If you are responsible for student transportation, you already know how important it is to offer not just convenience but also complete safety and transparency.
While school buses remain one of the safest ways for children to commute, relying on traditional systems alone may no longer be enough.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 971 fatal school-bus-related crashes were recorded, resulting in 1,079 fatalities, with an average of 108 deaths per year.
Out of 209 school-age children who lost their lives, 38 were bus occupants, 83 were in other vehicles, and 79 were pedestrians. These numbers reflect the risks that can't be ignored.
To improve how you manage school transport operations and keep parents informed in real time, many institutions are now switching to an IoT based bus tracking system.
In this blog, you'll learn how IoT app development services and mobility solutions can help you modernize your school bus tracking approach, close safety gaps, and build stronger trust with parents and staff.
Parents in fear
Parents live in a constant fear about the where abouts of their wards till the time they return. While schools are safe havens, the daily commute to and from the school is a cause of anxiety for most parents. Roads are not safe.
In the case of an accident, the driver is responsible 77% of the time. Over speeding/overtaking, alcohol/ drugs influence, and driving distractions remain top reasons for which a driver can be held responsible for.
Among distractions, cellphone use remains a major problem.
The worst part is while technology can minimize most of the distraction behind those mishaps and prevent rowdy drivers from crashing along with innocent children, school administrations shy away from bringing latest tech into their school bus fleet.
Even the most technologically sophisticated school bus fleets are not more than an inconsistent GPS tracking device over a loose internet connection.
People between the age of 15-29 are more likely to die because of a road accident or suicide than from a disease, condition, or an infection, as per a report by World Health Organization (WHO) suggests.
Ironically, while we may have won the fight against the natural enemy, we are yet to win it against the evils of the so-called modern society.
The least we can do is to keep the school-going children safe on the road. Traditional fleet tracking systems are a great start in this direction, but are they actually effective?
Old-school fleet tracking systems
Fleet tracking systems have been around for a while now. While they, when installed on a fleet of school buses, with the help of GPS tracking solution and GSM it can report real-time location to the fleet admin.
The system is not sophisticated enough to alert a distracted driver, lockdown top speed or debunk a drunk driver.
Traditional tracking systems, once a luxury, have now become a necessity.
However, with the addition of IoT devices to school buses will make them more secure, efficient in operation. Not to mention, cloud services will enable mobility solutions, allowing parents to track the school bus carrying their wards in real-time on their mobile phone with the help of an app.
The modern school bus tracking system
The solution combines GPS, GSM, and RFID technologies to track students’ attendance on the bus, drop and pick up times and locations, absence, and to alert the driver and the concerned parents at certain occasions
In addition, the solution enables the school bus operators to optimize their bus routes, to adjust route utilization, and to reduce running cost, and most importantly to comply to the latest regulations in school transport industry such as imposing pre-trip vehicle inspection.
On-road safety
The on-board diagnostic (OBD) device attached to a vehicle’s dashboard gathers vital stats about a school bus in the fleet in addition to reporting live location.
The device has necessary sensors to detect a rowdy driver-one who corners harshly, overspeeds, takes sudden turns, overtakes other vehicles, etc.
If a driver has gone overboard and the admin believes his action might harm little children, he can immobilize the engine remotely and send a cop in his direction.
To make sure, a driver is undistracted while driving. The driver’s mobile phone enters lockdown mode as soon as the OBD detects motion.
Enabling mobility solutions
The school bus real-time tracking system can be accessed from a mobile device too just the way it’s accessed from a desktop web browser or the dashboard software.
The GPS chip inside the OBD device attached to each school bus, pushes the information to a public cloud through 4G using MQTT, as illustrated above.
Any device that have access to that cloud can track the school bus location in real-time, be it the dashboard placed at the school, iPhone of the parents, or the android device of the principal, tablet computer of the gatekeeper.
Features in modern school bus tracking systems
Our School Bus Tracking is specially designed for you to manage your fleet of buses effortlessly by transforming them into Smart Buses.
This service facilitates administrative tasks that go along with ensuring the safety of a child.
You stay aware of the where abouts of children at all times. Parents are also kept updated using this service. Once can use this service for corporate employee transportation as well.
- Real time tracking: Track your bus real time on web
- Route replay: Replay the route that a bus has taken
- Geo-fence: Get an alert as soon as the bus leaves a certain area
- Geo-tagging: Each bus stop is marked on map to know bus position relative to school stops
- Parent alerts: A special service from Tata Docomo, where parents of the wards can be sent alerts as to when the bus is reaching their respective stop
- Speed estimates: Get average and real-time speed
- Over speeding alerts: Set a target speed and get SMS alert on over speed.
