SCHENECTADY – Transfinder is a Schenectady company that specializes in making software that is used by school districts across North America.
So it was hardly a surprise last month when the company won an award for the best software at the STN Expo in Reno, Nevada, an industry conference organized by School Transportation News, a top industry trade publication.
Tony Corpin, the president and publisher of STN, which has tens of thousands of readers, said Transfinder won the inaugural award based on the company’s product called Routefinder PLUS, which combines all of its bus routing applications onto a single platform.
“These new capabilities have captured the attention of school transportation professionals at the largest school transportation conference in North America with over 1,200 participants,” Corpin said.
Other awards were handed out that recognized companies offering the best “green” technology such as electric buses, along with awards for health and wellness technology and the best hardware.
Transfinder CEO Antonio Civitella said the school district transportation market has changed rapidly since the pandemic forced many schools to go remote due to government-mandated shutdowns. And when schools reopened, they were faced with extreme bus driver shortages and pressures from school districts to save money and improve efficiencies.
At the same time, Transfinder was able to add new features never offered in the past such as live turn-by-turn directions for bus drivers and instant information on students expected at each stop. Those two features in particular help school districts recruit new drivers who may have been wary of taking a job where they had little experience.
“This award demonstrates that the Transfinder’s suite of solutions are meeting real needs today while anticipating what schools will need in the future,” Civitella said.
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