December 2021 Release: Travel Tracker - Routing Makes Student Ridership Safer with Visual Alerts Via Tablets

Travel Tracker – Routing makes student transportation safer by giving bus drivers controls so they know who is boarding the bus, when and at what bus stop.  

Travel Tracker's primary mission is to provide school districts with tools and features that increase routing efficiency in their district, gives transportation more control over bus routing with an easy-to-use dashboard, and the integrated tablet solution allows for safer student ridership.  

In the December 2021 update (released December 8), bus drivers now have additional resources to ensure student rider safety with greater visibility into the student with our tablet solution. 

Driver Alert for Unplanned and Suspended Students 

A student information card pops up on the tablet when you scan a student ID tag (tags contain a QR Code) using the barcode scanner option. These cards only pop up when a district uses the barcode scanner, purchased through Travel Tracker - Routing, that syncs to the tablets through Bluetooth. The scanners are more accurate than the tablet camera, work in low-light situations, and can stay on for 30 minutes at a time. 

• If using the tablet camera, an audio alert for “unplanned” and “suspension” prompts the driver instead of the pop-up cards 
• Otherwise, drivers hold the scanner device over the QR code located on the student tag. A visual alert appears on the tablet when a student boards a bus at an “unplanned” stop or if the student coming on board is under suspension, accompanied by an audio alert 
• If the student is at an unplanned stop, an orange box appears over the student profile  
• If the driver encounters a suspended student, a red box overlays the student profile  

• Tablets now rotate into landscape view as well as portrait mode 
• Add rider type, driver notes, seat number, and other student information to student information cards 

Other Feature Improvements  

• Better turn-by-turn voice navigation  
• Add fast forward and fast backward buttons to simulate trips 
• Allow zooming in and out on the map while navigating 
• Disable the tablet back arrow to avoid exiting a trip navigation by mistake 
• Dropoff All function for trips with multiple school stops 

• Update live GPS location every five seconds 
• Skip bus-depot stops to avoid unnecessary rerouting. Guides the user to the first non-depot stop by default 
• Add the “previous stop” button to navigate to the previous stop when running a trip 
  
  

Schedule a demonstration with a Travel Tracker Routing team member for more information about the student check-in and check-out with tablets or improving bus route planning in your district.