BOONE COUNTY, Ky. — Boone County parents can now track the exact location of their children's school buses from the palm of their hands. It's a virtual ride-along made possible through the Zonar MyView phone app.
Similar to how Uber works, the free app has a GPS tracking system that lets parents track school buses on routes.
"I think it gives parents peace of mind," said Robert Barrix, director of transportation for Boone County Schools. "If you're a mom trying to get kids out the door and go to work, last thing you want to do is not be able to count on when that bus is supposed to be there."
Boone County Schools launched the free app this week. From weather and traffic issues to staffing shortages causing the district to be down roughly 40 bus drivers, roadblocks can pop up, causing pick-up and drop-off delays. The technology can make parents' guessing games easier to play.
The app goes beyond tracking, too. With the option to toggle alert zones, parents can see where and when their kids are picked up and be notified when they near a specified radius of their home, bus stop or neighborhood.
"It pushes a notification to my phone that shows me where the bus is in real-time," Jane Breckenridge said.
Breckenridge is a mom of 6. She has two kids in elementary school and another in middle school who ride the bus.
"In the morning, we can take a look at the app and see where the bus and when it's close they can go to the bus stop," she said. "Same if they're a little bit late coming home. I can look at my app and see that they're on their way."
Breckenridge was selected to participate in the app's beta testing, so she's had it a week longer than most others. During that time she said she learned a tracking trick and recommends setting alert zones a little farther from your actual drop-off point to allow for more buffer time.
The app has built-in security measures, so parents don't have to worry about just anyone being able to tap into where their kids are.
Once downloaded, they must enter a district access code, the student's name and bus number and their individual student ID number.
Parents aren't limited to one bus or route either. If they have four kids in four different schools on four different routes, they can track all of them, Barrix said.
The MyView app syncs to the new Zonar tracking systems installed on the district's buses this summer. It's a technology Barrix said the district had been looking into for a while.
Barrix said it's a costly investment — $500,000 for a five-year contract.
Boone County Schools is the third-largest school district in Kentucky, following Lexington and Louisville. Roughly 17,000 of the district's 21,000 students ride the bus. To accommodate, there are 275 buses that cover 240 routes.
"We run about 2.5 million miles a year," Barrix said. "That's enough times to go to the moon 11 times."
With so much ground to cover, Barrix believes the app will be a game-changer for parents.
