Watch above: A new tool has been launched so that Edmonton public school parents can track, in real time, the status and location of their child’s school bus. Emily Mertz reports.
EDMONTON – A new GPS service, “launched in earnest this year” by Edmonton public schools, keeps parents up-to-date on the status of their child’s yellow bus.
The online map can be accessed through School Zone, the special website available to all Edmonton public parents.
“If their child is on transportation, they’ll have a transportation tab, and they can log in and click on ‘Where’s My Bus?’” explained Chris Wright, manager of student transportation with EPSB.
“It’s been a good collaboration with our IT department to have that set up for parents.”
‘Where’s My Bus?’ can be viewed on a desktop computer and on a mobile device.
About 600 bus routes are included. All buses that are routed by the public school district are accessible on the system. An EPSB spokesperson says there are still some routes, typically transporting special needs students, that are routed by carriers, and cannot be accessed on ‘Where’s My Bus?’
The map shows the location of your child’s bus stop pickup, the school destination, and other stops along the way.
Since school buses are equipped with GPS tracking devices, any information regarding delays or early arrivals will be updated on the map.
“From the parent perspective, they’re able to watch the route, track it, see how it’s progressing, and know whether they should be getting to the stop or not,” said Wright.
The system isn’t only beneficial for parents; it’s also providing information to the district about ride times, idling, and route planning.
“From our perspective, it’s a ton of good GPS data which helps us with our routing and accountability. From the school perspective, it’s great. If there are issues, we can go back and look at GPS logs and help figure out how to remedy whatever the issue was.”
Comments