ON L
TRACK
Student transporters discuss the benefits of fleet location tracking
apps WRITTEN BY JEANETTE REVELES |
JEANETTE@STNONLINE.COM
os Angeles conjures images of beaches, endless sun and celeb- rities. Yet even with all the glitz and glam, conversations about
the city eventually settle upon one thing: Te nightmarish traffic that plagues the local freeways and roads. Pamela Hopson, director of operations at Campbell Hall, a small, exclusive private school that serves approximately 1,120 students in North Hollywood, knows the problem of Los Angeles traffic all too well. “Traffic surrounding our campus can
be unpredictable and difficult to navigate. Inherently, transportation is a hot button issue in Los Angeles and for our families as well,” she said. School buses are crucial to reducing
34 School Transportation News • APRIL 2016
traffic congestion. According to the Amer- ican School Bus Council, one school bus carrying students to and from school can mean 36 fewer vehicles driven by parents are necessary. Tis equates to an estimated 17.3 million cars removed from the nation’s roads each year during the school commute. But even with school buses relieving some of the congestion, they are not immune to the volatility of traffic conditions, especially in places where high traffic is the norm, where, for whatever reason, smooth-flowing traffic can grind to a halt. Such is the case in many areas through- out Los Angeles, and in the neighborhood surrounding Campbell Hall. So the school turned to SafeStop, a real-time fleet-track- ing app that has made a world of difference
in instantly communicating with parents and students when unpredictable situations arise and delay bus arrival times. “We used to get lots of calls from parents asking when the bus was arriving or if they had missed the bus at their stop because they were running late. SafeStop has all but eliminated these issues for our families and our office,” said Hopson. Te SafeStop app, launched in 2013,
allows parents, school staff and administra- tors to track school bus location in real-time and to monitor estimated arrival times. Transportation staff can also use the app to send instant alerts and messages to parents. Scott Allen, vice president of operations
at TransPar, a school transportation man- agement and consulting company based in
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