School board approves bus management upgrades

On Nov. 21, the school board approved an agreement with software company Tyler Technologies costing $34,579. It permits TESD schools to use Tyler Technologies’ Traversa software Advanced Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and electronic rollout sheet. The products will allow TESD to track and manage bus information more efficiently.

“The conversion to Traversa will utilize cloud-based technology allowing more access to busing information by the schools, the contractor, and provide additional logistical information,” district Transportation Supervisor Karen Henry and Business Manager Arthur McDonnell wrote in an email.

The Traversa software Advanced AVL allows the TESD Transportation Department to track the location of buses using GPS systems. It compares the planned bus route times with the actual bus route data to create efficient paths. Through AVL, department staff can access bus locations and timeliness easily.

In addition to AVL, TESD will be using Tyler Technologies’ electronic rollout sheet which provides a way to manage the daily departure process of buses.

The district wants to switch from Tyler Technologies’ VersaTrans software to these products in order to access newer technologies. VersaTrans is an older bus transportation software that helps TESD plan bus routes and manages bus information.

“TESD has been using VersaTrans for several years and it has improved the District’s bus routing logistics considerably,” Henry and McDonnell wrote.

The conversion will let the district electronically manage the bus information. Currently, in addition to VersaTrans, an administrator at each school keeps track of which buses arrive. If any bus does not arrive as planned, the administrator contacts the department.

If the department is already aware of the unexpected changes, it will let the respective school’s administrator know. If not, it will look into the situation further.

Some students who regularly ride the bus have a positive view of the current bus system. Freshman Sanjith Dey rides the bus and had no negative bus experiences this year.

It (my bus experience this year) has been very good,” Dey said. “I’m the last stop in the morning and one of the first stops in the evening so I get home and go to school pretty quickly. (There have been) no bus changes (and) no delays.”

While the current bus system has proven to be effective in some regards, the new system’s implementation will improve student bus experiences as a whole as it will let the TESD Transportation Department see if buses are off schedule. It will also allow staff and students to be alerted of changes quickly.

As of now, the agreement will last for three years. TESD plans to implement the AVL and electronic rollout sheet in the near future.

“We want to get every child home safely,” 10th grade assistant principal James Bankert said. “That is the goal.”