GREENSBORO, N.C. — As summer vacation comes to close for some students, parents are kicking into their back-to-school gear. In Guilford County, there's one thing parents may want to add to their to-do list: downloading the Here Comes The Bus app on Google Play or the App Store.
Last year, the Guilford County Board of Education approved a contract to start using the technology which allows parents to track their child’s bus in real-time to use with the newly instated OneCard student IDs.
“This will give parents peace of mind about exactly where their child is between home and school,” said Scott McCully, Chief Operations Officer.
“The OneCard was that missing link for us to be able to provide this service.”
According to Guilford County Schools, the system is used in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and in Winston Salem-Forsyth County Schools, and elsewhere across the country.
The app was developed by Synovia Solutions. Like other tracking apps, Here Comes the Bus uses GPS technology to locate and track your child’s school bus. Only the school districts participating in the service are able to sign up using the school district's unique code.
Guilford County Schools said the contract, which cost $357,000 will also provide the school district with benefits and savings from an administrative point of view.
"The system will record bus drivers’ drive time and attendance, which will result in a more accurate timecard for drivers, expected to be about 10 minutes per day per bus," GCS shared in a news release in 2018.
Efficiency is something Guilford County Schools Transportation will need, since the district had 63 openings for bus drivers within the district on July 30, just a few weeks before the school year kicked off.
While some Guilford County Schools began class this week, the app will not be available for use until August 26.