SPECIAL REPORT
Where Is the Bus?
While early implementations of school bus tracking apps experienced growing pains, many school districts continue to successfully adopt and integrate with other digital applications
Written by Jim Romeo
A
t 6:42 a.m., a parent refreshes an app on their phone for the third time in two minutes, watching a small bus icon inch—or not—across a digital map. In school districts across the
country, that moment has become part of the daily routine. When they work, they build trust. When they don’t, the
breakdown is immediate, public and loud. School bus tracking apps, once marketed as a simple
way to reduce anxiety and improve communication, continue as a high-visibility link between transportation departments and families.
Growing Pains While many schools across the country are quite satis-
fied, some have had problems. Osceola School District in Florida launched an app at the
start of the school year. By January, the district was forced to notify families that the app was not functioning proper- ly. The school district is still trying to work out its glitches. Prince George’s County Public Schools, which oper-
ates roughly 1,000 bus routes daily in Maryland outside of the nation’s capital, adopted a mobile app to give parents real-time tracking and schedule alerts. Per- sistent reliability issues and mounting parent complaints prompted the district to abandon the platform and mi- grate to a new app instead.
Tech Hiccups Aside, Bus Tracking Apps Experience Growing Use and User Satisfaction Despite technical hiccups, data-integration challenges and the pressure of public scrutiny, school bus tracking apps have become common implementations in pupil transportation. The Houston County School District in Perry, Geor- gia has used CalAmp technology for its school bus fleet since 2019 to much satisfaction. The district has 265 school buses that transport approximately 16,000 students twice a day on 180 bus routes. Houston County initially partnered with CalAmp to utilize the core tech-
20 School Transportation News • MARCH 2026
nology of GPS fleet tracking, comparative analysis, time and attendance, navigation, and engine diagnostics. After its initial installation, the school district added the Here Comes the Bus parent app. “The fleet tracking system is a world above our pre-
vious product and gives us the ability to know instantly the location of a bus, its speed, its status on the route, as well as a history of the buses’ activity,” explained Tom Walmer, Houston County’s director of transportation. “The tracking system as well as the dispatch monitor module allows staff to have real-time data available to ensure buses are on their routes which stops have been completed, which stops may have been missed, and enhances our ability to address emergency situations as they arise. The navigation capability makes the job of a bus driver much easier and safer. No more need for in- experienced drivers or substitute drivers to fumble with route sheets or printed directions because it is all on the tablet, giving them directions and stop location notifi- cations. Comparative analysis and engine diagnostics are essential tools for supervisors and staff to monitor performance and eliminate issues that we may not have known about otherwise.” Houston County Schools is not the only district in
Georgia to have had success with CalAmp. Trey Stow, the director of transportation operations for Fulton County Schools serving the Atlanta metropolitan area, said over 89,000 users within the school district also use CalAmp Here Comes the Bus app. Stow says the app “works well and is heavily relied upon.” The experiences of Houston County and Fulton Coun-
try are catching on for many other school districts as usage of bus tracking apps continues to grow. “We are up to 1.7 million active users,” Adam Ortlieb,
senior product marketing manager at CalAmp, said. “Parents expect this capability for improved student safe- ty and more efficient use of their time. School districts are aligned on those priorities. Plus, both transportation staff and parents benefit heavily from efficiency gains.”
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