GPS School Bus Tracking Gets Straight A’s from Parents
Every day, GPS trackers are becoming more integrated into our lives. GPS monitoring and reporting technology is built into everything from smartphones to bracelets to sneakers — even pet owners are getting into the act with GPS-enabled dog collars.
As the tech goes mainstream, parents are starting to reap the benefits.
The tracking of school buses via GPS has been slowly gaining popularity around the country, with some schools turning to the devices to improve efficiency, save time and money, and most importantly, ensure the well-being of their students. The Moshelow School in Borough Park, Brooklyn has taken the technology a step further — and parents are thrilled.
Instead of simply tracking the buses for its own internal use (such as to save gas or ensure the most efficient driving routes) the school provides parents with the exact location of their children’s buses — and even sends an automatic text message when the bus is a few minutes from the child’s home.
“This new hi-tech system is revolutionary and a life changer,” Eli Wohl, a school parent and photographer, told VIN News. “Before the system was in place, my wife would wait for the bus [every day], never knowing if it was running early or late, which was especially tough during the harsh winter weather. Buses could sometimes come an hour late, but with the new system that was put in place this year, my wife never waits more than two minutes, since we are notified exactly what time [it] will be coming.”
GPS tracking would have been especially helpful during last year’s school bus fiasco, when a group of special needs children from Brooklyn spent five hours on a New York City bus after the driver got hopelessly lost. Most of the kids never made it home on the bus and instead had to be picked up by their terrified parents, who were never notified about the delay. “I was so scared. I thought my child was killed or abducted,” local mom Margarita Santana told the New York Daily News.
It’s time for schools across the country and around the world to follow the Moshelow School’s lead. GPS tracking of school buses is not prohibitively expensive to implement for most districts — and we’re pretty sure that a lion’s share of parents would be willing to chip in to get the peace of mind that comes with always having the answer to the age-old question: It’s 3 pm. Do you know where you children are?
(Image via Creative Commons)
