The BookBus Tracking Project - scheduling journeys
Discuss the role of the BookBus in keeping school libraries up to date. Discuss the principles of the tracking system and the data it compiles. Consider the problem of planning the schedule for the BookBus's visits to schools in Cambridgeshire across the school year.
What information is needed to plan BookBus schedule?
Number of visits to be made per year (number of schools x frequency of visit to each school).
Length of time required on site (may depend on type and size of school - limits number of visits possible per day).
Length of time required travelling (depends on distance, type of road, consideration of vehicle type, expected factors (time of day and rush hour, seasonal weather variations), unpredictable factors (roadworks, adverse weather - consider contingency).
What hours available for visits? - school hours.
How many days available? - term time days only.
Preference for visits earlier in term rather than later? Are any particular days preferred by the schools?
Consider other factors -
e.g. maintenance of vehicles
Desirable factors in planning: reduce overall mileage, and fuel costs.
Minimise days on road (allows stock to be refreshed, vehicle to be maintained, staff to attend training days etc).
Make some predictions about the number of schools visited per day. If more than one, make predictions about the relationships between the schools (likely to be close together to reduce mileage).
Make predictions about the average speed for the bus; typical journey lengths; average mileage per day.
Examine a workbook log for the bus's activity over a week. Look at the data for one day (e.g. Monday) and describe the activity of the vehicle (do a "walk through" for each trip - where and when it started, where it finished, what kind of journey it was (look at distance and average speed). Use the embedded mapping data to locate start and end points to identify the route taken. (Call up the full data for that day to get route details if required). Identify areas where the bus may have been moving more slowly or making better progress.
Use the whole week's data to test your predictions for the number of visits, journey lengths, average speed, relationship between schools.
Extract data to calculate the % of the working day that the bus is on the road (i.e. being driven) during the week.
How might these factors be different for different vehicles e.g. a delivery van? Compare the bus data with the sample workbook for a car. List some differences between the activities of the two vehicles. Use the summary data and the individual days' data (this will give more detail, such as range of start and finish times, frequency of petrol stops etc).