News
Are Mobile Communications A Better Way Of Doing Transportation Business?
WRITTEN BY JIM ROMEO I
n Windsor, Canada, a driver ended his route, locked his bus and left for the day. Unfortunately, this was a terrible mistake. A 4-year-old girl was on the bus and had fallen asleep. Te driver neglected to complete a walk-through check of the bus before leaving. As a result, the Pearson Transportation Company now requires all drivers to communicate to home base via radio dispatch that they have conducted a check of the entire bus before leaving. Today, radio communications have made their way onto the buses of many school districts. In fact, those that can afford the sophistication of mobile communications appreciate their benefits. “At our school district, we utilize two-way radios in a number of ways,” said Michael Benedict, a school bus attendant with the Alpine School District in Central Utah. “For example, all the offices and desks in our transportation offices have a two-way radio to communicate between buses and office personnel as well as our service center in the event that a mechanic is needed.” If a bus is experiencing a mechanical difficulty, the driver will first call the service center. Te service center will pull up via Zonar GPS the bus number and diagnose the problem from there. But if it is something more severe, a two-person mechanical team will be dispatched to the location. “We usually have lots of buses running within the same geographical areas that can take students to the school if necessary,” added Benedict, For many districts, mobile communication extends beyond two- way radios. GPS, routing software and devices, and route planning are also included in the mix. Districts that invested years ago are now beginning to upgrade. “Two-way radio communication is necessary, but distracting,” commented Gingi Borg, director of transportation for the Ocean View School District in Huntington Beach, California. “New tech- nology devices are reducing the need to use them. We hope to up- grade to better digital radios to increase distance communications because sometimes verbal communication is necessary. Te most important communications are from base to the driver. If they wait until they’re stopped to read a message, it may be too late.” “Two-way radio technology will be around for quite a while,”
20 School Transportation News • JANUARY 2018
Whether by two-way radio or tablet, GPS is revolutionizing the way student transporters communicate with each other.
noted Tim Shannon, director of transportation for Twin Riv- ers Unified School District in Sacramento, California. “We are transitioning from analog radio systems to digital. Possibly in the future there could be system integration with routing systems. Te technology is effective, most of the time; yet there is room for improvement.” Steve Daniels is a transportation safety and training specialist
with Hernando County School District in Brooksville, Florida. Te district is also updating its communications systems—radios, GPS and routing systems. Daniels explained that Hernando Coun- ty had integrated separate routing and GPS student tracking solu- tions. “ However, that is no longer being used,” he added. “Instead, we are incorporating Edulog for our routing and GPS information, and the district is in the process of getting a new student informa- tion system. Basically, we are in a big transition period.” As the district maps out the transition plan, Daniels noted upgrade decisions are based on input from many departments in the district.
THE HIGH VALUE OF GPS GPS is part of most mobile communications found on school
buses everywhere. It continues to prove its value by providing optimal routing and real-time conditions on the roadways. It also offers other benefits for the districts such as monitoring driver performance and behavior. “GPS technology is very useful to our district because we can compare how routes are written, how they are driven, and if they are
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