3% What are apps? Peek at anyone’s smartphone or tablet


screen these days and you’ll see a number of square-sized icons that launch apps, or applications, that more and more people are relying upon to make their personal lives and work days more organized and efficient. Stu- dent transporters, too, are utilizing different types of apps at work for different purposes. Most apps are developed by third-party


providers and available for free or a small fee through the iTunes or Google Play stores. Some apps are basic while others are robust. Some pay apps require a one-time fee, and others are subscription based. Tere are apps for accessing information, networking and file sharing. Increasingly for business purpos- es, secure apps are being written to specifical- ly work with transportation software. Paul Vigil, supervisor of transportation at


Clover Park School District in Lakewood, Wash., uses a few different free GPS-re- lated apps through his personal and work smartphone to help him during school bus ridealongs with drivers. Tis helps partic- ularly when he observes driver behavior in the newer school buses equipped with high- back seats, which tend to block his field of vision as a passenger. “Te apps help me make sure the driver is


driving the correct routes and that he or she is not exceeding speed limits,” he said. “Bus drivers know I use the app, and there has not been a change with them and their hab- its. It just allows me to do my job better.” Mary Spagnola, transportation supervi-


sor for Barker Busing, a family-owned bus company in Kittanning, Pa., uses an app developed by advocate organization Autism Speaks to update herself on any relevant information to special-education students. Te app includes links to articles, videos and other online resources that she references to help her drivers. “Using my iPad, with the autism app, gives me the ability to travel wherever my drivers are located. Once there, I can download a video, share a helpful news article with them or offer many other means of support for them.” she said. “By using this method, our drivers don’t feel so disconnected, and the level of support instantly increases, so the app is a really useful tool.” Josh Rice, director of transportation at


New Caney (Texas) Independent School District, utilizes three apps to conduct his job — the Apple versions of Excel, Word and PowerPoint — that allow him to make changes and updates to files anytime he is not in his office. And he isn’t the only


one in his department who’s utilizing the technology. All New Caney supervisory staff members use the apps, too, after Rice implemented iPad technology throughout the department last school year. Now, all files are created through these apps and are stored on Dropbox, a cloud- based file sharing system available to individuals for personal storage and to large entities for complete virtual file sharing and other administrative work. A free version of Dropbox is good for saving, sharing and working remotely on documents, while a paid version offers larger storage for work- ing on large files such as graphics and video. Rice’s department is working in a way


34% No


63% Yes


Do you or your staff use mobile apps to assist you with your personal day-to-day business?


few others are at the moment. (See page 62 for a related story on cloud-based systems.) “Using Numbers (similar to Excel), I was able to create a BTW evaluation template for my staff. Tey only had to fill in a couple of blanks, and the rest of the evaluation was check boxes,” he said. “From there, imple- mentation really took off. Te supervisors worked to create multiple forms that the department now benefits from as a whole.” Rice and his department also recently began using an app for Keynote, similar to PowerPoint, to create presentations. “One of the supervisors uses the program


to create our presentation that we change daily for our message board,” he explained.


Popularity of Apps Vigil, Spagnola and Rice represent the 34


percent of student transporters who use mo- bile apps to help them with their personal, day-to-day tasks and responsibilities, ac- cording to STN’s annual technology survey of readers. One hundred and twenty-five readers responded from a group of nearly 4,000, the majority of which hold the title of transportation director or supervisor. Te STN technology survey showed a


range of apps relevant to transportation that directors and supervisors use to comple- ment their jobs. Many noted using free or inexpensive GPS-related apps for their daily operations, as well as apps for monitoring re- al-time road conditions, storms and general weather tracking. Other widely used apps are those that help with note taking or recording voice memos for personal organization. We should note that many survey


respondents said they use apps to access their personal and work email. Checking one’s Gmail from a mobile device isn’t new, but what is new is that more people are


checking their email through their mobile devices first instead of a home computer, according to a report released in February by data and digital messaging solutions provider Knotice. While most apps are being accessed


through smartphones and tablets, interest- ingly the survey also showed that about 18 percent of respondents said their operation utilizes smartphones or tablets for their employees and drivers (not for illegal use behind the wheel). Vigil said he still tends to use his personal


smartphone for work purposes, but on either phone, he uses Evernote, a cloud-based, project-management app for tracking work progress and saving and sharing notes, files, documents, videos and photos. Like the GPS apps, he said he’ll also use Evernote during a ridealong in the event he needs to remember a bus number or take a photo of something that happened while the bus was on the road. “We’re not always in the office and not


always able to keep track of everything. When I’m out on the road, the app is great to keep everything in one place,” he said. “I can pull up files without having to log into the district computer system.”


Apps Designed for Transportation


Te world of apps continues to grow, and apps tied to transportation software currently exist. However, they cannot be purchased and downloaded the same way as standalone apps, and they are password-protected. Transfinder offers its Infofinder Mobile App for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.


www.stnonline.com 67


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