Routes import template

Every column of the routes sheet, what goes in it, and what people get wrong.

Step 2 of 6 in the setup workbook. Before this: Stops. Next: Drivers.

The columns

Column	Needed?	What goes in it	Example	Common mistake
Route name	Yes	What the route is called. Every row of one route repeats it, and that is what groups them.	`Morning Route A`	The same route spelled two ways in one file becomes two routes.
Direction	No	Morning or Afternoon. Left empty, a name containing "afternoon" or "return" is taken as the way home, and anything else as the way there.	`Morning`	Relying on the guess for a route called something else entirely.
Order	No	Which stop this is, counting from where the bus starts. Left empty, the order of the rows in the file is used.	`1`	Two stops given the same number, or a file whose rows are not in order and no Order column.
Stop name	Yes	A stop that already exists, exactly as it is named on the stops screen.	`Main Gate`	A stop that has not been imported yet. The row is refused and named.
Leaves at	No	When the bus sets off, on the first stop of the route. A run is made at that time, and the rest of the times are worked out from the roads between the stops.	`07:00`	7:00 AM or 0700. Use 24-hour HH:MM.

Keep the first row exactly as it is. The column names are how the file is read - the order does not matter, but the names do.
Type into the first sheet. The Example sheet is only there to be looked at; it is not imported.
One row per thing. Do not merge cells, do not add a title row above the headings, and do not leave blank rows in the middle.
Nothing is saved until you press the button. You upload the file, read what each row would do, untick anything you do not want, and only then commit.
Uploading the same file twice does not create everything twice - a row that already exists is matched and updated instead.
Import the stops first. A route says which corners a bus visits and in what order; it does not say where they are, so every stop named here has to exist already.
One row per stop. Four stops on a route is four rows, all with the same route name.
The order is the order the bus drives them. For a morning route the school is the last stop; for an afternoon route it is the first.
The way there and the way home are two routes, not one. They usually visit the same corners in the opposite order, and a child can be on one and not the other.
A route on its own carries nobody. Give it a departure time here and a bus run is made with it, ready for a driver.

The stops sheet: every column explained, with the mistakes to avoid.

The drivers sheet: every column explained, with the mistakes to avoid.

The buses sheet: every column explained, with the mistakes to avoid.

See The School Bus Tracker with your own routes in a short, friendly demo.