Staying Connected: How Mobile Apps Improve Parent Communication on Buses

Good parental communication is a cornerstone of a successful school transportation system. Parents need to be kept in the loop regarding buses, schedules, pickup/dropoff points, and more. A smoothly functioning bus system keeps parents “on board” with everything happening.

In years past, this could be a challenge. Parents typically had to be notified in writing or over the phone, but response rates would often be low. There were no guarantees parents would read documents sent home, and phone numbers often changed or were ignored. This created constant headaches for administrators.

Now, there’s a new option: parental notification apps. With smartphone adoption around 90% across the country, and even higher among people under 40, most of your parents have a smartphone. Parental apps are by far the most reliable method of parental communication available, and it’s a worthwhile investment for any district.

A single app can send all necessary information, directly notifying them on their cellular device:

Allow Instant Notifications

Calling parents directly is always an option in serious situations. But rather than calling parents and requiring an instant connection, a good parental app can push notifications directly to their phone. Since most smartphone users regularly check their notifications, it becomes much more likely they’ll see your news.

This can be especially useful when information needs to be sent to large numbers of parents at once, such as a major delay in bus service. You can notify everyone affected at once in a single global message, giving you more time to deal with the actual problem.

Enable Self-Serve Information

Most of the information parents want to know about their students’ buses and routes is available with just a couple of taps. They can see the bus’s ETA, the number of stops left before their home stop, and more. 

Besides being convenient for parents, this can be a boon to your own administrative staff. A parental notification app should significantly cut down on calls to the office asking questions. This frees up your staff to focus on other issues, rather than constantly answering questions about bus locations.

Protect Student Security

Security is a high priority when it comes to student information, and a good parental notification app has safeguards. Parents and other approved contacts are only allowed access to information on their own students. However, the app is still robust enough to provide information about multiple students on different buses when needed.

Foster Parental Goodwill

Conflicts between parents, teachers, drivers, and administrators are unfortunate but they happen. A convenient app can help reduce that! Parents will appreciate how it helps them speed up their own interactions with the district. And from a purely pragmatic standpoint, fewer voice calls between parents and staff means fewer opportunities for conflict.

BusBoss can help your district embrace better parental communication methods, but your comments can help as well. Do you have any tips or tricks for better parental notifications?