Considering its simplicity and utility, this vehicle tracking system is a boon for school authorities as well as parents.
Advantages of IoT-based School bus tracking system
If you’re looking to build a mobile app for school bus tracking then you must know the fact that these apps give high emphasis on the automation as it’s intrinsic to the segment.
You can achieve this by controlling the school bus transportation services along with optimum facilitation and tracking methods. These apps and systems are way beyond human or procedural errors.
These sorts of requirements are just perfect for IoT technologies. But, how exactly could they serve the advanced requirements of school bus services? Let’s see below.
Simplify management
School bus tracking system is opportune for school authorities. The software automates most of the operation including routing and scheduling.
School authorities only have to take a look if everything is under control and need to take action only when things go wrong, which is seldom a case in modern school bus tracking systems.
It saves the time and energy required for re-routing and re-scheduling whenever things go wrong.
Efficiency and saving
Manual routing and scheduling cause errors which might invite fines from regulatory authorities. Such inconsistencies can be evaded with an RFID vehicle management system.
Using such a system permits you to be conscious of the miles covered and mileage of each vehicle, which will reorganize driver’s payroll
Also, the school authorities get to know how resourcefully the school buses are being run, if there is redundant idling and if any instances of overspeeding, overtaking, etc. taking place.
Essential logs
A GPS school bus tracking system logs the activity of each school bus. Along with the RFID tags, it tracks children in case they disappear. The database can be used to find the circumstances that led to a mishap or crash.
School bus attendance
It is a tough job to uphold the attendance of each school child discreetly. Correspondingly, marking attendance by hand is susceptible to errors.
An IoT app development solution for school bus tracking system can record school bus attendance rapidly and effortlessly. The attendance details can be pushed to the school attendance database over a data connection.
Less number of calls
Parents, who receive real-time notification on arrival and departure a school bus carrying their child, are less likely to call school authorities for the same and save each other’s time.
Choosing a school bus tracking provider: What to check
Comprehensive service
The provider must provide end-to-end service including device, application, and connectivity.
No upfront investment
You must not be asked for the upfront investment and must pay only what you use, as you go. Look for scalability.
Seamless deployment
A rapid and continuous deployment get you started at the earliest. So that you’re into the markets before your competitors.
Effective monitoring
Real-time tracking and notification assist you in monitoring children safety during transit
Conclusion
For schools focused on student safety, traditional transport monitoring methods aren’t enough. With rising parental expectations, IoT-based bus tracking systems bring real-time visibility and control by combining GPS, sensors, and mobile connectivity.
This creates a complete school bus monitoring solution tracking routes, monitoring boarding, and sending pick-up/drop-off alerts. Beyond safety, these systems help optimize routes, cut fuel costs, and improve driver performance, while custom IoT app development services ensure a solution tailored to your school’s size and needs.
Technology is moving fast and as decision-makers, it’s on you to explore what’s possible. Implementing mobility solutions for your transportation system won’t just enhance safety; it will also strengthen the trust parents place in your institution.
If you're planning to build an app for bus tracking or upgrade your current system, now is the time to act.
FAQs
An IoT based bus tracking system uses GPS, mobile networks, and cloud connectivity to track a school bus in real time. It gathers data like location, route history, speed, and stop duration, then sends it to a connected app or dashboard that parents, school staff, or transport managers can monitor.
Yes, most modern school bus monitoring solutions are API-ready and can integrate with student information systems, attendance records, and parent portals to keep everything centralized.
Mobility solutions offer real-time updates, optimized routes, automated alerts, and digital records. This improves transparency, saves time, and enhances safety for students while building trust with parents
Security depends on the vendor and the infrastructure in place. With certified IoT app development services, data is typically encrypted, access-controlled, and stored in compliance with data protection laws.
Absolutely. If you're planning to build an app, features like RFID student scanning, driver behavior monitoring, geofencing, and emergency notifications can be added as per your school’s specific needs.
You should evaluate the system's GPS accuracy, mobile compatibility, ease of use, data privacy features, and vendor support. Also, check if the solution aligns with your existing infrastructure and scaling plans.
While real-time tracking does depend on internet connectivity, most systems can temporarily store data offline and sync automatically when the connection is restored.
