Nowadays, most of thebig schools offer transportation services to the students and staff. To furtherprovide convenience, both for themselves and others, they make use of bustracking software. These advanced systems come with innovative features like real-timemonitoring, 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 monitoringsolution is that it ensures the safety of the passengers and drivers.Innovations are happening in fleet management, enhancing the scope of schoolbus GPS tracking systems. In this blog, we will discuss these emerging trendsin detail.
Auto-routing:
The drivers have toconsider many factors to select their route, including passenger stops, trafficsituation, seating capacity, etc. It can become a difficult task to choose theideal 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 toreach their destination in the shortest possible time. It may seem like afar-fetched idea to achieve it, but it is not impossible. The auto-routingcomes with a route optimization feature that allows the drivers to choose thebest 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 handlein general, and without any supervision, they can be even more problematic. Dueto this reason, the bus drivers face a lot of issues while driving a schoolbus. To counter this issue, the concept of a live camera feed has beenintroduced. 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 givingparents complete assurance of their kids’ safety, the live camera feed alsohelps discipline children. When they know that they are getting observed, theytend to be better-behaved. It also makes the drivers’ jobs much easier as they donot have to deal with the disturbance during driving.
Road Sensors:
The obstacles on theroad are a big nuisance for drivers. They can result in a longer time taken toreach the destination. The concept of road sensors is becoming popular in thebus 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 becomesmuch more convenient with the help of road sensors, especially when reversing,taking turns, or parking. Some solutions also come with adaptive headlightsthat are useful while driving in the dark.
Voice Assistance:
Driving requires a lotof 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 ensuresminimal diversion during driving. One such technology is voice assistance. Ithelps the drivers perform several tasks without moving their eyes. They can take calls, get directions and check diagnostics while driving conveniently.
Voice assistance has aconsiderable role to play in ensuring safety. According to several types ofresearch, the most common cause of accidents is the inattentive driver. Asvoice assistance helps the driver concentrate better, it decreases theprobability of accidents.
Video Mirrors:
Drivers use rearview andside mirrors to watch the cars coming from behind. However, some blind spotscannot be seen with the mirrors. Video mirrors have been introduced to addressthis issue. They provide a 360° view of the traffic and can beadjusted according to the need.
Video mirrors arebeneficial for school bus drivers as large vehicles face many difficulties dueto blind spots. They help in driving safely by being fully aware of theapproaching cars. It ensures the safety of the school bus and the other vehicleson the road.
WiFi Connectivity:
WiFi connectivity hasbecome a basic necessity these days and similar is the case for schooltransportation. It can help ensure that the apps integrated with the bustracking software work without interruption.
The fleet manager canvideo chat with the drivers to ensure a situation. For example, if a technicalmalfunctioning occurs in the vehicle, the video chat can help verify thecondition. Thus, WiFi connectivity can play a part in ensuring transparency.
As students spend a lotof time on the school bus, they can utilize WiFi connectivity. They can browsethe internet to learn new things or do research for their assignments. They canalso 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 theinfluence is a primary reason for accidents around the world. Although thesecases are less familiar with school bus drivers, they still exist. Somedrivers, 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 detectorscan 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 sensordetects any ethanol concentration in the air during driving, it willimmediately stop the vehicle.
The bus tracking software of today is not just location tracking solutions; instead, they offer muchmore. With new advancements, they have become tailor-made platforms for schooltransportation operations. Countless possibilities are emerging in fleet management,and they will result in further enhancing the efficiency of bus tracking software.
