Venus ISD transportation director seeks Transfinder routing system; board tables purchase after debate about cost and trade‑off with bus purchase

The district’s transportation staff proposed that Venus ISD adopt the Transfinder routing and parent‑communication system and replace aging bus tablets, arguing the cloud‑based software would improve route planning, reduce driver workload and provide parents with real‑time ETA and boarding notifications.

The presenter said the Transfinder first‑year price for software and startup services is $47,001.70 and the recommended hardware quote through CDW is $30,395. She said the second‑year recurring software cost would drop to about $24,009.50. Transportation staff contrasted those figures with a roughly $163,000 cost for a new bus and said the district could fund Transfinder by reallocating money previously earmarked for one bus purchase.

“...the parents will get an ETA when the bus will arrive. They’ll get notified when their child scans,” the presenter said, describing the parent app and tablet features. She said the new tablets would move from Android 9 to Android 12 and that photographs of assigned riders will appear on the driver’s tablet for easy check‑in.

Trustees and staff pressed for implementation details and procurement consistency. Questions from trustees covered whether card‑reader installation was included (the presenter said card readers must be ordered from Transfinder but that the district’s wiring is already in place and local staff could swap readers), the expected life and update path of the tablets, how many students ride the buses versus how many parents currently use the parent app, and whether the district had solicited competing quotes. The presenter said around 1,700 students are routed to buses and that roughly “just over 200” parents had used the prior tracking app; she acknowledged parents’ adoption would require district outreach and training.

Board members expressed concern about repeatedly changing transportation vendors and about sacrificing a planned bus purchase to fund software. “If it’s a need and we needed a bus, I needed a bus,” one trustee said, noting prior board budgeting for bus replacement. Transportation staff said the district maintains backup buses and that no routes were operating beyond seat capacity in the prior school year; they also said one combined route had been split to avoid crowding.

Trustees asked for additional procurement information. One trustee asked whether three quotes were required; staff said three quotes are preferred but not required in this case, and agreed to obtain additional quotes to maintain procedural consistency. Another trustee asked for clarified ridership counts and parental app usage before the board votes.

After extended discussion, a motion to table the Transfinder purchase was made and seconded; the board voted to table the item pending further information and additional vendor quotes. The related CDW hardware purchase was tabled separately.

The transportation staff will return with supplemental bids, clarified ridership and parent‑app registration counts and a plan for parent outreach and device installation. The board did not approve the Transfinder software or the related hardware at this meeting.