Candid conversations about using GPS and wireless technology for work and fun.
GPS on School Buses – What Do You Think?
Author – Mary Beth Lowell, Communications Manager
As we’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, GPS technology is not just for consumers, it is also becoming relevant for businesses and government organizations of all types and sizes. One of the industries that has begun to leverage the capabilities of GPS is school district transportation. For example, using TeleNav Track on GPS-enabled phones, many schools across the country are now able to easily locate where all of their buses are at any time throughout the day. This means improved safety, more efficient and effective communication with parents, and perhaps even an improvement in school bus routing.
If you are interested, here is a case study (download in PDF) on how the Anaheim Union High School District in Southern California is using TeleNav Track and here is one on how Napa Valley Unified School District in Northern California is using the service.
Survey – Give Us Your Feedback!
Are you a parent with kids who ride the school bus to and from school? We want to get your opinion on using GPS on school buses and your ideas on how it can be used to increase safety for your children.
We’ve posted a very short survey to get your feedback.
Click here to access it and give us your opinion. It should only take five minutes and will help us improve our service and add features you think are important!
about 2 years ago
you are violating first amendment rights of right to privacy and hackers can now also give / sell a childs location away too , , way to go telenav and more bright ideas ready to be prosecuted
about 2 years ago
Thanks for your comment but this service is quite private to each school district and cannot be used to track individual children. The GPS resides on the cell phone which is always in the bus driver’s possession. Only those who have password information (school district administration) can view the location of the bus.
In many cases, this service cannot only assist school administrators with bus scheduling but it can improve communication with parents.
about 2 years ago
What is to stop the bus driver from leaving his cell phone in the bus and absconding with a child. Unless the GPS device was physically attached to the bus, this would not be useful.
GPS tracking on kids phones would be great and welcome. Sprint and Verizon already offer the service. It would be good to offer a non-carrier based solution that utilizes the cell phones and GPS onthe phone itself. Like for TMobile and AT&T where AGPS is not available. I would pay for that!
about 2 years ago
Conrad – thanks for your comment. We have found that many of our customers that are using our solution for their fleet of school buses do actually physically mount the phones to the buses. However, this is more to ensure they are continuously connected to a battery charger. We are announcing soon a new solution that is a hard-mounted solution – which will eliminate the need for a phone altogether. Our solution is really not meant to track children individually, more to provide security and efficiency for the bus which carries all of the children. It also provides dispatchers and parents with a more effective communication system.