FORSYTH COUNTY --Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools anticipate making a website and smartphone app available for parents to track their child’s school bus.
The goal is to ease parents distress about drop off and pick up times.
Ferell Crawford said he can wait longer than expected at the Lindsay Street/Lindsay Manor stop in Kernersville to pick up his children.
"After school, the buses can be anywhere from 15 to 35, 50 minutes late sometimes,” Crawford said.
The district wants to take away the guessing game with the website and app as well as decrease the amount of calls to the communication center from parents asking about bus locations.
“So we can deal with problems like if a bus breaks down or if a driver needs help with a location,” WSFCS transportation director, Darrell Taylor said. “So it's a win-win for both of us."
The app is called "Here Comes The Bus" and may be up and running by the 2016-17 school year. The service is available through the GPS Tracking Systems already on buses.
Taylor said most parents have requested this type of notification.
"Parents will be able to subscribe to it, we're not sure yet what the cost will be,” he said. “They'll know exactly where the bus is at all time.”
The ability to offer this app comes with the district’s contract with Synovia, the GPS provider and won’t cost the district money, Taylor said. He adds parents will be able to set up an alert when the bus is nearby.
"The advantage to this app is they can set a perimeter of 500 feet to 2 miles for a notification when the bus falls into that perimeter."
Taylor said he is still figuring out final details before offering it as an option for parents at the upcoming open houses for the new school year.