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Transportation

Getting Started

Transportation Module Training

To learn how to use the Transportation module in CampSite, watch the training below.

In this training, we demonstrate:

  • Configuring/managing each type of bus
  • Setting up the transportation form
  • Generating transportation reports

01:18 Transportation Dashboard 
01:44 Bus Routes 
02:18 Create a New Bus Route 
11:20 Managing a Central Location Bus Route 
16:03 Managing a Defined Stop Bus Route 
16:36 Defined Stop Bus - Driving Directions 
26:38 Managing a Door-to-Door Bus Route 
27:48 Assigning Campers to a Door-to-Door (Vehicle Wizard) 
33:56 Transportation Forms (via Session Groups) 
34:27 Create a Session Group 
35:55 Manage a Session Group 
36:29 Transportation Form Settings 
42:42 Automatic Transportation Fees/Discounts 
46:13 Custom Transportation Form Questions 
46:33 Transportation Form on the Parent Dashboard 
48:17 Camper Profile - Transportation Tab 
54:05 Transportation Reports 
54:18 Turn-by-turn Directions 
55:56 Bus Rosters 
58:22 Bus Counts 
59:40 Transportation Exceptions 
1:01:13 Transportation Data in Advanced Reports

Setting up the Transportation Module - Overview

If you haven't already been trained on the Transportation Module, watch our training video here first.

Follow the steps below to set up and start using the Transportation module.

1. Create Buses

First, create all of the buses (a.k.a. bus routes) that you need.

There are central location buses (which pickup and dropoff at one specific location); defined stop buses (which pickup and dropoff at specific stops that you define); and door-to-door buses (which pickup and dropoff at each family's address).

For a more detailed explanation on how to create buses, click here.

2. Create Session Groups

To create a session group, select specific sessions and specific buses to "group" together. Campers who enroll for any of those sessions can then select/be assigned to the buses added to the group as well.

When creating your Session Groups, note that campers can only choose (1) arriving method and (1) departing method per Session Group.

  • To have campers to choose the same arriving/departing method for all of the sessions they're attending, create (1) Session Group and add all of your sessions to it.
  • To let campers choose a different arriving/departing method for each session they're attending, create a different Session Group for each session.

Each Session Group comes with its own transportation form for parents to select their camper's transportation methods (if/when you activate the form). See below for more details.

3. Add Buses to Session Group(s)

Click on the name of a Session Group and scroll down to the Arriving and Departing Buses. Click to 'add' a bus and select from the buses you already created on the Transportation Dashboard.

Campers enrolling for any of the session(s) added to the Session Group can select one arriving bus and one departing bus from the buses also added to the group.

Remember that there's one transportation form per Session Group and campers can pick one arriving method and one departing method on the form - even if they're enrolling for multiple sessions in the group. To see the transportation form from the parent's perspective, click here.

  • To let campers choose a different arriving/departing method for each session they're attending, create a different Session Group for each session.

4. Configure your Transportation Form(s)

Manage the overall transportation form settings; control which transportation methods parents are able to see/select; add custom questions to the form; and create charges/discounts triggered when specific criteria are met.

For a more details on how to manage Transportation Form settings, click here.

5. Assign Campers to Vehicles

If you've created vehicles for your buses, you'll need to assign campers to specific vehicles.

To assign campers to vehicles one camper at a time:

  1. Go to their profile page
  2. Select the appropriate year tab
  3. Select the Transportation tab underneath
  4. Open the tab for the relevant Session Group

For a more detailed explanation on how to find/use this tab, click here.

To assign campers to vehicles in mass:

  1. Create an advanced report with the campers you need to edit
  2. Add a field for the vehicle of the session group(s) they belong to
  3. Enable mass editing of the vehicle field(s) and make the necessary changes

For a more detailed explanation on how to mass edit vehicle assignments, click here.

Other Transportation Module Tools

You can also generate bus rosters and directions via the reports on the Transportation Dashboard, and add transportation exceptions for campers/staff (i.e. assign a different transportation method for a specific timeframe).

To learn more about Transportation reports, click here.

To learn how to make transportation exceptions, click here.

See more

Admin User Permissions

User Permissions (Transportation)

For general information on managing user permissions, please read our Admin user permissions article.

 

After the Transportation module is enabled for a user, you can grant the following permissions:

Basic

  • Admin: Permission to access the Admin settings for the Transportation module (i.e. access to the "Transportation" tab within the Admin settings page, and access to creating buses on the Transportation Dashboard.)

 

See more

Transportation Reports

Turn-by-Turn Directions Report

Transportation Reports such as the Turn-by-Turn Directions Report can all be found on the Transportation Dashboard. 

To get to the Transportation Dashboard, hover over the green Campers button on the navigation bar and click on the "Transportation" option.

Once on the Transportation Dashboard, you will see the Reports section. Click on the appropriate link for the Turn-by-Turn Directions Report.

Once on the report page, you will input the following information:

  1. Date (The date you wish to print directions for (this will default to todays date).)
  2. Direction (Select if you are printing Arriving or Departing directions.)
  3. Incorporate Attendance Data? (If you are using the Attendance Module in CampSite, you can choose to incorporate the attendance data for campers. When this feature is used alongside the Attendance Module, campers who are marked as being absent for today's date will not be included in the report results. If you are not using the Attendance Module, you can disregard this option.)
  4. Defined stop buses (select the Defined stop buses you want to print directions for.)

When ready, click on "Generate directions" in the bottom right corner of the screen.

The report results will show both a map and a list of directions. Click on the "Print" button in the top left of the screen to print these directions. 

Bus Rosters

Transportation Reports such as the Bus Rosters Report can all be found on the Transportation Dashboard. 

