School Transportation Software: The Missing Piece

There is no bigger concern for parents than the safety of their children. Approximately 30% of parents as polled in August of 2015 have serious concerns about their children’s safety at school. However, school bus transportation has consistently proven to be a safe. Nonetheless, parents have a serious interest in keeping tabs on their children throughout the whole school bus experience. Have the kids caught the bus? Did they arrive home safely? A recent innovation in the industry has been aiming to solve this exact problem through student tracking.

Is Your Data Secure?

In an increasingly privacy-conscious world, parents are worried about how school districts store, protect, and use the vast amount of information collected about their children. If school districts ensure that there are correct privacy safeguards in place, K-12 transportation software with student tracking can be a very powerful technology that can both increase parent security, as well as make current manual processes more efficient and effective. At the same time, you need to work with a K-12 transportation software vendor who can deliver a product that ensures data encryption and server security.

K-12 Transportation Software Solutions in Action

In September of 2014, the city of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada launched a bus tracking system. Using the in-vehicle GPS location services, parents, staff and administration can monitor the location and progress of buses on their assigned routes. They can have secure access online from a desktop computer as well as mobile devices. As the article further points out, “The system isn’t only beneficial for parents; it’s also providing information to the district about ride times, idling, and route planning.”

Why Technology is the Missing Piece

In the coming decades, parents and their children are going to rely upon technology to keep in contact. This is inevitable. Your transportation network can take advantage of the available technology to answer two major issues. One the one hand, your operation will become more efficient, save money and provide better service. On the other, all this data and GPS information can serve to assuage parental concern and provide much wanted insight into their children’s transportation experience.

If you’re interested in learning more about technology that affects student riders and their parents, take a look at our whitepaper entitled, “5 Ways K-12 Transportation Software Solutions Keep Kids Safe.”