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District rolls out Transfinder platform; officials report nearly 40,000 StopFinder subscribers
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Summary
Chesapeake Public Schools gave an update on implementing Transfinder routing and communications software, reporting wide adoption of StopFinder and a large operational workload to reconfigure routes and stops.
The Department of Student Transportation updated the board on the rollout of Transfinder, a transportation routing and communications platform the district implemented this summer.
"Nearly 40,000 subscribers now receive GeoAlerts," Director David Benson said, reporting that the district had sent 60,000 invitations starting Aug. 27 and had 39,623 active StopFinder subscribers as of Sept. 25. Benson said the system has enabled the district to send large volumes of notifications; on one day the district sent 22,182 geo alerts and 68,290 attendance alerts to parents.
Transportation staff described Transfinder's suite of components: RouteFinder for GIS routing and schedule construction; Wayfinder for in-vehicle navigation and student ridership tracking; Viewfinder for school staff to access trip and attendance data; and StopFinder to give families real-time bus information. Benson said the district created nearly 1,946 trips and runs, 21,867 stop boundaries and 396 daycare/alternative sites in a 30-day window between Aug. 25 and Sept. 25, and the team closed roughly 1,000 tickets during that period.
Board members and staff acknowledged a bumpy rollout typical of large system implementations. The district described training efforts for drivers (half-day sessions and lead-driver follow-up training) and said driver feedback and the number of operational concerns have decreased as adoption has increased. The board praised the transportation and project-management teams for the work and recommended continued support and communication with drivers and families.
Staff also outlined upcoming features the district plans to enable: InfoFinder (maps to view addresses and bus stops), TripFinder (streamlined field-trip requests), and FormFinder (form creation for the transportation team).
