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District renews transportation manager contract, rolls out Stopfinder app and recommends cellular radios for buses
Summary
The facilities committee heard staff recommend a one‑year renewal with Transpar Group for transportation management, announced district‑wide rollout of the Stopfinder parent bus‑tracking app for elementary families, and recommended switching bus radios to a FirstNet cellular push‑to‑talk solution based on five‑year cost and coverage tests.
District transportation staff told the facilities committee they will recommend a one‑year renewal of the Transpar Group contract to continue on‑site general manager and consulting services after completing a three‑plus‑one‑plus‑one contract term.
Staff also said the district finished rolling out Stopfinder, a parent bus‑tracking app, to all elementary families. The app allows parents to view a live bus location within about five minutes of a scheduled stop, set time‑based push notifications and create geofences around a stop to receive arrival or departure alerts. Staff said the elementary rollout had about 610 users in the pilot and added roughly 660 more during the final rollout; the district plans to expand the service to middle school and special education families after evaluating elementary use.
On radio systems, transportation staff presented a recommendation to move from tower‑based analog radios to cellular push‑to‑talk radios and recommended awarding a five‑year solution to FirstNet, citing total cost of ownership and better coverage in parts of the district. Staff said they tested traditional digital radios and cellular devices with drivers and dispatchers and found the cellular option gave clearer audio and broader coverage; they explained the district looked at multi‑vendor proposals and prioritized five‑year lifecycle costs over a low‑cost first year.
Committee members asked a few operational questions about the app and the contracts. Staff said two‑way messaging in the parent app exists as a feature but is currently turned off as the district pilots the system; they also described the Transpar renewal as the first one‑year option of the renewal cycle and told the committee they were satisfied with the vendor's support in keeping drivers in place.
None of the transportation items was voted on in committee; staff said the Transpar renewal, the FirstNet radio recommendation and related contracts will be advanced to the April 28 full board meeting for formal action.
