CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. --Soon parents in Carteret County won't have to wonder where their child's school bus is.

Last week, the school district began testing a pilot program for an app called Here Comes the Bus.

Using a customizable map, parents will be able to track their child's bus in real-time.

Once it reaches within 500 feet to two miles of the bus stop, the parent gets a notification that the bus is getting close.           

Carteret County Schools says it will help protect students from inclement weather and roadside dangers.

"We hope adding this feature makes parents realize that we're trying to do everything to be customer service friendly, provide a safer environment for kids at the bus stop,” said Lloyd Willis, Transportation Director for Carteret County Schools. “We want to increase ridership with this, we want parents to feel safe about putting their kids on a school bus."

For the next few weeks, Here Comes the Bus is being piloted at three schools in the county.

If everything goes well, it will be rolled out to all parents by April 16.