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Enhancing Operational Efficiency Through a Digital Overhaul of the Route Allocation Process

Enhancing Operational Efficiency Through a Digital Overhaul of the Route Allocation Process

About North America Central School Bus

September 25, 2025

North America Central School Bus partnered with a student team from Northwestern’s Client Project Challenge to modernize how routes are allocated to drivers. The project focused on creating a transparent and auditable process that honors driver preferences and contractual constraints while minimizing manual effort.

Project at a glance

  • Goal: Digitize and streamline route allocation while respecting ranked preferences and site-specific contract rules.
  • Scope: Prototype built on real contracts and rosters from three locations; designed to generalize across additional sites.
  • Deliverables: A modified Gale–Shapley deferred‑acceptance matching engine, a web-based front end for managers and staff, diagnostic/trace logs, and implementation documentation.

What the team did
At the core of the solution is a modified version of the Gale–Shapley stable‑matching algorithm (the deferred‑acceptance method), part of work recognized by the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. The algorithm helps construct fair, explainable matches between drivers and routes based on ranked preferences and hard constraints.

The team cleaned and standardized source data, codified site‑specific contract rules, and designed a workflow that enables remote participation—transitioning what had been an on‑site, long session into a structured digital process. A browser‑based interface allows managers to upload lists, run the match, review diagnostics, and generate documentation for internal inquiries.

“Jonathan, Aiden, Humza, and Aden were excellent. Exceeded expectations. Even more impressive was how well they worked together. Each took ownership of a key aspect and saw it through to the end. It was clear they had a strong sense of coordination and accountability, even with the challenges of balancing complex schedules. There was a point where I expected we’d need to scale back due to data limitations and project complexity, but the team stayed persistent and found creative workarounds. True grit! They demonstrated advanced comprehension, problem-solving, and process mapping...”

— Cafria Hart, Vice President of Operations, North America Central School Bus

 

Why it matters

  • Gives managers a transparent, auditable way to allocate routes while honoring preferences and contracts.
  • Enables remote participation so sites no longer need to gather in person to finalize assignments.
  • Reduces processing time from ~18 hours to as little as ~2 hours in trials.
  • Creates a scalable template for other locations beyond the three pilot sites.

“The team delivered real value. They surfaced data gaps we hadn’t seen, moved our route assignment workflow from on‑site to remote, and cut processing time from about 18 hours to as little as 2. We’ve committed resources to carry this forward—including hiring an NU alum—and expect to roll out first at the three pilot locations with a path to scale more broadly.”


— Jason Walker, Chief Executive Officer, North America Central School Bus

 

Team
Northwestern student team: Aden Benson, Aiden McCoy, Humza Khan, Jonathan Wu.
Faculty advisor: Minshuo Chen
Client sponsors: Heather Ramirez, Scott Allen, Cafria Hart, and Jason Walker.

 

About North America Central School Bus

North America Central School Bus, founded in 2004, is a rapidly growing company dedicated to prioritizing safety and delivering quality transportation services. With experienced local managers in communities nationwide, we are your reliable partner for school bus transportation needs.

Our mission is to provide safe, reliable, and efficient transportation services that enrich the communities we serve. We strive to be the industry leader in exceptional safety, customer service, and support, exceeding expectations one community, one person, and one experience at a time.

North America Central School Bus operates in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Iowa, Texas and Ontario.