Transportation director details new driver tablets and family bus-tracking to improve student safety
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Summary
Saint Vrain Valley Schools' transportation director reported on ridership, fleet fuel choices and a new tablet and family app that shows student scans and ETAs, saying the tools are being rolled out districtwide to improve safety and on-time performance.
Lance Yockseimer, the district's executive director of transportation, told the St. Vrain Valley Schools Board of Education on Feb. 25 that the department is rolling out driver tablets and a family-facing app intended to improve student safety and arrival times.
Yockseimer said the district's buses travel about 2,000,000 miles a year and serve roughly 6,000 riders on an average day. "When they scan on the bus, the tablet will pop up with their picture and their information," he said, explaining the tablet interface shows a green background when a rider is at the correct stop and a red background when something is not right.
The nut graf: the technology aims to reduce wrong-boardings and give families real-time ETAs. Yockseimer said families will receive an invitation to sign up for the app, which provides bus stop information and optional ETA notifications (five- or 10-minute alerts), and keeps a log of on/off scans. He said the district also is equipping drivers with turn-by-turn directions on tablets to reduce route confusion and improve reliability.
Supporting details: Yockseimer said the district operates 50 daily midday runs serving about 900 riders, transports roughly 500 special-needs riders daily, and employs 207 transportation staff. He also described the district's cleaner-fuel investments: about 40% of the bus fleet now runs on propane, which he said lowers operating cost and tailpipe emissions, and the district has 37 EV charging stations for staff and community use.
Board members asked about utilization and camera coverage. Yockseimer estimated that, from an eligibility standpoint, about 40% to 50% of eligible students ride the bus, and confirmed most buses have audio and video recording ("most of our buses have at least three cameras"). Several trustees recommended a communications campaign to encourage ridership and to publicize the new safety and tracking tools.
The transportation rollout will continue in the coming weeks, with invitations to families and staged deployment of tablets to drivers; board members praised the plan and thanked transportation staff.