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for everything from detection systems to child safety seats to hazard light switch location to camera systems to roof hatches. She agreed that uniform standards would save time and money. “I think a uniform standard is very important for a number of reasons,” Daw said. “It would save time training bus drivers on new systems. When they get into a bus here they can feel right at home.”


CHILD-CHECK SYSTEMS GAINING IN POPULARITY Student tracking systems, cameras and child-check systems are gaining popularity among school districts of all


sizes. Midlothian ISD is one of nine school districts in Texas to adopt a SMART Tag System, which uses an RFID card students scan on and off the bus. When a student swipes the card, the child’s photo appears on a tablet to con- firm that the student is on the right bus. Similar to Shannon’s program with Tyler Technologies and CI Solutions, the Midlothian ISD cards can be used by the student to buy lunch and library books. Te system also allows the driver to conduct pre- and post-trip inspections via the tablet. “If something happened to the bus, the driver can send for a reliever bus,” said Midlothian ISD spokeswoman Karen


Parmetti. “If there is an accident we would know immediately the names of the students who were on that bus without a headcount. Tis system has a lot of layers of security.” Mike Reinders, transportation director in the Winnebago County Unified School District in Illinois, is adding GPS and telematics to his 22-bus fleet for the first time this year. “Now I can see where buses are in real time,” he said. “I can do geofencing to see if a bus is off its route and if there is excessive speed, the system will send me an email.” Reinders also will add additional cameras to his video surveillance system and a child-check system to his fleet. He said children have fallen asleep on the bus or missed their stop because they were not paying attention. He said the child check system will protect the child and the driver. “If a driver misses a student on the bus, the driver gets into trouble,” Reinders said. “We don’t have excessive heat here, but the cold can be pretty dangerous in the winter.” Reinders said ride times do not justify installing Wi-Fi, but he is looking into student RFID cards.


BUS DRIVERS: AN ENDANGERED SPECIES? New technology on the horizon may make the debate over whether bus drivers should be given a more technical title a moot point. Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication and collision avoidance systems using sensors are already available in the passenger and commercial vehicle markets. Experts say that it is only a matter of time before these technologies become affordable for school districts. Shannon said that when buses become autonomous, bus drivers will have a presence but may no longer be called


drivers. He said he foresees that technology is on its way to districts, eventually. “As more and more cars become autonomous, we would probably have an attendant or technician, not a driver,” he said. “Technology is advancing so rapidly, that it may take the human factor out of it. It’s too early to see it in school buses, but it’s coming.” 


44 School Transportation News • SEPTEMBER 2017


Twin Rivers Unified is also on the cusp of new technology with its fleet of


all-electric, zero- emissions eLion school


buses that it took ownership of this summer.


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