Following other school districts in metro Atlanta, the Cobb County School District will soon offer a mobile application for parents to track school bus movement.
At a Cobb Board of Education work session Wednesday, superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the app, which would be available through Apple, Android, Google Play other app stores, is expected to be available by March 1.
The name of the app is “Here Comes the Bus,” which Ragsdale said is one of more popular bus-tracking apps in the country. It provides real-time tracking of buses, shows schedules and issues alerts notifying parents when buses approach pick-up and drop-off points.
Most recently, Here Comes the Bus been implemented in Paulding County schools. Marietta City Schools have a bus-tracking app called Traversa.
Ragsdale said Cobb school buses already have GPS (Global Positioning Services) devices on them, and the on-board technology will be updated to provide parents with tracking information that will be secured with a login containing a school code number and a password.
Parents had been able to contact drivers on two-way radios, which had dead spots and operated on open lines.
“If you need private communication with a bus driver, you don’t want that on a speaker,” Ragsdale said.
Deputy Superintendent John Adams said Here Comes the Bus has been tried on a pilot basis with parents at some schools in West Cobb, and most of them were satisfied with the app.
Cobb schools operate 870 bus routes that cover more than 68,000 miles each day, making 38,000 stops and carrying more than 72,000 students.
For details on downloading Here Comes the Bus, visit the CCSD’s transportation page.
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