Richmond Community Schools to launch MyRide K12 bus‑tracking app April 21; district reports driver staffing gains

Richmond Community Schools and Student Transit on April 9 previewed a district‑wide roll-out of the MyRide K12 (Traverse) bus‑tracking app and reported progress on driver staffing that the district said will let it expand routes ahead of the end of the school year.

Student Transit leaders told the board the district’s full go‑live for Traverse is scheduled for April 21 and that parent testers already report positive reactions to progress-tracking and notifications. District and vendor staff said the app will provide bus numbers, scheduled pickup and drop‑off information, and a real‑time bus location feature for parents who register their student in the app.

Mister Waddle (identified in the meeting as vice president of operations for Student Transit) and members of the transportation leadership team described recent work on software transition and parent testing. "Traverse is gonna be fantastic. I'm telling you right now, it's gonna be great," Waddle said during the presentation. Tim Rowe and other Student Transit leaders said they had parents test the app and received favorable feedback from early users.

Operational details presented to trustees: Student Transit reported 25 full‑time routes and six substitute routes currently running, with a plan to grow to approximately 35 drivers and add routes (including dedicated life-skills routes and McKinney‑Vento routes) before the end of the school year. The presenters said the district would reach about 32 total routes in the near term and that implementation work included new driver training and substitute routing improvements.

A short district video walked parents through how to download the MyRide K12 app, add students via a student access ID (the district said parents should check a district message for that ID or contact the school), share guardian access via email, and view bus location and schedule details within the app. Student Transit posted a help line for parents during the presentation: Student Transit at (765) 973‑3449.

Board members and district staff praised transportation staff for recent responsiveness and for addressing reliability and staffing issues. District leaders and board members said they had seen tangible operational improvements and credited the transportation leadership team with meeting the district’s goals to stabilize service.

Next steps: Student Transit will complete system configuration, finalize parent communications and launch the app to families on April 21; staff will continue driver recruitment and training to reach the target route/driver levels cited at the meeting.