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Hardee schools launch two-week GPS pilot on 10 buses to test Where's the Bus app
Summary
The district is piloting the Where's the Bus GPS system on 10 buses for two weeks to evaluate rural coverage and features such as student barcode scans; installation cost was cited from another district at roughly $23,000–$27,000 installed, recurring fees and routing integration not yet decided.
The Hardee County School Board heard a presentation Aug. 28 on a two-week pilot of the Where's the Bus GPS system that is currently installed on 10 district buses. Tammy Pohl, who introduced the demonstration, said the pilot is intended to test GPS performance in rural parts of the county and to evaluate parent and staff access to real-time bus locations and student boarding logs.
"We currently have 10 buses that are running as of yesterday with GPS," Pohl said, describing how a tablet and student barcode 'responder' create a running list of riders and enable drivers and staff to see whether students remain on a bus on return to the compound. She said two of the pilot buses will serve extracurricular runs, including a Hardy High School band trip, to verify evening and weekend tracking.
Pohl cited DeSoto County's experience and said a comparable installed package in that county was about $23,000 to $27,000; she said those figures included refurbished tablets used in that district but noted she had not yet obtained firm recurring subscription or service-cost figures for Hardee. "I have not gotten that far," she said when asked about ongoing costs. The district has not signed a contract or spent money on the product and is using the pilot to collect operational data before making a procurement decision.
Board members asked about integration with a routing program; Pohl said routing in the district currently relies on Excel worksheets and potential routing solutions remain under consideration. The district plans to compile pilot data, solicit parent and staff feedback, and return to the board with recommendations after the two-week evaluation period.
