A small school bus shop is busy every day, but busy isn't the same as good. A few numbers, looked at once a month, show whether the fleet is getting healthier or slowly falling behind: buses serviced on time, how much work is planned versus surprise, and what each bus really costs.
Here are the school bus fleet maintenance KPIs worth watching, what each one tells you, and how to get them without a spreadsheet.
The numbers
| KPI | What it tells you | Aim for |
|---|---|---|
| PM on time | Share of preventive services done by their due date | As close to 100% as you can |
| Overdue PM | Services past due right now | None, or very few |
| Planned vs unplanned work | How much of the shop's work was scheduled | Mostly planned |
| Road calls | Breakdowns on a route | Fewer each year |
| Buses out of service | Buses not ready to run today | Fewer than your spares |
| Cost per mile | All-in cost divided by miles | Steady, compared bus to bus |
| Maintenance cost per bus | Labor and parts per bus a year | Look hard at the highest |
| Fleet utilization | How much each bus is used | Few buses sitting idle |
Tip: Start with two: overdue PM and planned vs unplanned work. If those are good, most of the others follow.
Reading them
- Rising unplanned work usually means PM is slipping, or a group of buses is getting old.
- One bus with a high cost per mile is a candidate for replacement, or a sign of a repeat repair that isn't fixed.
- More buses out of service than spares means routes go late or uncovered.
- Low utilization on some buses means you may have more spares than you need.
A monthly routine
- Pick a day each month, such as the first Monday.
- Pull the same reports each time, for the month just ended.
- Compare with last month and last year, not just this month alone.
- Choose one thing to fix, such as the three buses with the most repairs.
- Share the numbers with the shop, so they see the result of their work.
Good to know: Targets differ with the age and type of your fleet, your climate and your contracts. Some contracts set their own, such as a limit on routes missed for mechanical reasons. Use your own numbers over time as the main yardstick.
Doing it in FleetCommander
On time. Under Reports, Overdue maintenance lists what's due or overdue now, with the Task, Status and Last service, and the Dashboard shows overdue service in red. Vehicle status lists every bus with its Status, so you can count the ones out of service.
Planned vs unplanned. Each work order has a Repair category, such as Preventive maintenance, Brakes or Engine. Repair costs by category shows the Work orders, Labor, Parts and Total for each, so you see how much went on planned work. Maintenance costs gives the same per vehicle.
Cost and use. Cost per mile divides each bus's fuel, maintenance and expenses by its miles. Fleet utilization shows each bus's Routes, Days assigned, Utilization and Miles. Every report prints or exports as CSV, Excel or PDF. See the Reports guide.
Ava (Beta), the assistant in the app, answers Any maintenance overdue? or Which bus cost the most this month?. More on her page.
Related reading
Questions people ask
- What are the most important fleet maintenance KPIs for school buses?
- PM done on time, overdue PM, planned vs unplanned work, road calls, buses out of service, cost per mile, maintenance cost per bus and fleet utilization.
- What is a good planned vs unplanned maintenance ratio?
- Most of the shop's work should be planned. If surprise repairs grow, PM is usually slipping or part of the fleet is ageing.
- How often should maintenance KPIs be reviewed?
- Monthly works well for a small fleet: the same reports, on the same day, compared with last month and last year.
- How do you track maintenance cost per bus?
- Record labor and parts on every work order against its bus, then total them by bus for the year.