Multiple districts — Parent Mercedes Nunez can track her child’s bus in real time using the My Ride K-12 app on her phone, where she can watch it move from stop to stop and know precisely when the bus will reach her student.
“Before the app, I was only able to give my mom an idea of when he might be at the stop,” said Nunez, who works as a transportation dispatcher for the district. “Now I can tell her exactly when he’ll be there so she can get him (after school). It gives you a lot of peace of mind.”
This fall, Comstock Park Public Schools added the school transportation management and communication system, created by Texas-based Tyler Technologies. The program allows parents, guardians and students to access their school bus transportation information securely.
“Because we’re in the 21st century, we wanted to give parents and families more accurate, up-to-the-minute information — allowing them to see exactly when their student is picked up and dropped off,” said Transportation Director Trevor Bulmer.
Enhancing Communication & Safety
Bulmer said he proposed the system to the Comstock Park Board of Education after researching and talking to other districts with similar transportation management programs.
“My focus was, I wanted the right fit for the district, the right fit for the students, the right fit for our families,” he said.
Bulmer said he discovered several benefits of the program:
- Parents and guardians can view their child’s assigned bus stop, route and pickup/drop-off times.
- Real-time GPS tracking allows families to see the bus’s location and estimated time of arrival at school or at a stop.
- The district transportation office can send push notifications and alerts such as route changes, delays or bus status, directly to parents through the app.
- Access is secure and restricted, ensuring that parents or guardians can only view information for their own children, while the system also allows sharing of a student’s transportation information with another guardian or caregiver, if permitted.
- It provides turn-by-turn directions, making it easier for a substitute driver to take over a route.
This fall, all Comstock Park students received a fob that they use to scan when entering and exiting the bus.
Bulmer explained that when a student scans their fob, the system displays the student’s name and photo to the driver, allowing them to verify the student’s identity. He said that if a student boards the wrong bus, a red light will appear when their fob is scanned, allowing the driver to check which bus the student is actually assigned to.
If a student attempts to get off at the wrong stop, the red light will flash to alert the driver, which Bulmer noted helps prevent students from being dropped off at an incorrect location.
Bulmer said the fobs are inexpensive and simple to replace. If a student loses theirs, the driver can manually enter the student into the system. The driver then alerts Bulmer, who can create a new fob and have it ready for the driver to deliver to the student on the next bus run, he said.
One safety feature: The key fob is a series of eight letters and numbers with no identifying information to the public. It only works with the secure network. Another safety feature: A parent or guardian can request to restrict someone’s access to a student’s route.
Technology Improves Efficiency, Reduces Calls
“Knowing where everyone is and who has checked in or out has been incredibly valuable,” said Forest Hills Transportation Director Brenda Witteveen. That district has had the My Ride K-12 program for about three years.
The advantages have been numerous, she said, such as turn-by-turn directions and bus checks that can be done on a tablet, which has allowed the transportation department to go paperless.
‘It gives you a lot of peace of mind.’
— parent Mercedes Nunez
She said having the My Ride K-12 program also has significantly reduced the number of calls from parents inquiring about the bus status and their children.
“It’s been very helpful for parents but even here in the office,” she said. “The drivers now do their pre-trip inspections … right on their tablet, and it just notifies our fleet department if there’s anything that needs to be fixed on the bus.”
The program also allows field and athletic trips to be added to a driver’s schedule, she said.
Added Comstock Park’s Bulmer, “It makes it easier for trips, as each student has to scan on and off the bus, so if a driver is supposed to have 18 students and only has 17 scanned in, the driver can quickly determine who is not on the bus.”
Several other districts, such as Wyoming, Rockford and Kent City, have either the My Ride K-12 or similar school management transportation programs. Both Kentwood and Caledonia plan to add the programs to their fleets.
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