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.

Managing Door-to-Door Vehicles

From the vehicle page:

Vehicle Settings

Click "Manage vehicle settings..."

Adjust the vehicle name, address, and capacity.

Route Details

View the current route. Stops are listed in chronological order, displaying the stop address and which camper(s) are being picked up or dropped off.

Change the route

To change the route, click to drag & drop campers into a different order.

Add/remove campers

Add more campers to a vehicle by editing each camper's "vehicle" setting.

Edit an individual camper's vehicle setting via their profile page; or edit multiple campers' vehicles at once by mass editing an advanced report.

For more details on adding/removing campers, click here to read our FAQ.

Redo route

If you need to make significant changes to the route, you can "start over" by:

  1. Removing all campers/staff from the vehicle (click here to learn how)
  2. Releting the vehicle
  3. Creating a new vehicle and using the vehicle wizard

Add counselors

Select from any of the counselors assigned to the overall door-to-door bus.

  • No staff listed? Go back to the bus page and add counselors first.

The counselor will be added to the route. Drag & drop them to a different rank in the route order if needed.