The situation was complicated by the fact that the
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district’s 240 buses are operated by over 30 different contactors, and communications were directed to each group separately. That’s no longer a problem with the upgraded system. “It works well both ways,” Hardesty noted. “Drivers can let us know of any problems. And we can talk to all the drivers or to a specific group such as all buses with a specific contractor.” That can be important in situations ranging from
conveying weather alerts or re-routing buses due to road closures, to notifying drivers of a serious incident at a single school. A plus is that the phones are tied into the FirstNet
wireless network for first responders. In addition to the basic value of the security provided, Hardesty said he likes having priority over other cell networks in case of an emergency. “Lots of police and fire departments use it,” he noted. He added that the group communication capabilities
should always carry a high priority. “A system that allows the district to communicate
with all buses at the same time is a necessity in today’s world,” he said. Along with Motorola 5500 and Hytera 700 radios, the
approximately 300 buses operated by Jordan School District in Salt Lake County, Utah, use Zonar for GPS and diagnostics along with Fortress camera systems. A key to improving radio performance, which previously suffered from dead spots, was incorporating a meshed microwave system linking the district’s repeater sites, explained Doug Paddock, who provides tech support for the transportation department. “This improved our dead spot issue because now our
two-way way radios roam on our meshed network,” he said. “The radio will select the strongest signal from our four repeater sites.”
Unique Challenges Despite the advantages offered by advanced com-
munications tech, challenges are not uncommon. Matthews noted that while digital radio technology
has offered a host of new features for his operation, there are drawbacks. For example, he said digital signal is “all or nothing.” Once the signal is sufficiently weak, no transmission or reception is possible. “Where we used to be able to faintly hear or hear
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through static, when a bus was on the edge of coverage or in a low-coverage area, digital is unable to commu- nicate at all,” he said. “We advise drivers that if they can’t hail dispatch, they should travel a few feet and try again.” Coverage within the Hudsonville, Michigan, district
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