflicting interests at play and every day we are dealing with many different personal requirements. QRoutes is a tool that saves us a lot of time simulating different potential options and that frees us up to deal with all those pressing service issues.
Mike Keen
Senior Transport Officer
Sheffield City Council
Latest insights
Resilient Networks, Defensible Budgets
Resilient Networks, Defensible Budgets is a practical guide for senior leaders on building a school transport service that’s more inclusive, more resilient and significantly more cost-effective
QRoutes joins G‑Cloud 15
QRoutes has been appointed to the UK Government’s G‑Cloud 15 framework, allowing public‑sector organisations to use the platform to procure its cloud‑based SaaS solutions – QRoutes Pro, QRoutes Vantage, and QPaths.
Will the new PM save school transport? A look at Andy Burnham's agenda
There’s plenty in the new PM’s agenda that touches home-to-school transport, but most of it either lands years from now or doesn’t help with the thing councils are actually struggling with: the £2.32 billion spent on school transport in 2023-24. Here’s a run through of the key points on his transport agenda.