5 Top School Bus Tracking Software Providers Every Parent Must Know

Child safety and security is a major cause of anxiety for parents in these times.

Parents start worrying as soon as the child leaves home for school.

Whether the bus was on time, did their ward board the bus, did the child reach the school safely, and when the student was dropped back are matters of daily concern. This can be solved with school bus tracking software.

The school authorities are responsible for the child safety to and from schools.  

It is definitely a daunting task with increasing numbers of students, buses and routes.

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The degree of alertness and follow up by personnel at different levels vary, often leading to lapses in the process.

Now technology is helping out in this matter to a great extent.

There are many software applications designed to ease daily activities in almost all spheres of life.

In the school scenario, the most relevant and important one seems to be a specialized tracking system for school buses. 

Most software packages have a web-based app for the school authorities and a mobile app for parents, drivers and students.

Now here we are showcasing 5 top school bus tracking software providers

1: TrackSchoolBus

This is an excellent software platform designed for all associated with the child – parents, school administration, drivers and transport managers.

With this, concerned people can track attendance of the location of  bus, and pick up and drop off timings.  

Parents have the option to change the pick-up and drop off points for their ward(s) with intimations to the driver and school.

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The parent can also apply for leave if the child is sick through this app.

Both the driver and administration are informed. The route can be changed if necessary for drivers to reduce running time.

The school authorities have access to details regarding the driver, route, time spent on the road, list of students present on the bus thus enabling them to put their fleet to optimal use.

Transport managers can plan routes and trips, track every bus and communicate with drivers.

Accidents and traffic congestions along the routes can be viewed and conveyed to both parents and drivers.

With this, transport managers do not have to perform school bus routing, optimization and allocation manually because the system does it automatically as our system is AI in-built. 

2: BusWhere

Considered very easy to use and a reliable for parents, the app tells us ‘where’ the bus is located currently.

The bus routes can be viewed on an interactive map.

Parents are notified when the bus is going to reach the stop. They get a minute by minute update on expected arrival time. 

It tracks the location of the different buses on the specified routes, the time of arrival and departure from each stop, deviation in route due to traffic delays, expected arrival time at each of the designated stops. 

This is of immense help to school administrators.  

They have an easy access to information of the buses in their fleet mainly the routes, present location, speed and fuel levels.

With this, if any delay in school bus timing, parents can be notified via messages. 

An additional feature of this is that the previous history of the bus can be obtained.

Details thus logged can be downloaded for further analysis too. 

3: School Bus Tracker

School bus tracker offers real-time location of buses to both parents and school authorities. 

Location of the buses, time of arrival and departure and route changes are monitored.

If any delay, direct messages are sent to parents and the information is also relayed to school authorities.

With this, parents can request for route change.  

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The driver can also be notified directly by the parent if the child is sick.

This enables him to change the route accordingly.

Though widely used, this does not monitor the child’s attendance on and off the bus as it does not have RFID.

4: Here comes the bus

Being a bus location sharing platform, it provides the parents and school administration with the exact location of the bus.

The parents can view the scheduled and actual time of student arrival at both home and school.

In case where the bus is delayed, email alerts are sent to parents. 

This is a device to track whether the student got on and off the bus.

It will indicate the bus-stop too. ID cards are scanned by students while boarding and exiting the bus. This will provide details of student attendance.

In conjunction with the GPS device, the location is pinpointed and the school as well as the parents is notified if students have alighted at the wrong stop.

5: Applane Real-Time Bus Tracking System

This system is a powerful software for parents to track their child’s bus route, location and timings of departure and arrival.

It offers an option wherein the child can be dropped to the next bus stop in case they fail to drop the child off at the usual one.

Parents are notified of route changes due to delays. They are also informed of any emergency situations or breakdowns.

RFID integration helps in monitoring attendance. An additional feature is the CCTV installed which keeps an eye on both students and drivers.

Unlike others, this can be accessed on mobile devices by the school authorities making it possible to manage their entire fleet anywhere anytime.

Conclusion

These software applications make the school bus fleet management an easy task.

Managed well within the parameters of privacy and security terms, this can be a boon to all.

Both the parents and school authorities can stay updated about the whereabouts of their wards. These providers help to enhance child safety.

Keep Track of School Bus Drivers with School Bus Tracker

 

School bus tracker software can be said to be effective only when your child’s safety is assured to the fullest. So, it is mandatory that school bus drivers are also tracked using the system as they play a major role in the safety of school children. Wouldn’t it be helpful if you get a chance to assess the performance of school bus drivers as well, apart from tracking the location of the school bus and the whereabouts of the school students?

Track School Bus Tracker software can be of great help to school fleet managers in this regard. It offers features that help these managers to keep tab on drivers in the following ways:

Collect Performance Data

Monitoring school bus driver performance is a challenging task for most fleet managers. There are usually no reliable source to know their actual performance other than from the bus travelling students and parents. With school bus tracker systems, these drivers are provided with a driver console, which prompts them to login when they enter duty and log off when they leave.

As GPS data is transmitted by the system to the fleet manager, he will be able to know the speed at which a driver drives, how punctual he is, if he is making unwanted stops or idling too much or braking harshly. All this data is conveniently stored away for future access, probably during performance evaluation.

The system also has parent app, with the provision for parents to rate and comment on each individual driver.

School Bus Travelling Student Safety

The single biggest concern of school bus travel is student safety, and the driver is the best person to ensure it. School bus tracking system has smart route optimization features that can help drivers to quickly reorganize their route in case of difficulty in maintaining their regular routes.

The fleet manager would also be able to provide assistance to him by constant communication through the various options available through driver console.

Restrict Unwanted Usage

As school bus tracker software provides real time location data, it can also be used to spot side trips and other aberrations. Once the drivers are aware of this facility, it would naturally curb such tendencies in them. Even if they do, it can be used as solid evidence of school vehicle misuse.

Monitor Behavior to Students & Parents

It is common for parents and students to complain about School bus drivers. The bus surveillance cameras can come to the aid of school transport fleet managers under such circumstances. In general as well, fleet managers can monitor driver behavior towards students and vice versa.

Vehicle Health and Fuel Economy

A vehicle’s maintenance frequency and fuel consumption largely depends on driving style. Too much acceleration, harsh braking, idling and rash driving can shorten the maintenance period and reduce fuel economy. For large school bus fleets, it can make a significant difference in the short term itself, while it would be unwanted expense for smaller fleets in the long term.

Analyzing the performance of the drivers can be of real benefit to the school management as it will help improve safety, streamline expenditure and enhance performance. Employ our GPS school bus tracker and have a great time managing your drivers and providing safety to your students.