CSISD expands StopFinder tracking and student bus‑pass ID; transportation director says rollout is second year

Shannon Caltharpe, director of transportation for College Station ISD, told trustees the district is expanding the StopFinder real‑time tracking app, a student bus‑pass identification badge and a tablet-based in‑bus system intended to improve safety, parent communications and route accountability.

StopFinder and geofencing

Caltharpe described StopFinder as a parent-facing, real‑time bus tracking app that displays estimated arrival and departure times and sends geofence‑triggered alerts when a bus enters a parent‑defined zone. She said parents can customize notifications (for example, a 5‑minute alert when a bus reaches a neighborhood boundary) and can monitor multiple students and buses from one account. Caltharpe also noted a current gap: the system does not automatically send “late” notifications; the transportation office must post such alerts manually when a bus is running significantly behind schedule.

Student bus‑pass ID and badge scanning

The district issued bus‑pass badges that include student photos and bus information. Caltharpe said badges are required for students registered to ride in 2025–26 and that about 7,000 badges were printed for last year’s registered riders; the transportation office has printed about 1,500 additional badges since the first day of school. The badge and tablet scanning system provides immediate on/off boarding records, supports waiver lists for authorized pickup adults and color‑coded alerts for mismatches (green = on correct bus/stop; gray = possibly boarding at wrong stop; red = not authorized to ride that bus).

Impact and adoption metrics

Caltharpe reported the district has 14,042 students total, 4,363 registered for transportation (a figure that includes some not registered who still rode), and 3,668 students riding daily as of that morning — numbers she said were growing. She said 3,343 parents have active StopFinder accounts and that the district printed roughly 7,000 bus‑pass IDs as a batch print for last year, excluding seniors. She noted the program was piloted last year and funded through the general fund, not a safety grant, and said training and device troubleshooting remain active tasks for the department.

Trustee questions and next steps

Trustees asked about app adoption, how late alerts are handled and whether the badges would serve as temporary school IDs; Caltharpe said drivers and campus offices can print or reprogram badges on site as needed and that bus‑pass badges have already functioned informally as a secondary ID at some athletic events. She also described operational benefits: real‑time ridership counts help planners decide whether to add routes or vehicles and the tablet system can produce vehicle trouble reports and maintenance work orders.

Ending

Caltharpe asked parents to download StopFinder and encouraged campuses to support badge‑photo efforts; she said the department will continue training drivers and campus offices and will monitor app adoption and registration figures as the year progresses.