Unaware the bus had an assignment that day, he called the dispatcher who claimed the vehicle was in the bus parking lot. As it turns out, a substitute driver mistakenly had taken the wrong bus on a field trip and AWARE was able to pinpoint its exact location….

Original Article Here:

Well it isn’t as if GPS tracking for school busses was new, but the acceptance has really been poor, considering the broad base of school districts and private contractors who carry students across the world.  Of course, especially here in the US, the reason there are so many entities engaged in this service, often wastefully passing each other as they go about their routs is a story for another day.

As a private entrepreneur I have approached many school districts with the idea of GPS tracking their busses, always to little or no interest. In spite of offers to prove savings upon their own fleets there is no one literally interested enough is school bus safety to actually take a free trial evaluation offer. It’s much easier in a public service job to sit back in the swivel chair and whine about not having enough money. Of course the fact that the GPS could actually afford a net savings … meaning more money in the district’s coffers seems to fall on deaf ears. There’s an old business saying that you have to spend money to make money. I would submit that a paraphrase is also true; you have to expend a little effort to make money also.

Now that Cummins, one of the leading purveyors of engines and Bluebird, perhaps the biggest US school bus manufacturers are now including GPS systems as an option will help sway the market.

I included a paragraph above illustrating one of the most denied aspects of GPS tracking. There may or may not be wrong-doing involved with vehicles not being where they are supposed to be, but the truth of the matter is, vehicle managers in the pupil transportation industry (as well in every other industry and government industry I have performed demonstrations for) simply do not know where their vehicles are.

It does not matter if the unknown trips and locations are benign or malicious, it takes a manager to decide … you can’t yet program some kind of “expert system” to make these sorts of decisions, and the best manager in the world can not make correct decisions if the assets managed are not measured.

Investigate the optional systems from the big manufacturers, investigate third-party systems, but whatever you do, do something!

Our children’s safety is of prime importance and. as a side benefit, while protecting the children, you’ll definitely improve your bottom line.