School Bus AVL & GPS:

More than just global positioning and vehicle location

Part 1 of 2

Stephane Babcock | Associate Editor

Automatic vehicle location (AVL) and global positioning system (GPS) technology goes way beyond simple bleeps on a computer screen telling you where your buses are traveling. These systems can tell you bus speed, number of students onboard, drop-off times, when your oil needs to be changed, and about a million other bits of information that used to come from the mouths of drivers instead of from information relayed through a WiFi or cellular connection.

Fast, More Accurate Information Delivery
One company that has constantly pushed the envelope in the AVL/GPS industry has now found a way to speed up the real-time reporting of a vehicle’s location with the use of reverse geocoders, which convert latitude and longitude information into street addresses.

“The vehicles are out there collecting all this longitude and latitude data and we have found a way to convert this information into street address very quickly,” said Bill Brinton, Zonar’s director of marketing.

“Zonar has developed a unique caching algorithm to speed up the frequent reverse coding process,” added Mike McQuade, director of research and development at Zonar.

As part of its Web-based application Ground Traffic Control, the company has integrated Google Maps as its default map, without any increase in fees. The company absorbed the increased cost rather than pass it on to customers, to whom the company attributes many of its updates and improvements.

“There is a Zonar user community that collectively and continuously improves the product. We know the technology, but they know fleet management,” said Brinton. “We are all ears, all the time.”

“Every one of our customers are honorary members of the research and development department,” added McQuade.

Keeping Watch Over School Buses and the Students Onboard
Recently, another company added the ability to shadow buses during their routes. With the launch of the iX-3, Everyday Wireless can now offer this technology as either a UHF, cellular or hybrid solution.

“Our system offers a real-time accounting of which students get on and off a bus and where and when it occurs,” said Dave Pettine, vice president of sales and marketing. “Any person with authentication into the AVL software could immediately inform anyone inquiring as to where and when a student got off a bus.”
The system also has a rider attendance/student tracking feature that can pickup information from RFID cards 36 inches away from the actual reader.

“With our solution, students load and unload at normal pace,” said Pettine.

Special Needs Student Tracking
Synovia officially released a system geared specifically towards the special needs transportation sector this past March at the Transporting Students with Disabilities & Preschoolers conference. The Pupil Accountability System (PAS) will help automate reporting for special needs transportation for quicker reimbursement by Medicaid.

“With accurate and real-time ridership records, information that previously took weeks to gather can now be gathered in seconds,” said Brad Bishop, Synovia’s chief operating officer. “The Pupil Accountability System is geared towards those special needs students because it allows districts to quickly and easily track passengers without a need for an ID card system, barcode sheets, or any handwritten information to manage.”

At the beginning of each route, a passenger list is downloaded to the text display on the PAS. Drivers simply select the student who has boarded or exited at each stop. If students are added to or removed from the list, the system receives an update within 24 hours.

“The device offers the future capability of downloading driver directions as well, which will apply to all types of bus routing,” added Bishop.

Terry Beckman, national sales director for Pyramid Communications, believes the special needs sector is “a great starting point for school bus tracking.”

“Unfortunately, we may witness a tragedy before common sense drives federal and state authorities to act and ultimately provide funding for what has become a very common and affordable technology,” added Beckman.

Pyramid’s vehicle tracking and mapping software product, Street Smarts Platinum version 5.0, includes specialized status fields that allow the dispatch operator to view and maintain critical information on each student.

“Information such as each student’s unique medical condition, special gear they might be required to have in their possession, medication, doctor information, emergency contact numbers, and other critical information can be viewed on the dispatch console in easy-to-access fields on the Street Smarts software,” said Beckman.

Managing Vehicle Diagnostics
Keeping on eye on the ins and outs of your vehicles can also be an important part of a GPS system’s job description. With AccuTag Vehicle Systems from Williams-Pyro, Inc., fleet managers can be alerted to necessary maintenance, such as oil changes, tire rotation and vehicle inspections.

“When we initially started development of our product, we found very few who offered a product that could provide vehicle status, driver performance, and GPS data without recurring fees,” said Brian K. Pickens, AccuTag business application manager.

Aside from the initial cost associated with the AccuTag unit, districts only pay once for the software, but it can be installed and operated on as many computers as needed.

“The AccuSynch software package allows you to synchronize data across multiple applications operating on the same network, and our API (application programming interface) allows our data to be shared with other third party applications,” said Pickens.

Self-Sustaining vs. Hosted
Although many GPS companies offer to maintain the information gathered by their equipment for a monthly fee, others offer districts the option to transfers the system to their own servers.

“A locally hosted application does not require any additional equipment, therefore, it does not incur additional costs,” said Vanda Cornea-Toner, the director and deputy general manager of the SafeMobile division of American International Radio, Inc. “If the school district is willing and able to make a server-grade computer available, our engineers can download the software application right on the existing computers or computer network.”

SafeDispatch, the application software that allows a district to host and manage the system on its own server, is only one of the company’s GPS solutions. The SafeNet software gives districts a way to access information via the Web for a monthly fee. Some of the features include: excessive speed monitoring, event recording, historical position reports and ignition monitoring.

“SafeMobile sells solutions that will fit the specific needs of our customers from a technical, operations and budgetary point of view,” said Cornea-Toner.

GPS Helps Driver Retention, Too?
One company not only boasts the multiple capabilities of its soon-to-be-released unit, but how it can help districts deal with the increasing problems associated with driver retention.

“Transportation directors said that drivers couldn’t handle the unruly behavior day in and day out,” said Steve Shulman, president of Bus Radio. “We wanted to create a ‘morning drive’ program that was aimed at a younger audience.”

The Bus Radio system, a free service that pipes in age-appropriate music, public safety announcements and some advertising, will soon be able to offer GPS for a small monthly fee with version 2.0.

“It’s pennies on the dollar compared to other GPS companies,” said Shulman. “RFID capabilities, as well as a panic button, are also built into the device.”

OEM AVL/GPS Options
Bus manufacturers are now including AVL and GPS as options in newer models, as well as a retrofit solution.

“It is available on every model, and this extends, as a retrofit, to all makes and models of school buses,” said Lon Moreland, project manager at Blue Bird. “It is not unique to the Blue Bird design.”

Blue Bird’s GPS option, Secure Bus, is powered by the 24/7 monitoring service GlobalGuard and can be attached to any type of vehicle.

“Security is central to its function,” said Moreland. “School administrators have gone to great lengths to make our school facilities a safer environment for our children. It only makes sense that those efforts extend to the vehicles that transport our children to and from school.”

As part of the Secure Bus system, each bus is equipped with a discreet panic button. By simply pushing the button, the driver can notify a monitoring center that he needs help. A signal is instantly sent to a control center and the proper personnel at the school district and local law enforcement are contacted.

IC Corporation also offers a similar optional service for newly purchased buses. The AWARE vehicle intelligence kit requires a bus with an electronic diesel engine to capture real-time diagnostic information.

“AWARE helps the fleet manager be more efficient through notifications and scheduling,” said Gretchen Brich, marketing manager of the electronics group at Navistar International, the parent company of IC Corp. “AWARE can report out-of-normal operating conditions (high engine temperature, low oil, etc.) and send alerts to the home office and/or the fleet manager’s e-mail as a text message.” n

Next month in part two, we will discuss the needs of school districts when it comes to integrating AVL and GPS with school bus software solutions.