Supersized Technology
Katrina Falk of Shelby Eastern School Corporation near Indianapolis uses GPS technology to verify the district’s school bus routing actually works in the real world.
In many cases, the technology is newly installed, and
the buying process started with GPS as the bedrock acquisition. John Wilcots, general manager of transportation at the
Houston Independent School District in Texas, oversees the transportation of more than 25,000 students daily. He has an 850-bus fleet that travels 830 routes, which makes it the largest operation in the state. Wilcots said his GPS software, which is provided by Zonar, enhances safety and helps identify his student riders. “We have two functionalities,” Wilcots began. “First, we can use Electronic Vehicle Inspection Reporting (EVIR) for pre-trip and post-trip inspections. And we have Z-Pass for student badging. The badges were implemented last year, so we have no strong data now to report.” According to Wilcots, the district is still in the “dat-
54 School Transportation News • SEPTEMBER 2019
ing” phase of getting students accustomed to using the badges. “Because our No. 1 priority is safety, we had to track students and know where they are getting on and off the buses,” he added. Wilcots said a second factor to contend with is the
software back end. He said the large size of Houston’s transportation program made it a challenge in the past to know true ridership numbers. “We have a big magnet program, so we wanted to
know how many of our riders are magnet students and how many students live outside the two-mile radius of their campus, which [then] qualifies them for ridership,” Wilcots explained. “We are also able to identify students in high risk areas, such as construction zones and free- way areas with obstructions on the walk paths.” Wilcots pointed out that exceptions to the two-mile
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