To get to the Transportation Dashboard, hover over the green Campers button on the navigation bar and click on the "Transportation" option.

Once on the Transportation Dashbord, you will see the Reports section. Click on the appropriate link for the Bus Rosters Report.

In this report, you will need to choose the:

  1. Mode (Day or Resident)
  2. Direction (Arriving or Departing)
  3. Date (This will default to todays date)
  4. Choose to include bus counselors or not
  5. Choose to include camper divisions or not
  6. Choose to include camper bunks or not
  7. If you are using the Attendance Module in CampSite, you can choose to incorporate the attendance data for campers. When this feature is used alongside the Attendance Module, campers who are marked as being absent for today's date will not be included in the report results. If you are not using the Attendance Module, you can disregard this option.
  8. Select your busses and vehicles you would like to include in the report results.

When you are ready, click on the "Generate Rosters" option in the bottom right corner of the screen.

The report results for each selected bus or vehicle will appear at the bottom of the page.

You can choose to Print or Export these results by clicking on the appropriate button in the top left of these results. 

Bus Counts

Transportation Reports such as the Bus Counts Report can all be found on the Transportation Dashboard. 

To get to the Transportation Dashboard, hover over the green Campers button on the navigation bar and click on the "Transportation" option.

Once on the Transportation Dashboard, you will see the Reports section. Click on the appropriate link for the Bus Counts Report.

Once on the report page, you will input the following information:

  1. Direction (Arriving or Departing)
  2. Dates (the date range you would like to search through. This will default to todays date.)
  3. Include Campers? (If you would like to include campers in the results.)
  4. Include bus counselors? (If you would like to include bus counselors in the results.)
  5. Incorporate Attendance Data? (If you are using the Attendance Module in CampSite, you can choose to incorporate the attendance data for campers. When this feature is used alongside the Attendance Module, campers who are marked as being absent for today's date will not be included in the report results. If you are not using the Attendance Module, you can disregard this option.)
  6. Buses + vehicles (choose the buses and vehicles to include in the report results.)

When ready, click on the "Get Counts" button in the bottom right corner of the screen.

The report results will appear below. You can Print or Export these results by clicking on the appropriate button in the top left corner of the results.

Transportation Exceptions Report

Transportation Reports such as the Transportation Exceptions Report can all be found on the Transportation Dashboard. 

To get to the Transportation Dashboard, hover over the green Campers button on the navigation bar and click on the "Transportation" option.

Once on the Transportation Dashboard, you will see the Reports section. Click on the appropriate link for the Transportation Exceptions Report.

Once on the Transportation Exceptions report screen, you will need to idetify the following:

  1. Date (the date to view exceptions for - this will default to todays date.)
  2. Direction (Arriving or Departing.)
  3. Group by (decide if you would like to group campers by no grouping, by Division, or by Bunk.)

When ready, click on the "Submit" button in the bottom right corner of the screen.

The report results will appear below. You can Print or Export these results by clicking on the appropriate button in the top left corner of the results.

Keep in mind that the only campers who will appear in this report will be campers who have manually had a transportation exception set for the chosen date you are reporting on. Camper transportation exceptions are set on their Camper Profile page. To see more information on that process please see: Transportation

See more

Buses

Creating Buses

A "bus" refers to the overall route that any camp-provided vehicle(s) will take to transport multiple campers to or from camp.

  • There are 3 types of buses, depending on the type of route the bus will take.
  • Each bus can contain multiple vehicles that travel the same route. Create as many vehicles as you need, depending on how many campers need to be transported along the route.
  • Buses are added to session groups to make specific buses available for specific sessions on your transportation form.

Bus Overview

Bus Mode

Day: Bus routes that transport campers to/from camp every day that camp is session.

Residential: Bus routes that transport campers twice - on the first and last day camp is in session.

  • Residential routes include an option to allow campers to select "flight" instead of "bus" as their transportation method on the transportation form, if that's relevant to your camp.

Note that camp is considered "in session" on the "active days" that fall between the session start end date. 

Direction

Arriving: Bus routes that transport campers arriving to camp.

Departing: Bus routes that transport campers departing from camp.

Each bus you create is designated as either arriving or departing. With that, you can configure the same or a different bus route for arriving to vs. departing from camp. It also allows campers to choose a different bus route for arriving vs. departing (if you allow it, per your transportation settings).

If you plan to run the same route in both directions,  create your arriving bus and then "clone" it to the opposite direction. If you plan to run different routes for each direction, create 2 different arriving / departing buses.

Route Types

The "route type" determines which/how many stops the bus makes.

Central location  bus routes stop once at a central point that you specify - e.g. a public parking lot.

  • These buses make (1) stop at the central location you specify. All campers riding this bus arrive at that central location for pickup, and are brought back to that central location for dropoff.

Defined stop bus routes stop at several specific stops (e.g. cross streets) defined by your camp. Campers can select which stop best suits them.

  • These buses make multiple stops along their route to pick up/drop off campers.
  • Each camper on the defined stop bus will be assigned to specific stops for pickup/dropoff.

Door-to-door buses go "door-to-door" to pick up and drop off at each camper's address.

  • The exact route for these buses is based on the addresses of all campers who have selected this bus.
  • A Google Maps plugin will automatically determine the order in which  campers are picked up/dropped off for the most efficient route. However,  you can customize this as needed.
  • While Central Location and Define Stop bus stops are defined before campers sign up for those buses, door-to-door bus routes are established after campers have signed up for that bus - i.e. when registration is over (for the most part)

Creating a Central Location Bus

  1. Assign the bus name. Parents are presented the bus by name on your transportation form.
  2. Select Day or Residential mode
  3. Select Arriving or Departing direction
  4. Select Central Location for the route type
  5. Set the time when the bus will arrive to or depart from the central location
  6. Provide the address of the central location
  7. Provide a bus description. Parents are presented the description after selecting the bus.

