When a bus comes early or late, it’s a major issue for parents and for students. If it’s early, a child is more likely not going to be ready in time and will probably end up missing it. If the bus is late, waiting for it can be dangerous for students due to extreme weather conditions. Either way, a bus that’s not on schedule can throw a wrench in the works for a parent’s day, and make a child’s morning miserable. And it can mean angry phone calls or emails for administrators and staff to deal with.
Luckily, it doesn’t have to be that way. Giving parents more information – and having that information for yourself as well – can solve a lot of problems before they happen. And if a bus schedule does go sour, you have the tools at your disposal to solve the problem, and to explain to parents exactly what happened.
What’s Here Comes the Bus?
Here Comes the Bus is the only mobile device app available in the United States that alerts parents that their child’s bus is near. It launches nationwide for the start of the new 2015-16 school year. It offers two levels of access – basic and full. With basic access, parents can see the real-time location of their children’s buses on the Here Comes the Bus website on any device for no charge. Full access includes that, as well as a smartphone app, email alerts and push notifications, historical information, and an adjustable alert radius so they can decide when they’re notified that their child’s bus is near.
How can Here Comes the Bus help with customer service?
According to Suzanne Rothenberg, director of public relations and community outreach at the MSD of Decatur Township in Indianapolis, improving customer service is one of the main benefits of Here Comes the Bus. “From the district point of view, we want to focus on the positives – improving customer service, safety and communication with parents,” Rothenberg said.
When parents know the exact location of their child’s school bus, they’re less likely to need to call. When a parent calls transportation, it’s usually for one of two reasons. Either the bus is late, and the parent wants to know where it is and when it will arrive, or the bus already came and the parent wants to vent their anger since their child missed the bus. Here Comes the Bus gives you the ability to help parents help themselves.
Utilizing Core GPS tracking and Comparative Analysis from Synovia Solutions, Here Comes the Bus allows parents to see where the bus is with pinpoint accuracy. With full access, they don’t even have to remember to check – parents will be automatically notified when their child’s bus enters a certain perimeter, so they’ll know when to be ready.
If a parent, for whatever reason, still needs to call, it’s much easier to answer a question quickly and correctly. If a bus isn’t where it should be, a staff member can simply take a screenshot of GPS data and email that to the parent. According to Scott Denton, assistant superintendent for Durham Public Schools, “The ability to do this has curbed the number of what we refer to as repeat callers…those parents who tend to find a reason to call every day about a particular bus.” Denton says that Here Comes the Bus was able to placate even some of the “most vocal critics” of drivers.
Here Comes the Bus will reduce the number of phone calls, and make it easier for you to respond to the ones you still get. No matter what way you look at it, the app delivers for parents and administrators alike.