Emerging trends in bus tracking software?

Nowadays, most of the big schools offer transportation services to the students and staff. To further provide convenience, both for themselves and others, they make use of bus tracking software. These advanced systems come with innovative features like real-time monitoring, notification alerts, geofencing, and much more. They make the job of the fleet managers easy and offer great comfort to the kids and their parents.

The best thing about a monitoring solution is that it ensures the safety of the passengers and drivers. Innovations are happening in fleet management, enhancing the scope of school bus GPS tracking systems. In this blog, we will discuss these emerging trends in detail.

Auto-routing:

The drivers have to consider many factors to select their route, including passenger stops, traffic situation, seating capacity, etc. It can become a difficult task to choose the ideal path that fulfills the requirements of every aspect. However, auto-routing provides drivers the perfect route considering all the essential factors. The drivers can view the selected route on their mobile apps connected with the leading bus tracking software.

Every driver desires to reach their destination in the shortest possible time. It may seem like a far-fetched idea to achieve it, but it is not impossible. The auto-routing comes with a route optimization feature that allows the drivers to choose the best traveling routes. It considers the traffic condition on various roads, intersections, stops to select the perfect path for traveling.

Live Camera Feed:

Kids are hard to handle in general, and without any supervision, they can be even more problematic. Due to this reason, the bus drivers face a lot of issues while driving a school bus. To counter this issue, the concept of a live camera feed has been introduced. It provides a live video stream of the kids from the bus. The school administration and the parents can view it on their screens. It allows them to monitor everything in real-time.

In addition to giving parents complete assurance of their kids’ safety, the live camera feed also helps discipline children. When they know that they are getting observed, they tend to be better-behaved. It also makes the drivers’ jobs much easier as they do not have to deal with the disturbance during driving.

Road Sensors:

The obstacles on the road are a big nuisance for drivers. They can result in a longer time taken to reach the destination. The concept of road sensors is becoming popular in the bus tracking software. They scan the entire road and detect all the hurdles, including those that are hard to spot from the naked eye. Thus, the driver can reach their destination quickly and that too without any risk of crashes.

The driving job becomes much more convenient with the help of road sensors, especially when reversing, taking turns, or parking. Some solutions also come with adaptive headlights that are useful while driving in the dark.

Voice Assistance:

Driving requires a lot of focus. Any lapse in concentration by the driver can prove to be costly. Therefore, the need of the hour is to introduce a mechanism that ensures minimal diversion during driving. One such technology is voice assistance. It helps the drivers perform several tasks without moving their eyes. They can take calls, get directions and check diagnostics while driving conveniently.

Voice assistance has a considerable role to play in ensuring safety. According to several types of research, the most common cause of accidents is the inattentive driver. As voice assistance helps the driver concentrate better, it decreases the probability of accidents.

Video Mirrors:

Drivers use rearview and side mirrors to watch the cars coming from behind. However, some blind spots cannot be seen with the mirrors. Video mirrors have been introduced to address this issue. They provide a 360° view of the traffic and can be adjusted according to the need.

Video mirrors are beneficial for school bus drivers as large vehicles face many difficulties due to blind spots. They help in driving safely by being fully aware of the approaching cars. It ensures the safety of the school bus and the other vehicles on the road.

WiFi Connectivity:

WiFi connectivity has become a basic necessity these days and similar is the case for school transportation. It can help ensure that the apps integrated with the bus tracking software work without interruption.

The fleet manager can video chat with the drivers to ensure a situation. For example, if a technical malfunctioning occurs in the vehicle, the video chat can help verify the condition. Thus, WiFi connectivity can play a part in ensuring transparency.

As students spend a lot of time on the school bus, they can utilize WiFi connectivity. They can browse the internet to learn new things or do research for their assignments. They can also contact their parents to inform them about their well-being. Moreover, efficient reporting for internet data usage will ensure that the WiFi is only used for authorized reasons.

Alcohol Detectors:

Driving under the influence is a primary reason for accidents around the world. Although these cases are less familiar with school bus drivers, they still exist. Some drivers, especially habitual drinkers, are very good at hiding their states. However, with alcohol detectors, it is impossible to do so. These sensors measure the ethanol level in the air from the person’s breath.

The alcohol detectors can be installed on the steering wheel. Whenever the driver enters the bus, they breathe near the sensor to prove that they are not drunk. If the sensor detects any ethanol concentration in the air during driving, it will immediately stop the vehicle.

The bus tracking software of today is not just location tracking solutions; instead, they offer much more. With new advancements, they have become tailor-made platforms for school transportation operations. Countless possibilities are emerging in fleet management, and they will result in further enhancing the efficiency of bus tracking software.