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of concept developed to “show how new technology can add much needed efficiency, safety and cost-savings to school transporta- tion.” School officials use it to monitor smart buses and track which students are on specif- ic buses. Tey can see precisely where those buses are and tell substitute drivers in real time about pick-up locations and next stops, receive live vehicle diagnostics to prevent breakdown and find better driving routes. Milne said it is one example of how IoT can help modernize schools beyond the transpor- tation department, such as better serving economically disadvantaged students. Todd Liston, transportation director at
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“SMART tag truly is a magnificent leap in student transportation… the tablet does so much it's actually unbelievable.”
Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools, says he believes that, no matter how much data is floating around, the core job of transport- ing students hasn’t changed. “Te simple fact of a driver taking care of kids, picking them up timely and getting them to school safely hasn’t changed for decades,” he observes. “Te supporting accoutrements, technology included, have definitely made our lives somewhat more complicated and somewhat better, and certainly safer for kids and drivers. Tat technology helps us be more effective, efficient and timely so we can focus on the actual delivery of services.” Gone are the days when the district sent 10,000 faxes to handle individual transpor- tation requests. Te district has embraced software, including electronic submissions and parent portals, that allow request forms to flow back and forth between the bus and building staffs and parents. Des Moines has moved away from its
Josh Rice
Dir. of Transportation New Caney ISD, TX
own server farm to more cloud services, but Liston is taking a mixed approach to SaaS and MBaaS. “Could we get a little better? Sure. But is investing in the latest and greatest going to really help our turnaround time for when a kid gets on the bus? I’m not sure yet,” he says. “Our next step for how we take better care of our students and their safety is to have their information at drivers’ fingertips. Our tech plan is to have a tablet in every bus for every driver.”
A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY Several reasons exist for the school bus
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industry’s slower adoption of new technol- ogy. Te first is its well-earned reputation as the safest transportation record. Te second is the ever-present budget constraints that
28 School Transportation News • OCTOBER 2017
hold schools and bus contractors in a vise- like grip. Tat begs the question of how technology advances should happen. “Te school bus industry struggles big- time on this subject,” says Singh. “Usually, customer demand drives change. Tink about retail; people started buying online because it is more convenient, and that has caused the whole market to change. “Te school bus industry is still seen as the safest mode of transportation for children by parents and school bus districts alike. Hence, all that matters to (some peo- ple) is for the bus to be at the right place at the right time. Te cost of transportation or behind-the-scenes operational complex- ities are not visible to parents or children. However, if there is change to the whole sector, the school bus industry would have no choice but to adapt and change.” He says he would like to see a leader-
ship group of select customers, vendors and suppliers chart industry standards for technology use and development. Tim Ammon, chief of business de-
velopment with the TransPar Group of Companies, says he expects SaaS, MBaaS and MaaS to soon reshape transportation departments.“Tis is the next evolution. It’s going to change how transportation depart- ments interact with vendors. A department will need to do one of two things. It needs to change the people it hires so they have people who understand how this is different than traditional transportation—and under- stand how to use these tools—or it requires us to provide fundamentally different train- ing on how we use these tools,” he adds. As Milne sees it, innovation is a shared
responsibility. “Technology firms can come up with all the cool products in the world, but if the user base is not receptive, it doesn’t do any good. Tere has to be a meaning- ful impact and it starts with the user base asking, ‘What can technology do to solve my most pertinent problems?’ and ‘How does this make what I do better, faster, safer or more cost-efficient?’ Tese are the questions a transportation director or school admin- istrator will put to the tech industry,” says Milne. “Ten, it’s up to us to come up with innovative ideas to answer those questions. It’s a matter of finding out which ideas are crazy, which ones are impactful, which ones overlap and which can be made a reality.”
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