Sheffield City Council (SCC) is another local authority to turn to mapping and routing software from QRoutes to improve its special education needs (SEN) transport operation, which uses 160 vehicles including a fleet of minibuses.
SCC trialled QRoutes in 2017, and started to configure the system to its requirements. The software is now in full use. From this month it will be SCC’s main routing tool, planning and continually fine-tuning approximately 145 SEN services.
Says Senior Transport Officer Mike Keen: “We spent a long time looking for software that could handle SEN transport. We couldn’t find anything and the products on offer were very costly.
“Then we heard that a new system was being developed specifically for SEN: QRoutes. It was clear that the solution had tremendous potential and since working with QRoutes, its designers have been very receptive to developing the software to meet our needs.”
QRoutes is web-based, making it is affordable and requiring minimal IT support. Multi-layered mapping allows the user to see as many routes as they wish, and revised route plans can be produced in seconds.
