Forty school buses, no surprise road closures

Saeed coordinates transport for a group of eight schools in Abu Dhabi. Forty buses, three thousand children. A closure on a bus route usually reaches him as an angry call from a parent. The driver finds the roadworks at six forty, turns back, and forty children reach class late. Saeed spends his mornings on the phone, rerouting by guesswork. With xMap Flows, Saeed built Pathfinder. Every school day at half past five, for every stop on his forty routes, Pathfinder checks for closures and roadworks nearby, keeps the routes that are hit, writes each driver a simple detour, and posts it in the drivers’ channel. At five thirty, Pathfinder flags three closures near eleven stops. Each driver already has the detour before turning the key. Every bus reaches school on time, and Saeed drinks his coffee while it is still hot. The roadworks still appear overnight. They just stopped making children late.

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