To learn how to set up a Central Location bus after creating it, click here.

Creating a Defined Stop Bus

  1. Assign the bus name. Parents are presented the bus by name on your transportation form.
  2. Select Day or Residential mode
  3. Select Arriving or Departing direction
  4. Select Defined Stop as the route type
  5. Set the time when the bus will arrive or depart from the address you designate
  6. Provide the origin or departure address
    • Origin address (for Arriving buses): where the bus will leave from to travel to the first defined stop.
    • Destination address (for Departing buses): where the bus will park after the last defined stop.
  7. Provide a bus description. Parents are presented the description after selecting the bus.

After creating the bus, you'll create the stops the bus will make on the next page that appears.

Creating a Door-to-Door Bus

  1. Assign the bus name. Parents are presented the bus by name on your transportation form.
  2. Select Day or Residential mode
  3. Select Arriving or Departing direction
  4. Select Defined Stop as the route type
  5. Set the time when the bus will arrive or depart from the address you designate
  6. Provide the origin or departure address
    • Origin address (for Arriving buses): where the bus will leave from to travel to the first camper's home.
    • Destination address (for Departing buses): where the bus will park after the last camper's home.
  7. Provide a bus description. Parents are presented the description after selecting the bus.

After the bus is created and all of your campers have made their transportation selections, you'll create the route (i.e. the order campers are picked up/dropped off in).

To learn how to set up a Door-to-Door bus after creating it, click here.

Central Location Buses

Central location bus routes stop once at a location you specify - e.g. a public parking lot - pick up or drop off campers.

All campers riding this bus must arrive at the central location for pickup and are then brought back to that central location for drop off.

In this article, learn how to:

Creating a Central Location Bus

First, add a bus and provide the overall bus details.

Click "+ Add bus..." from the Transportation Dashboard.

  1. Assign the bus name. Parents are presented the bus by name on your transportation form.
  2. Select Day or Residential mode
  3. Select Arriving or Departing direction
  4. Select Central Location for the route type
  5. Set the time when the bus will arrive to or depart from the central location
  6. Provide the address of the central location
  7. Provide a bus description. Parents are presented the description after selecting the bus.

After submitting, you'll be redirected to another page for managing the bus details.

Manage the bus details

From the bus page, use the Bus Settings modal to change the bus name, time, address; capacity; linked bus, and also delete the bus if needed.

Click "Manage bus settings..."

Edit the overall bus details as needed and save changes. To delete the bus, click the Delete this bus button in the bottom left of the modal.

  • If you don't see the option to "Delete this bus", the bus can't be deleted because it's currently in use. You can still remove the bus from your transportation form(s), however - click here to learn more.

Manage the vehicles driving the bus route

If you'll have multiple vehicles driving this bus route, create separate vehicles within the bus. Campers will then be assigned to specific vehicles for the route.

  • If you'll only have 1 vehicle driving this route, creating a vehicle is optional. Campers can be assigned to the central location bus overall with no vehicle assignment.

Click "+ Add vehicle..."

Assign staff counselors to the bus

If you've added our Staff module to your database, you can assign hired staff to each bus as counselors.

Click "+ Add bus counselor..."

Use a dropdown menu to select a hired staff member and one of the vehicles created for the bus (if applicable).

If you don't see any vehicles to select, close this window and click the "+ Add vehicle..." link to create one.

Clone the bus to the other direction

If you want to offer the same bus route for the opposite direction (i.e. arriving to vs. departing from camp), you can "clone" the current bus to that direction instead of creating a new one from scratch.

The cloned bus will be "linked" to the current bus automatically. When buses are linked, you have the option to configure your transportation form settings to require that campers ride both buses that are linked  together. When campers select their arriving bus, their departure bus is  automatically set to the linked bus and cannot be edited.

Click the link to "Clone bus to other direction..." Use the modal to finalize the bus name and time, then submit. After submitting, you'll be automatically redirected to the page for the cloned bus.

Once your buses are created, you can include them as options on your transportation form(s) by adding them to transportation session group(s). Click here to learn more.

Defined Stop Buses

Defined stop bus routes stop at several specific stops (e.g. cross streets) to pick up/drop off campers.

When completing their transportation form(s), campers who select this type of bus must select a specific defined stop for pickup and/or drop off. Depending on your transportation form settings, campers can either choose different stops for each direction, or be required to choose the same stop for both.

In this article, learn how to:

  • Create a defined stop bus
  • Manage the route for a defined stop bus
  • Edit door-to-door bus details
  • Clone a defined stop bus to the other direction
  • Assign staff counselors to a door-to-door bus

Creating a Defined Stop Bus

First, add a bus and provide the overall bus details.

Click "+ Add bus..." from the Transportation Dashboard.

  1. Assign the bus name. Parents are presented the bus by name on your transportation form.
  2. Select Day or Residential mode
  3. Select Arriving or Departing direction
  4. Select Defined Stop as the route type
  5. Set the time when the bus will arrive or depart from the address you designate
  6. Provide the origin or departure address
    • Origin address (for Arriving buses): where the bus will leave from to travel to the first defined stop.
    • Destination address (for Departing buses): where the bus will park after the last defined stop.
  7. Provide a bus description. Parents are presented the description after selecting the bus.

After submitting, you'll be redirected to another page for managing the bus details, including which defined stops the bus will make.

