b'FEATURED ARTICLEschools, and understand this data in terms of the studentwhere the past students came from. One client recently and school demographics, and the other schools aroundafter seeing the data mapped re-directed a bus route that are competing forstudents. down another major road, running parallel and about 1 km away, and picked up a further six students.In another case a school introduced a bus route to transport students from the campus to a railway station on a parallel rail line a couple of kilometres from the school which in turn opened a new transport option for potential students from a much larger market area.Typical map showing student concentrationsKnowing where the growth opportunities areIn October 2019, the ABS released the customised projections prepared for the Australian Government Department of Health by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017-2032). This data gives forecasts by gender and age for specific years to 2032. The ageSchool and public bus runs and trainsgroups in the ABS data are 04, 59, 1014, 1519 etc. So the big question is, how will your schools leadership If you know an area is growing rapidly, and you have ateam decide on where and how to deploy your next fair idea of the school demographic in terms of the socioMarketing campaign? Obviously,you need to stay ahead economics of the surrounding suburbs, you can takeof your competition. And the best way to do that is by using a strategic long term view on what should become thefacts and data to drive your decision making.major new market for you.Bus runsBuses and bus routes are a significant expense for many schools, and need to be developed for the best possible efficiencies. It is only when you see the students and the bus routes mapped, that you start to see how you can best maximise your routes. Peter Buckingham & Dorianne LyonsOften by just re-routing the bus slightly, you may improve the usage, as newer students may not come from exactlyManaging Director / Business Development Manager Spectrum AnalysisNOVEMBER 2021 17'