How to Use the Trip Estimator

The Trip Estimator provides an estimate based on information entered into the trip request and information determined by your district. For instance, the number of vehicles, round-trip miles, and students come from the trip request. This estimated cost is for planning purposes only. The actual cost for the trip may vary.

Welcome to Easy Activity Trips. In this video, we'll go over using the trip estimator. I am on the Trips panel now, and we are going to look at the trip estimator. I'm going to click on the trip number for Trip 755 here. Down at the bottom of the screen is where the trip estimator button is.

The trip estimator provides an estimate based on information entered into the trip request, as well as information determined by your district. For instance, the number of vehicles, round trip miles, and the number of students come from the trip request. The cost per mile and the fuel cost are set by your district.

Several fields, such as the venue cost per student, can be edited by a requester, location approver, or funding approver. So, let's go ahead and put in a venue cost per student of $5 here. You can also fill in driver hours and the driver rate. These rates are defined by your district, and you select them from a drop-down menu. You can also indicate if a substitute is needed. For this trip, we'll say that we need one substitute.

In addition to that, you can add in other costs for the trip as well. As you update this information, it will populate at the bottom into the cost per student and the total cost. For example, if we bump the number of substitutes up to 2, you’ll see the total cost automatically update to $2,092. If we drop it back down, it will revert to $1,992, as shown earlier.

You can save this estimate so that anyone viewing it can see changes made to the venue cost per student or the number of substitutes. Keep in mind, this estimated cost is for planning purposes only. Actual costs for the trip may vary. Driver and substitute teacher costs may not be invoiced through Travel Tracker Trips, depending on how your district handles invoicing, but the estimator still provides a reasonable estimate of all costs so that you, as an approver, can make an informed decision about whether to approve the trip.

You can also use the print button next to the Save Estimate button to print out a copy of the trip estimator. Once you download it, the trip estimator form will open as a Word document with a table consisting of all individual costs and the total cost.

If you have any questions regarding the trip estimator, you can email trips-support@transact.com, or you can access the support widget in the bottom right-hand corner of Easy Activity Trips.

To access the Trip Estimator, navigate to the Trips tab.

Locate the trip and click on the trip number.

The Trip Estimator button is at the bottom of the Trip Request Form.

Your district sets the cost per mile and the fuel cost.

A requester, location approver, or funding approver can edit several fields, such as the venue cost per student.

Fill in driver hours and the driver rate. Your district defines driver rates, which you select from the drop-down menu.

Depending on how your district invoices, the driver costs may not be invoiced through travel tracker trips, but the estimator can provide a reasonable estimate of all costs for a trip so that approvers can make an informed decision about whether to approve this trip.