Parent Bus Smartphone App Details

Michael Kilian

michael.kilian@zonarsystems.com

David Payne

dpayne@calamp.com

Liz Waldron

liz.waldron@tylertech.com

No

Zonar doesn’t care or show “pick up at 7:37am at the corner of Wabena and Mainstreeet”.

Yes

Data is pulled nightly from Versatrans

Need to accept bus times may not be super accurate first two week of school, as changes are being made on the fly, are not reflective in App until next day

Yes

Verstrans data syncs to Elink which updates Onscreen, which updates Mystop App. (Our Verstrans server needs Elink and Onscreen installed as part of the whole system)

None

Nightly

Measured in minutes

Uses existing Zonar hardware and is obviously okay with that.

Current Zonar functionality broken on numerous buses. Working with support on fixing it. Some issues are self-inflicted.

Compatiable with existing Zonar hardware, however would prefer “Sinnophia” hardware. Possibly better updates and more reliability with their preferred GPS units.

I suspect any performance complaints on Zonar GPS updating frequency will ensure a blame game between HCTB and Zonar.

Compatiable with existing Zonar hardware, however would prefer their hardware (need to get name). Possibly better updates and more reliability with their preferred GPS units.

I suspect any performance complaints on Zonar GPS updating frequency will ensure a blame game between HCTB and Zonar.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes - Parents draw a box around “subdivsion” and they get an alert when the bus enters the box, hence being close.

Yes - Parents draw a box around “subdivsion” and they get an alert when the bus enters the box, hence being close.

Parents will see scheduled stop time and actual time (will be from route plan 24 hours ago)

No geofence. Parents learn the route by watching the bus drive around time.

Parents are told on the app, the approximate pick up/ drop off times and location.

Time is auto updated for ETA, as you run late, it updates for parents.

Parents need to self-sign up which route they are watching.

Parents can create an account with Google SSO.

Need Global code: (Recommend to change yearly)

Parents need to know what bus/route (aka KEY) their student runs on. Student ID, route, first, last name.

Repeat steps for multiple kids.

Can set up multiple zones for alerts, like close and far away.

Move in kids need to get manually updated. No auto updating with csvs.

201 and/or 111 Will need to advertise/coach parents on bus route information (v.s. bus # I think, on which they are looking up or watching).

If a student moves to another bus, parents will have to update the app. We have to communicate that to parents as we move kids to different routes/buses.

• Aaron Souza Can parents watch the entire fleet on an app if they wanted to in Zonar? 07 Sep 2022

• Response: Not really.

• My thoughts: Possible – need to hash this out more.

• Aaron Souza Whats the best practice on communicating to parents when we move a kid from bus #33 to #35? 07 Sep 2022

• Response: If the student moves to a new route, we have to communicate to the parent (Zonar calls Routes Keys)

Parents use a district code, student ID, and child last name to see their child on the app.

Aaron Souza Check into how HCTB handles how parents add multiple kids, same process? 06 Sep 2022

• Response: Parents set up an account, adds students by student ID and school code.

Parent Accounts: Student ID and password (birthdate usually). To “link” to view other students on the app, parents use the family ID field from Versatrans to see all 3 students.

We set up accounts basically, for parents for uniformity.

Technology will have to investigate how accurate the “family ID” field is in Versatrans. It’s typically the “home phone”, but with Powerschool, we typically just have custodial contact phones and not a real “homephone”.

Family ID would also have to match MCHS students if they roll this out as well, for families with kids attending both districts. It’s possible 201 kids have “mom’s” phone for the best number, but MCHS has dad’s phone – so they wouldn’t link.

Has the ability to temporarily assign a 24 hour bus substitute, so Bus 15 breaks down and bus 30 replaces it for the day, for some or all routes, so parents are watching the correct bus automatically

Has a substitute bus function, dispatchers go into mybusstop and change bus 38 to 45

Can actually split by bus stops (like bus 12 picking up back half route for bus 35)

“Stop level substitution” 

Has a substitute bus function, via “OnScreen”. Set bus as sub for one route or all routes.

Has the ability to mass push notification to smartphone app users about bus delays. Seems relatively straight forward.

Has the ability to mass push notification to smartphone app users about bus delays. Seems relatively straight forward.

Has the ability to mass push notification to smartphone app users about bus delays. Seems relatively straight forward.

Zonar is okay with setting up a pilot bus to test

Unknown

• Aaron Souza Find out about HCTB pilot options. 06 Sep 2022

• Response: Yes they can do Pilot

Not really – just lets you “buy” like 10 units instead the entire fleet.

Uses Zonar GPS, no one else to yell at.

Dings you when the bus is close based on the geofence you draw

No real route data or ETAs.

Need to communicate to parents and create how-to video documentation etc.

Talks with Versatrans RP very nicely.

💣 Split family management seems very difficult to possibly impossible since each student can have just one “family ID” field, coming from versatrans.

We can’t use Zonar GPS and grow into bus scanning off / on. Need to buy tylertec GPS hardware etc etc.

$10.50/bus/month

70 buses

~ $8,800 using existing Zonar GPS

3 Year Cost: ~$26,000

Unknown

• Aaron Souza Get HCTB quote for 70 buses, using existing Zonar and their equipment. 08 Sep 2022

~ $21,000 year 1

~ $3,000 year 2

3 Year Cost: ~ $27,000

30 minute after bell time.

• Aaron Souza Find out about 30 minute after bus issue if it’s real. 13 Sep 2022

Response: If bell time is 8:00 AM, the bus is tracked from 6:00 AM to 8:30 AM

In the afternoon, for ‘from-school’ trips, the time window starts 30 minutes prior to school closing time and extends for two hours thereafter.  So, if the school closes at 3:00 PM, the bus is tracked from 2:30 PM to 5:00 PM.

Can we turn off mystop messaging?

Hand drawn maps / roads for new subdivisoins? How does the parent app map know about a new road?

Aaron Souza Email references for Zonar MyView 09 Sep 2022

Positive reference:

We began using MyView at the start of this school year.  There were some initial issues, but we found they were just things that we would learn as we go.  We learned new students don't download automatically, so we had to implement a weekly update to add those new students.  We created a QR code that parents could use to download the app and then provided instructions (which are very simple) to set up their student's bus.

We have been very happy with it, parents are using it and we have reduced those types of phone calls to almost zero.  I would certainly recommend it if you are already using Zonar.  We decided to only use MyView and not ZPass.  That may come later.

brian_zachery@nobl.k12.in.us

Troy30c: Not working more than working, according to dispatcher. Left voicemail for director for more feedback.

Talked to director, they are stuck in a 5 year deal with them. Starting to work now, but didn’t work first few weeks of school.

Requested References

• Emailed two references listed--waiting for response.

So far the leading candidate, from initial team (Aaron,Mary,Pam).