is a click of a button on the screen and the defect is reported to my maintenance staff. We can occasionally have issues with the tablets locking up. But Zonar is easy to work with, and we have always been able to resolve the problem easily.” Cook-Illinois Corp., a contracted school bus company in Chicago, is conducting a pilot program that uses tablets from Mobile Knowledge Systems, Inc. (Kanata, Ontario) on a fleet of 40 mini-vans that are used for special needs students. With over 35 years in business, the privately-held Mobile Knowledge provides rugged, purpose-built in-vehicle computing platforms that connect drivers and their vehicles. “Tese tablets are working out really
SMART Tag is the premier on-bus tablet solution for student ridership management with pre/post-trip inspection, fleet GPS and e-messaging. The user-friendly rugged tablet and RFID cards help ensure students ride the correct bus, get off at the right stop and are not left on the bus. Offering guardian check for Pre-K/SPED riders, SHARS reports, and integration with your existing routing and maintenance software. Fleet visibility and student info is accessed through our secure web portals for ISDs, campuses and parents.
“SMART tag truly is a magnificent leap in student transportation… the tablet does so much it's actually unbelievable.”
well so far, since we use our mini-vans almost like a taxi,” said John Benish, Jr., president and COO of Cook-Illi- nois. “Tey give our drivers directions and interface with dispatch, so we can see exactly where they are.”
Te tablet allows
dispatchers to transmit route changes to drivers, and it also includes an app that allows parents to track real-time school bus locations on their smartphones. While the system isn’t fully developed, Benish said the technology is able to help school bus drivers be safer and more efficient. Benish stressed, “For those people who
Josh Rice
Dir. of Transportation New Caney ISD, TX
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sales@smart-tag.net See Us At Booth #132 42 School Transportation News • JUNE 2018
are resistant to new technology, I say, ‘How is it bad for drivers to not be lost anymore? How is it bad to listen to direc- tions?’ We put GPS in all of our vehicles 10 years ago, and when I hear of drivers that are resistant, I think that some drivers just don’t want people to know where they are,” he added. “Tere’s a different mindset they need to adopt,” he claimed. “Everything starts with the GPS, and all of the drivers have up-to-date routes. New drivers, and even me, because I still drive routes from time to time, can go out and have the correct data.” Benish said Cook-Illinois drivers
appreciate receiving audible turn-by-turn
directions—rather than relying on route changes that were previously marked onto sheets of paper. Te drivers also want to know the true distances of their routes and expected arrival times, he said. When asked if the company is going
“The tablets simplify our driver’s jobs, and they are
to invest in tablets for its full-size school bus fleet of 2,200 buses, Benish said he wants to see vehicle manufacturers stan- dardize the size of tablets and integrate them into the dashboard, direct from the factory. Littleton Public Schools near Denver, does not use tablets yet, said Director of Transportation Mike Hush, but he is eager to try them. “I’m an early adopt- er of technology,” he said. Te district recently changed GPS vendors and now uses Samsara of San Francisco.
Te company
embracing it all.…You just don’t miss a beat when you have the tablets.”
Colleen Murphy-Penk, Youngstown (Ohio) City School District
specializes in software that was developed for delivery fleets, to track driver hours of service. “But they are coming into the K-12 arena with some items that we’ll want in the future,” said Hush. “We looked at some
other companies, and their tablets were a little out of our price range. For now, we like how Samsara interfaces with what we have, and when Samsara has an RFID reader, we’ll be very interested in that.” Hush added that he would like to implement ridership tracking for Medic- aid purposes. “Having a tablet to check students in and out would save a lot of paperwork. Medicaid reimbursement involves very strict accounting, and I am hoping that the tablets would pay for themselves.” Down the road, Hush said he expects that prices for the devices will regularly fall. “We were looking forward to that, but the cost of the tablet and the availabil- ity just wasn’t there at that time,” he explained. “I believe in the next few years,” he
said. “We are going to see the price come down. We will see a lot more tablets on buses, especially given the security features like student tracking.”
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