Manage the route for a defined stop bus

Next, define the specific stops that this bus will make. You can either use CampSite's Route Creation Wizard or define the stops manually.

As soon as you add a new defined bus, a pop-up will prompt you to use the Route Creation Wizard. Click the route creation wizard link to proceed, or close the modal and add the stops manually.

Using the Route Creation Wizard

Click here to redirect to our article on how to use the Route Creation Wizard.

Add/edit defined stops manually

Click the link to enable route editing controls.

Click to add more stops to the route, or edit/delete existing stops.

Edit a stop

When editing a stop, you can change the stop name, time, and address.

Delete all stops

To recreate the route from scratch (via the Route Creation Wizard or manually), delete all stops via the bus settings.

  1. Click 'Manage bus settings" in the top left section of this page
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the pop-up window and click 'Delete all stops'

Note that stops can't be deleted if a camper has already selected them on their transportation form.

Rearrange stops

Stop order is based on the "time" assigned to each stop.

To rearrange stops, edit each stop and change the stop time.

Manage the bus details

From the bus page, use the Bus Settings modal to change the bus name, time, address; capacity; linked bus, and also delete the bus if needed.

Click "Manage bus settings..."

Arriving Buses

Edit the overall bus details as needed and save changes.

  • Origin time: The time the bus will leave the location where the bus is kept when not in use - i.e. when the bus driver will turn on the bus before driving to the first stop. Note that the origin time also affects the time for each stop if you choose to set defined stop times automatically when using the Route Creation Wizard.
  • Origin location: The location where the bus will drive from to go to the first stop (e.g. where the bus is parked when not in use.)
  • Arrival time: The time the bus will arrive at camp.
  • Arrival location: The location where the bus will arrive to when the last stop is completed. This defaults to the the "summer address" on file for your database but can be customized here as needed.

Departing Buses

  • Departure time: The time the bus will depart from camp. Note that the departure time also affects the time for each stop if you choose to set defined stop times automatically when using the Route Creation Wizard.
  • Departure location: The location where the bus will drive from to go to the first stop. This defaults to the "summer address" on file for your camp but can be customized here as needed.
  • Destination time: The time the bus will arrive to the location where the bus is kept when not in use - i.e. when the bus driver will turn off the bus after completing the last stop.
  • Destination location: The location where the bus will park when the last stop is completed. This defaults to the "summer address" on file for your camp but can be customized here as needed.

To delete the bus, click the Delete this bus button in the bottom left of the modal.

  • If you don't see the option to "Delete this bus", the bus can't be deleted because it's currently in use. You can still remove the bus from your transportation form(s), however - click here to learn more.
Route Creation Wizard (for defined stop buses)

Use the Route Creation Wizard to add defined stops to the bus route.

  • Enter the address for each stop in the order the bus should complete them.
  • Preview the route via a Google Maps plugin and change/reorder stops as needed before saving the route.

Stops

Enter each address or cross streets of all the defined stop you wish to add the route.

Automatic vs. Manual Stop Times

You have a choice between automating the time for each stop, or entering each stop time manually.

Automatic: CampSite will automatically determine the time the bus will stop at each defined stop via Google Maps, based on the "arrival time" set for the bus and the distance  between stops. To enable automatic stop times, do not checkmark the box for "Manually provide times for stops."

  • With this option, you can also add "extra time between stops". After Google Maps determines when the bus will arrive at each stop, CampSite will add the amount of "extra time" that you specify to determine the stop time.

Manual: Enter the stop time manually for each defined stop you add to the route. To enable manual stop times, checkmark the box for "Manually provide times for stops."

 

The "last stop" for arrivals, or "first stop" for departures will be set automatically to camp's location. Enter the first or last stop of the route, and click +Add bus stop... to set the waypoints in the middle of the route.

You may set any number of minutes to provide extra time between stopes, or manually provide the pickup or drop-off times.

Enter stop addresses

  1. Enter the stop address
    • Name: Parents will be presented the stop name when choosing a stop on the transportation form.
    • Address / intersection: Enter a specific street address (e.g. 100 Main Street) or an intersection (e.g. Main Street and 3rd Avenue).
  2. Click "+ add bus stop" to display another address row. Continue adding as many stops as needed.

Note that the first and last stops will be prefilled with the origin and arrival addresses configured for the bus. To change these, go back to the bus page and click "Manage bus settings." Click here to learn more.

Rearrange stops

Click and drag a stop to place it in a different order on the route if needed.

Preview route

Preview the route on Google Maps before finalizing it.

The red pin represents the start of the route and the orange house represents the final destination.

Stops along the route display as green pins labeled in alphabetical order of the route.

Zoom in/out and move the map around as needed. You can also rearrang the stops above and preview the route again as needed.

Create route

When all defined stops have been added in the desired order, click to Create route.

After creating the route, you'll be redirected back to the bus page where you can manage the bus settings and visualize the route via Google Maps. To learn more about managing a defined stop bus, click here.

Door-to-Door Buses

Door-to-door bus routes stop "door-to-door" to pick up and drop off at each camper's address.

  • The route for door-to-door buses is based on the addresses of every camper riding the bus.
  • A Google Maps plugin will automatically determine the order in which campers are picked up/dropped off for the most efficient route. However,  you can customize the camper order as needed.
  • While Central Location and Define Stop bus stops are defined before campers sign up for those buses, door-to-door bus routes are established after campers have signed up for that bus - i.e. when registration is over (for the most part)

In this article, learn how to:

Creating a Door-to-Door Bus

First, add a bus and provide the overall bus details.

Click "+ Add bus..." from the Transportation Dashboard.

