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District outlines three-to-four month rollout for Transfinder bus-tracking; enrollment completion cited as bottleneck
Summary
District transportation staff said mapping and training for the Transfinder routing/GPS system are complete and estimated a three-to-four month timeline to full parent-facing functionality, contingent on student enrollment completion and GPS installations.
Baboquivari Unified's transportation team told the governing board on July 9 that the district has completed the mapping phase for a new Transfinder routing and bus-tracking system and expects parent-facing features to be available in about three to four months once student enrollment and GPS installation are complete.
A transportation staff member reporting to the board said the district has completed mapping and begun training; he described the next steps as pinning student stops (which requires completed student enrollment records), installing GPS units on buses and deploying routing tablets so substitute drivers can follow routes efficiently. "We're only delayed by the fact that many of our students have not enrolled yet," the presenter said, describing enrollment counts used for planning.
District figures cited in the meeting: 211 students had completed enrollment (about 20% of the cited student population), 281 students were listed as in process of enrollment, and 59 had started but not completed enrollment at the time of the presentation. Administrators said they will task some transportation staff to perform manual pinning for students who complete enrollment so routing and GPS testing can proceed.
Why it matters: The system is intended to let parents see when buses will arrive and to give district transportation staff automated routing tools; the district said the app and tablets should reduce phone calls to the transportation office and improve route reliability once fully implemented.
What the board asked for Board members asked for a parent-communication plan and training so families can use the system. Transportation staff said they will use district resources to train parents and staff and provide rollout timelines once enrollment hits the needed thresholds.
Ending: Transportation staff asked the board to approve limited staff time to perform on-the-ground pinning and scheduled GPS installations; administration estimated that after the pinning and GPS installation steps, parent-facing features would be ready in three to four months.
