Bristol transport technology specialist Esoterix Systems has launched an innovative tool which can save local authorities hundreds of thousands of pounds by helping them streamline their home to school transport services.

After several months of development and testing, Esoterix has unveiled JourneyBatcher, which enables councils to cut out any duplication in school transport links, so additional services such as school buses are targeted only at those that need them.

It works by collating information on school pupils’ possible routes to school so local authorities can filter out the students who can walk or use existing public transport links and make informed decisions when putting special school transport in place.

From their office in Bristol’s tech and science innovation hub Future Space which is based on the University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol’s Frenchay campus, Esoterix’s team have been developing the transport planning system since October.

JourneyBatcher also enables councils to examine the key walking routes pupils are likely to take to school so they can implement better safety measures where necessary such as speed limits, road crossings or street lighting which benefit the whole community.

Liz Davidson, chief marketing officer at Esoterix said:

“Managing people’s journeys to schools brings lots of benefits. Walking is much better for people’s health and for the environment and a free bus pass is about half the cost for a local council than the per pupil cost on a special school bus. A dedicated school bus will cost about £22,000 to £23,000 per year.”

“A free bus pass is also much better for students as they can then use it to get around evenings, weekends and during school holidays.”

Esoterix was set up in 2012 by mathematician Dr. David Stewart, a specialist in network optimisation, who was frustrated by what he saw as the inefficiency in bus services.

He chose Future Space as his company’s HQ shortly after the flexible workspace was unveiled in 2016, due to its proximity to Bristol UWE and the business and innovation support it provided.

During its time at Future Space, the company has successfully developed a series of transport planning tools including the Mobility on Demand Laboratory Environment (MODLE) to improve and streamline bus services in north Bristol which was a joint project with First Bus, Bristol City Council and UWE.

Esoterix won funding from Innovate UK for the MODLE project and is also involved in a pan European project, REPLICATE, looking at smart city solutions to integrate energy, mobility, information and communication technologies in city districts.