  1. Assign the bus name. Parents are presented the bus by name on your transportation form.
  2. Select Day or Residential mode
  3. Select Arriving or Departing direction
  4. Select Defined Stop as the route type
  5. Set the time when the bus will arrive or depart from the address
  6. Provide the origin or departure address*
    • Origin address (for Arriving buses): where the bus will leave from to travel to the first camper's home.
    • Destination address (for Departing buses): where the bus will park after the last camper's home.
  7. Provide a bus description. Parents are presented the description after selecting the bus.

After submitting, you'll be redirected to another page for managing the bus details. Once all the campers riding this bus are assigned to it, you can then create the route (i.e. the order in which campers are picked up/dropped off).

Start/End Address

* For arriving buses, the bus route begins at the "origin address" and ends at your camp's address. 

For departing buses, the bus route begins at your camp’s address and ends at the "destination address." 

Your camp address is the address on file for your CampSite database. If needed, you can enter a different camp address to the bus via the bus settings - read below to learn more.

Manage the bus details

From the bus page, use the Bus Settings modal to change the bus name, time, origin/departure address; capacity; linked bus, and also delete the bus if needed.

Click "Manage bus settings..."

Edit the overall bus details as needed and save changes.

  • Buffer time: When generating the pickup/dropoff times for each camper, add a specific amount of buffer time between stops (e.g. for delays, etc.)
  • Allow parent to provide primary summer address as stop location? When set to No, CampSite will use the family's home address for pickup or dropoff. When set to Yes, the transportation form will ask parents to select between their home address and their "summer" address on their transportation form for pickup or dropoff. Note: Summer addresses can only be added by an admin user via the family's profile page.
  • Allow parent to provide primary summer address as stop location? When set to No, CampSite will use the family's home address for pickup or dropoff. When set to Yes, the transportation form will ask parents to select between their home address or an "other" address for pickup or dropoff. If "other address" is selected, parents must provide the address. The address provided is stored in the camper's transportation tab.
  • Arrival / Departure Time (for arriving vs. departing buses): The time the bus will arrive to camp / depart from camp.
  • Arrival / Departure Location (for arriving vs. departing buses): By default, the bus will start / end at the "summer address" on file for your camp. To use a different address for this bus, enter it here.

Note: If you don't see the option to "Delete this bus", the bus can't be deleted because it's currently in use. You can still remove the bus from your transportation form(s), however - click here to learn more.

Use the vehicle wizard to assign campers to vehicles

Use the Vehicle Wizard to set up every vehicle that will pickup/drop off campers on this route.

  • Use the vehicle wizard after campers are assigned to the bus and you don't expect changes to be made. You'll use a map tool to assign campers to a vehicle based on their location/the most efficient route.
  • You can use the vehicle wizard again to create a new vehicle. Create as many vehicles as needed.
  • You cannot use the vehicle wizard again for an existing vehicle (e.g. to edit the vehicle route). Vehicle routes must be edited manually. That said, you should wait to use the vehicle wizard once you no longer expect campers to add or remove the bus.  

Click "Vehicle wizard" to begin.

For full details on how to use the vehicle wizard, click here to read our Vehicle Wizard (for door-to-door buses) article.

Manage an existing vehicle

After using the vehicle wizard you'll be automatically redirected to the vehicle's dashboard. To open the vehicle dashboard for an existing vehicle, click on the vehicle from the bus dashboard.

For full details on how to manage/edit a vehicle from the vehicle page, click here to read our Managing Door-to-Door Vehicles article.

Assign staff counselors to a door-to-door bus

If you've added our Staff module to your database, you can assign hired staff to each bus as counselors.

Click "+ Add bus counselor..."

Use a dropdown menu to select a hired staff member.

Vehicle Wizard (for door-to-door buses)

Use the Vehicle Wizard to set up every vehicle that will pickup/drop off campers on this route.

  • Use the vehicle wizard after campers are assigned to the bus and you don't expect changes to be made. You'll use a map tool to assign campers to a vehicle based on their location/the most efficient route.
  • Use the vehicle wizard each time you need to create each additional vehicle for this route.
  • You cannot use the vehicle wizard again for an existing vehicle (e.g. to edit the vehicle route). Vehicle routes must be edited manually. That said, wait to use the vehicle wizard once you no longer expect campers to add or remove the bus.  

Click "Vehicle wizard" to begin.

Vehicle details

First, provide the vehicle details.

  • The vehicle name is not displayed to parents.
  • The capacity limits the total number of campers the vehicle can transport. When adding campers to the vehicle next, you can't select more campers than the capacity allows.
  • The origin / destination address refers to where the vehicle will start / end.

Assign campers to the vehicle

Use the Google Map plugin to assign campers and counselors to the vehicle.

Map Overview

  1. When "Map" view is selected, click to toggle terrain.
  2. When Satellite is selected, click to toggle labels.
  3. Read instructions on how to use the Google Maps plugin.
  4. Click on a pin to view the camper at this address.
  5. Go full screen
  6. Enable street view
  7. Zoom in/out

1. Select the Polygon tool

2. Draw a shape

Click on the map to create a shape around the campers/counselors you wish to assign to the vehicle.

  • Draw multiple shapes if needed.
  • Manually remove or add a camper/counselor to the shape by double clicking on their map pin.
  • To reset your shape, click the polygon icon again.
  • To finish the shape, click on the point where you started to close the shape.

3. Calculate route

After you've drawn a polygon that contains all the campers you wish to add to this vehicle, click to Calculate route.

Google Maps will automatically create the quickest driving route. If needed, you can tweak the route in the next step.

4. Review/edit the route

View a map of the route and a summary of the route details.

