A district transportation office has a lot on its plate whenever buses are on the road. With hundreds or thousands of students being transported, you need to stay focused on the buses and maintaining their safety. This includes keeping open lines of communication, in case something goes wrong and fast action is necessary.
However, this can be challenging if your office is also receiving a lot of calls from parents looking for information about the bus routes. Every inbound call distracts workers and takes up resources, as well as cluttering up the phone lines. Ideally, parents should have the information they need without having to pester your staff for ETAs and other basic info.
Fortunately, this is now easier to accomplish than ever through a combination of GPS tracking and better smartphone apps - and your bus management will benefit in numerous ways!
Why Every Bus Needs A GPS Tracker
Originally created by the US military to improve their own tracking and mapping, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is now a mainstay of civilian transportation as well. By using radio signals to triangulate with satellites in orbit, the terrestrial location of anything with a GPS system can be pinpointed within a couple meters.
When you have a GPS tracker on each bus, combined with a basic online cellular connection, this information can be relayed straight to your office. Your buses can be plotted on a map, giving you moment-by-moment updates on their location, heading, speed, and more. If there are any delays on the route, or problems that force the bus to stop unexpectedly, you'll know about it quickly.
Over time, you can build up a database of information on each bus and driver's performance. A GPS tracking system can let you know if drivers are following the rules of the road, such as maintaining speed limits. The data gathered allows for excellent optimization of your bus routes.
Of course, this also allows you to have much more accurate information on the expected arrival time of each bus as well. This allows your office staff to quickly field parent questions, and get them off the phone more quickly.
However, if you want to cut down on calls further, you have another option.
Parental Notification Apps Keep Everyone Happy
Districts are increasingly adopting smartphone apps that families can download and install on their devices. These allow parents and other authorized family members to access several key pieces of information for themselves, including the bus's current location and its expected ETA.
Furthermore, these apps can be used to push alerts to parents whenever needed. Has a bus gotten stuck in a traffic jam, and will be delayed until the jam untangles? With just a few clicks, you can send out an alert to every parent affected, complete with an updated ETA. This keeps parents in the loop, and can go a long way towards reducing calls to the office.
After all, if a bus is having trouble on the road, you really don't need to be fielding dozens of calls.
Over time, as parents learn to rely on the app, they'll be able to self-serve information. Overall, a small investment in the app will pay off by taking a huge weight off your staff's shoulders - improving morale and bus safety in one move.
BusBoss specializes in helping districts adopt new technology that improves and optimizes their bus routes. To learn more about our tracking systems, or any of our other services, just contact us!
Tracking is good for districts, it’s good for students, and it’s good for parents. That makes it a real win-win investment for districts. What arguments do you find compelling, when talking about bus tracking?