K-12

Houston ISD achieves a 69% reduction in crashes and 95% on-time route performance with Samsara

Houston Independent School District used Samsara to transform fleet safety and achieve near-perfect route reliability across a fleet of more than 600 buses, creating a safer, more dependable transportation system for students and families.

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Meet Houston Independent School District

600+ SCHOOL BUSES

1,000+ EMPLOYEES

271 SCHOOLS SERVED

The Challenge

Lack of visibility into fleet health and route performance

Houston Independent School District (ISD) is one of the largest urban public school systems in the United States, serving the greater Houston metropolitan area across 271 schools. The district's transportation department employs more than 1,000 people and operates a fleet of approximately 600 buses out of four major terminals and three satellite facilities.

Beginning in 2023, Houston ISD faced increased oversight from the Texas Education Agency. For the transportation team, that meant ensuring students were in their seats on time, every day, so that schools could focus on delivering quality instruction. However, the district had limited visibility across their bus fleet and didn't have reliable data on vehicle health or driver behavior.

Route performance was also unclear. The district didn't have a system in place to track whether buses arrived on time or completed their assigned routes. Students walked in after the bell, and administrators had no data to diagnose or resolve routing problems. The team needed to build operational visibility quickly, with lean staffing and while being under state oversight.

"With Samsara, we have the visibility we need to not only understand what's happening on our bus routes, but also how to solve any issues we may have more effectively."

Dr. Don Rowls

Deputy Chief

The Solution

Unlocking the full potential of the Samsara platform

Already a Samsara customer, Houston ISD decided to maximize the investment they had made and fully implement the Samsara Fleet Telematics across their operations. To start, the district undertook a systematic audit of all 850 vehicles in their fleet. Samsara's Customer Success team provided support throughout, connecting them with installation vendors, and helping them explore the full capabilities of the platform. "Samsara showed up for us," said Dr. Don Rowls, Deputy Chief. "For me, service after the sale is one of the biggest factors that sets a vendor apart, and Samsara was there to make sure we were getting the most out of the platform."

The Samsara platform's ease of use has been a key factor in the district's successful redeployment. Sruti Ramaswamy, data Project Manager for the district, was able to begin building dashboards, configuring alerts, and discovering insights quickly. "Samsara is very intuitive and user friendly," she said. "Anyone can use it, which has helped us move fast and build project momentum quickly." Ramaswamy and the team have also used the AI-powered Samsara Assistant to quickly get answers to questions, for example, on where to find specific dashboards.

Fleet Telematics

69% fewer crashes in just three months

Houston ISD uses Samsara Fleet Telematics to gain visibility into driver behavior and vehicle location. Now, the district gets real-time GPS tracking, automated crash alerts, and safety data that enables them to respond immediately to critical incidents, surface risky driving behaviors, and use data to coach drivers effectively. As a result, the district lowered crashes by 69%, reduced severe speeding events by 10%, and lowered harsh driving events by 12% over the course of just three months.

Samsara Platform

Achieving 95% on-time route performance with a key integration

Houston ISD integrated Samsara with EZ Routing, the district's third-party routing software, to create a unified transportation dashboard that tracks planned versus actual route performance in real time. This integration allowed the district to move from ad hoc, anecdotal knowledge about bus timeliness to a quantified, data-driven view of service delivery that could be used to make informed decisions about route design and resourcing. The district is now completing 94% of scheduled routes and achieving 92-95% on-time arrival performance, a dramatic improvement.

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