  1. If needed, click to start over and draw a new polygon of campers to assign to the vehicle route.
  2. Change the route by dragging and dropping stops (i.e. camper addresses) into a different order.

5. Create vehicle

When you have your preferred route in place, click to create the vehicle.

Note: You cannot reuse the vehicle wizard to edit this route later, so it's recommended that you create the vehicle once campers' transportation assignments are in place (and few/no changes are expected).  Vehicle routes can still be edited later, but must be done so manually without the Google Map plugin.

Next, you'll be redirected to the vehicle dashboard.

To learn how to use the vehicle dashboard to manage a vehicle, click here.

See more

Session Groups

Transportation Session Groups Overview

To set up the transportation form, create a session group. Each session group corresponds with its own transportation form for parents to select their camper's transportation methods.

Session groups combine 1 or more sessions with 1 or more buses. Campers who enroll for any sessions in the session group can select/be assigned to any of the buses also within the group. Note that campers can only choose (1) arriving method and (1) departing method per Session Group.

How should I structure my camp's session groups?

  • To have campers choose the same arriving/departing method for all of the sessions they're attending, create (1) Session Group and add all of your sessions to it. 
  • To let campers choose a different arriving/departing method for each session they're attending, create a different Session Group for each session individually.

Also, note that a session cannot be added only be added to (1) session group for the year, but the same bus may be added to multiple session groups.

To learn how to create a session group, click here.

Creating Transportation Session Groups

To set up the transportation form, create a session group. Each session group corresponds with its own transportation form for parents to select their camper's transportation methods.

Session groups combine 1 or more sessions with 1 or more buses. Campers who enroll for any sessions in the session group can select/be assigned to any of the buses also within the group. Note that campers can only choose (1) arriving method and (1) departing method per Session Group.

How should I structure my camp's session groups?

  • To have campers choose the same arriving/departing method for all of the sessions they're attending, create (1) Session Group and add all of your sessions to it. 
  • To let campers choose a different arriving/departing method for each session they're attending, create a different Session Group for each session individually.

Also, note that a session cannot be added only be added to (1) session group for the year, but the same bus may be added to multiple session groups.

Add Session Group

Begin by clicking the "+Add session group..." link.

  1. Name: Create a name for the group of sessions. Note that this will also appear as the Transportation form name to parents.
  2. Mode: Day vs. Residential. Note that you can only add buses of the same type to the session group.
    • Residential session groups include the option to allow campers to select "flight" instead of "bus" as their transportation method on the  transportation form, if that's relevant to your camp.
  3. Sessions: Select which sessions to group together.
    • Remember that campers can only pick one arriving and one departing transportation method that applies to all sessions in the same group.
Note: Sessions cannot be removed from a session group once a camper enrolling in that session completes their transportation form, so be careful when selecting which sessions to add when creating a session group.

Manage Session Group

Next, you'll be redirected to the session group dashboard for managing the transportation form settings.

To learn how to manage a session group, click here.

Managing Transportation Form Settings in a Session Group

Each transportation Session Group comes with a transportation form that campers will use to provide their transportation details. Control the settings for this form via the Session Group Transportation Form Settings and Transportation Methods.

Note: If you'd like to preview how the Transportation Form looks to parents, log into your Parent Dashboard and access the forms (like a parent would). Or, click here to read our support article showing an example of a transportation form.

Transportation form settings

Transportation form active?

No: The form will not be made available on the parent dashboard.

Yes: The form will be made available on the parent dashboard for campers to fill out.

Part of enrollment process?

No: The transportation form will not appear on the "Forms" step of the enrollment process. Parents must navigate to the Forms page of the Dashboard to access the form.

Yes: The transportation form will appear on the "Forms" step of the enrollment process.

Form required before enrollment?

If the form is set to be part of the enrollment process:

No: Parents will see the transportation form when enrolling their camper, but won't be required to complete it in order to finish the enrollment process. They can access the form later via the Forms page of the dashboard.

Yes: Parents will be required to fill out the transportation form before being able to complete enrollment.

Transportation charges paid at enrollment checkout?

If transportation charges exist:

No:  Transportation charges will be added to the family's balance for the year to be paid at a later time. If the family is also placed on a payment schedule, then they'll be invoiced for these charges.

Yes: Transportation-related charges must be paid at the time of enrollment.

Transportation group shares bus capacity?

No: Each session within the session group will be allotted the full bus capacity. For example, if the Blue Bus has a capacity of 100, and the session group contains "Session A" and "Session B", Session A will be allotted 100 bus seats and Session B will also be allotted 100 bus seats.

Yes: The bus capacity will apply to all sessions combined. For example, if the Blue Bus has a capacity of 100, and the session group contains "Session A" and "Session B", a maximum of 100 campers enrolled for either Session A or Session B may choose the Blue Bus. If 100 campers enroll in Session A and choose the Blue Bus, no campers enrolling in Session B may select the Blue Bus.

Transportation Form Instructions

Allow parent to select 'Bus' method without picking a bus? gives families the option of indicating they will be using bus transportation without being required to select a specific bus or bus stop.

Parent selects one method for both directions? requires campers to have the same transportation method for arrival and departure.

Parent selects one bus/bus stop for both directions? requires campers to have the same bus for arrival and departure.

Show bus stop times for "Defined stops" buses on form? will show stop times on "Defined" stops

Due date for transportation form

Custom names for transportation methods

Transportation methods

Allow 'Parent dropoff' on form?

No: When selecting their 'Arriving' transportation method, 'Parent dropoff' will not be available to select (just Bus; and Flight, if the session group is 'Residential').

Yes: When selecting their 'Arriving' transportation method, 'Parent dropoff' will be available to select (in addition to Bus; and Flight, if the session group is 'Residential').

