Norwalk City Schools roll out Transfinder stop-finder app, limit live-route tracking for safety

Norwalk City School District officials presented a phased roll-out of Transfinder’s parent app at the board’s January meeting, saying the tool can send geo‑alerts, push notifications and two‑way messages to families and that the district is testing additional Wayfinder features on four buses.

District transportation staff said the stop‑finder app (Phase 2) shows a student’s bus, scheduled pickup and drop‑off times, and allows parents to set a geofence that triggers a push notification when a bus crosses that zone. “You can basically decide the size of your fence for your geozone,” the presenter said. The app also shows examples of prior test notifications, including a Halloween message about costume props.

Why it matters: officials said the app gives families near‑real‑time information on delays and arrival times, and gives the transportation office a direct channel to reply to parent messages. Staff said the feature aims to reduce phone calls and improve routine communication about route changes.

During the demonstration, staff described safeguards the district has chosen. Because of safety and custody concerns, the district has not enabled a feature that would allow the public or parents to follow a route continuously. “We did we decided to keep that off for now. So just for safety purposes,” the presenter said. Staff said parents can still call transportation to verify a bus location after identity verification.

Staff reported operational metrics and next steps: about 330 parents have activated accounts (including some staff), and the district’s short‑term goal is to increase that number to about 1,000. Phase 3 — Wayfinder student card attendance — is being tested on four buses; when live, students will tap a card onboard to generate real‑time attendance and arrival updates for families. “Once Wayfinder is live, students will be able to have cards. They will stand on to the bus and actually be able to give you real time updates on when your students gonna get home,” the presenter said.

Board members and several parents in attendance raised implementation questions. One board member and one parent noted that large geozones can generate multiple alerts in town when a bus passes a location multiple times; the presenter said parents can reduce the fence size and that the district will follow up with the Transfinder representative to address those settings. Staff also said the district is pushing invites by email and that parents must be invited from district records (the app links to the district’s student information system). “It’s an invite. You have to have an invite from us. Yep. So if someone’s not receiving an invite, you can call our office or send us an email at transportation at all truckers.net. We can send them the invite out,” the presenter said.

District staff said they are sending reminder emails every two weeks and will expand a social media push to increase enrollment. The presenter encouraged parents to continue allowing children to be at stops earlier than the scheduled pickup time as a precaution while the system rolls out.

The board did not take a formal vote on the app itself during the meeting. Staff said technical questions will be addressed with the Transfinder support team and the district’s vendor contact before the wider rollout.