Allow 'Parent pickup' on form?

No: When selecting their 'Departing' transportation method, 'Parent pickup' will not be available to select (just Bus; and Flight, if the session group is 'Residential').

Yes: When selecting their 'Departing' transportation method, 'Parent pickup' will be available to select (in addition to Bus; and Flight, if the session group is 'Residential').

Allow parent to select 'Bus' method without picking a bus?

No: If a parent selects Bus as their transportation method, they're then required to also select a specific bus and stop.

Yes: If a parent selects Bus as their transportation method, they are not required to also select a specific bus and stop.

Parent selects one method for both directions?

No: Parents may select a different transportation method (e.g. Bus vs. Parent dropoff/pickup vs. Flight) for arriving vs. departing.

Yes: Whatever method the parent selects for arriving to camp (e.g. Bus vs. Parent dropoff/pickup vs. Flight) will also apply to their departure from camp.

Parent selects one bus / bus stop for both directions?

No: Parents may select a different bus / stop for arriving vs. departing.

Yes: Whatever bus / stop the parent selects for arriving to camp will also apply to their departure from camp.

Show bus stop times for 'Defined stops' buses on form?

If you offer buses with defined stops:

No: Parents will only see the name of each bus stop, but not the time, when choosing their bus stop on the transportation form.

Yes: Parents will see the name and the time of each bus stop when choosing their bus stop on the transportation form.

Display the times set for each bus stop when parents are selecting which stop they want. Show bus stop times for "Defined stops" buses on form? will show stop times on "Defined" stops

Due date for transportation form

Apply a due date for the transportation form.  Note that parents are still able to submit the form after the due date, though a 'past due' indicator will appear.

Custom names for methods

If your camp uses different terminology, enter a custom name for Parent dropoff, Parent Pickup, and Bus.

Any custom names you configure will appear in lieu of the default terminology on the Parent Dashboard. Note that admins will still see the default terms, not the custom names.

Managing Buses in Transportation Session Groups

To add available buses to a session group, click +Add arriving buses... or +Add departing buses...

Buses sharing the same direct and mode will be available to add to the session group.

The buses will be added to the transportation form.

Double-clicking the pencil next to a bus allows you make the bus unavailable for parents to select on the transportation form.

Manage Transportation Transactions in a Session Group

Transportation Transactions will result in charges or discounts automatically being posted when a transportation form is submitted based on a combination of criteria that a camper must meet.

Transportation transactions can be created by selecting +Add transaction... on the Session Group page.

  1. Transaction type
  2. Name
  3. Transaction category
  4. Description to appear on family financial statements and financial reports
  5. Amount
  6. Active - if set to "Yes", the transaction will be applied when the parent submits the transportation form. If "No", the transaction may be posted administratively when enrolling a camper in Manual processing mode, or on the Camper Profile Page.

Clicking +Add criteria... allows you to set the criteria a camper must meet in order for the transaction to be applied.

A variety of criteria can be applied for each transportation transaction. A camper must meet all criteria in order for the transaction to be posted to their account.

  • Method - Applied if camper selects a certain transportation method.
  • Bus - Applied if camper selects a certain bus.
  • Bus type - Applied if camper selects a certain type of bus (e.g. 'Central location', 'Door-to-door').
  • Session - Applied if camper enrolls in a certain session in the session group.
  • Session count - Applied if camper enrolls in a certain number of sessions in the session group.
  • Sibling count - Applied if a certain number of the camper's siblings have signed up for the same transportation method in the session group.
  • Before date - Applied if the transportation form is submitted before the given date.
  • After date - Applied if the transportation form is submitted after the given date.

After adding the criteria, click Add transaction.

The new transaction will be listed.

  1. Double-click the pencil to view transaction criteria or change the active status.
  2. Double-click the minus sign to delete the transaction. Transactions may not be deleted once they are in use by a camper.
Transportation Exclusions for Resident Session Groups

While resident camps may have the same transportation options available for the arrival and departure for multiple sessions, there may be times when a certain transportation options aren't available. Exclusions all you to remove transportation methods or buses from specific arrivals and departures to ensure campers aren't able to sign up for an option that won't be running.

This resident session group has four sessions, each lasting two weeks. Campers may come to any or all sessions, and without exclusions, will have the same transportation options available no matter which sessions they're attending.

If Connecticut bus isn't going to be running for campers arriving to camp on July 19, we'll add an exclusion for the specific bus.

Enter the information for the transportation method or specific bus, and the date and direction for which it is unavailable.

After entering the information, click Add exclusion.

The new exclusion will be added and immediately implemented. The exclusion only applies to the session group and will need to be added separately to each session group to which it applies.

See more

Assigning Transportation for Campers/Staff

Managing Transportation Assignments in Mass

Assign transportation to campers in mass by editing an advanced report.

For camps with our Staff module, you can mass assign transportation to staff following the same steps below from the Staff Advanced Reports page.

1. Add the relevant campers to the report

When selecting sessions, remember that the buses/vehicles available to each session depends on how your Session Groups are set up.

2. Add fields for the transportation data you wish to edit

  1. Select the Transportation tab
  2. Select the relevant Year tab underneath
  3. Select the Session Group Info tab
  4. Select the relevant session group from the dropdown

From there, select the relevant field(s) for arriving to vs. departing from camp.

Tip:  Add additional fields you might need to reference when choosing how to assign a camper's transportation, like their bus name or primary address.

3. Enable editing

Once you've added the relevant fields you wish to edit, click the Edit button above the report results to enable editing.

If you're unfamiliar with how to mass edit a report, please click here to read our support article on mass editing.

Managing Transportation for an Individual Camper/Staff

Transportation tab

From the "Transportation" tab of the camper/staff profile page, you can:

Overview tab

Calendar

Use the calendar to view/manage their transportation on specific days.

  • When a date is colored green, they're assigned transportation for that day.
  • When a date is colored gray, they're not assigned transportation for that day.

Click a date on the calendar to view their transportation details for that particular day. Also, add an exception to their default transportation method(s) that day.

Manage Transportation Exceptions

Edit a camper's default transportation method for a particular day by adding an exception.

  1. Click on the relevant date
  2. Click +Add exception... on the right
  1. Choose which direction the exception applies to
  2. Choose the new transportation method
  3. Make a note about the exception. Notes will be visible on the camper's profile and also on the "Transportation Exceptions" report.
  1. Transportation exceptions will be highlighted yellow on the transportation calendar
  2. View the transportation exception details
  3. Remove the exception and the camper's default transportation method will repopulate

Session Group Tab

Access the camper's transportation data for a specific transportation session group by selecting the session group tab.

View/edit the camper's overall transportation method for this group of sessions and manage their transportation charges and discounts.

Transportation Methods

View/manage the camper's transportation method for arriving to camp and departing from camp.

To edit any of these fields, double click on the current value.

Transportation Transactions

View the transportation transactions the camper incurred for their transportation selection(s).

Manually add a transportation transaction by clicking the + Add transportation transaction... link.

Add a transportation transaction

The transportation form will automatically add transportation transactions to a camper's account if they meet the criteria that you specified, but you can also manually add a transaction by clicking the "add" link here.

Choose whether to add a charge or discount and select one of the transactions that were created for the Session Group. Note that adding a transaction to the camper's account WILL automatically add the corresponding charge (fee) or discount to the family's financials.

Note that payment for a charge does NOT happen automatically. To process payment, add a payment to the family's profile manually or instruct the family to log into their dashboard and make the payment themselves.

To learn more about creating transportation transactions, click here.

Delete a transportation transaction

Double click the delete icon to remove a transportation transaction.

Note that deleting a transaction from the camper's account will NOT remove the associated fee/discount from the family's financials - you must manually reverse the transaction from the Financial tab of the family's profile page. 

Camper Profile: Transportation Tab

Overview

View the camper's transportation for a specific date and/or manage their transportation exceptions on a daily basis.

  1. Click a date on the calendar to view transportation data for that date.  You may only select dates relative to the sessions in which the camper is enrolled.
    • When a date is colored green, the camper has transportation data for that day.
    • When a date is colored gray, the camper does not have transportation data for that day.
  2. View the transportation data for the date selected on the calendar.
  3. Add an exception to the camper's transportation for this date.
  4. View the arriving transportation data for this date.
  5. View the departing transportation data for this date.

Adding a Transportation Exception

Edit a camper's default transportation method for a particular day by adding an exception.

  1. Choose the date for which you want to add a transportation exception.
  2. Click +Add exception...
  1. Choose which transportation direction the exception applies to.
  2. Choose the new transportation method.
  3. Make a note about the exception. Notes will be visible on the camper's profile and also on the "Transportation Exceptions" report.
  1. Transportation exceptions will be highlighted yellow on the transportation calendar.
  2. View the transportation exception details.
  3. Remove the exception and return to the camper's original transportation data for this date.

Session Group Tab

Access the camper's transportation data for a specific transportation session group by selecting the session group tab.

Here, you can view/edit the camper's overall transportation method and also manage their transportation charges and discounts.

  1. View the camper's transportation method for arriving to camp.
  2. View the camper's transportation method for departing from camp.
    • Double click the camper's current transportation details to edit them as needed.
  3. View the transportation transactions incurred for the camper's transportation selection(s). Click to add a new transportation transaction if needed, or double click the delete button to remove this transportation transaction from the camper's record.

Adding transactions will automatically post the associated fee/discount to the family's financial record.

Deleting a charge/discount will NOT remove the associated fee/discount from their record - you must manually reverse the transaction from the Financial tab of the family's profile page. 

See more

Parent Dashboard

Parent Dashboard: Transportation Forms

Transportation forms are located on the Forms tab of the Parent Dashboard and can also be set to appear on the "Forms" step of the enrollment process.

Remember, transportation forms are linked to certain camp sessions via the transportation session group. Campers will see the transportation form(s) pertaining to the session(s) they've selected to enroll for. 

Forms Tab

To access the Forms tab, click the Forms tab in the left sidebar menu.

Select a Camper

Select a camper to access their transportation form(s).

Scroll down to the "Transportation forms" section and click the form name to access the form.

Please note that parents cannot edit transportation forms after they've been submitted. Any changes to their original transportation requests must be verified/made by an administrator at your camp, to prevent transportation changes after bus routes have already been established.

  1. See the transportation form instructions configured within the session group for this transportation form. Click here to learn about customizing this text.
  2. Select the transportation method for arriving to camp.
  3. Select the transportation method for departing from camp*.
  4. Answer any custom questions that were created in the session group for this transportation form. Click here to learn about creating custom questions.

*If you require campers to use the same method for both directions, parents will only be asked to select their method once. Afterwards, the same method will be automatically selected for the other direction, and cannot be edited.

  1. If the family selects "bus" as their method, they're prompted to make additional selections depending on the bus type.
  2. If you've configured transportation transactions for the corresponding session group, and the family's selection triggers those transactions, they'll be posted here. Click here to learn more about creating transportation transactions.
    • If you require transportation charges to be paid at checkout, the charges will appear in the family's enrollment balance when checking out for their campers enrollment.
  3. Click submit to complete the form.
See more

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