Overview
Four tabs: Routes (each with its vehicle, stops and riders), Live (today's buses on a map), Vehicles and Settings. Set up vehicles first, then routes. Live tracking, the driver's phone, route notices and fuel and service logs are in Live bus tracking.
Vehicles and their papers
For each bus or van: the registration number as it is on the plate (checked: RJ14 PA 1234, DL 1C AB 1234 or a BH-series number), the type, the seats for students, the driver and the attendant with their phones, and the dates its insurance, fitness certificate, permit and pollution (PUC) certificate run out.
Papers due within 30 days show amber and expired ones red, on the Vehicles tab and in the count at the top of the page. A vehicle can't be given fewer seats than the riders on its routes.
Each vehicle also has Driver's phone, to pair the phone that shares the bus's location, and Fuel & service, for fills, services and repairs with service-due reminders. See Live bus tracking.
Routes
A route has a name students will recognise (Route 3: Malviya Nagar), a vehicle, and optionally a monthly fee. Mark a route not running during the holidays instead of deleting it. A route with riders can't be deleted.
Stops, in order
Add stops in the order the vehicle reaches them in the morning, each with the morning pickup and afternoon drop times and a landmark. Move a stop up or down with the arrows.
- If a morning pickup time is earlier than the stop before it, the route shows a warning: it is almost always a typo that would send a child out at the wrong time.
- Afternoon drops often run in the opposite order, so they aren't checked.
- A stop can have its own monthly fee, for fees by distance; otherwise the route's fee applies.
Adding riders
- On the route, press Add a rider and search for the student. Only students without a bus seat are offered.
- Choose their stop, whether they ride both ways, mornings only or afternoons only, and the date they start.
- Press Add rider.
If the route's vehicle is full, you're told how many seats are taken; you can still add someone over capacity if you mean to. The student and their linked parents are notified of the stop and times.
Moving a rider or stopping
Adding a student who already rides somewhere moves them: their old stop ends the day before the new one starts, so the history stays true and the driver's list is right on both days. Stop riding (under Riders) ends it from today. When a student is marked as left on the register, their seat is released from their leaving date.
The driver's list
Driver's list on a route opens a printable page for today: the vehicle, driver and attendant with phones, then stop by stop the pickup and drop times and the riders, with their class, parent's name and phone, and AM and PM boxes to tick as each child boards. Riders on mornings-only or afternoons-only are marked. Print one each morning for the attendant.
Monthly bus fees
On a route, press Add month's fees, pick the month, and press Add fees. Each rider gets an instalment on their fee plan for that month, labelled with the route and month and due on the 10th, at their stop's fee or the route's.
- The same month is never added twice for a rider, so pressing it again is safe.
- Riders without a student account (so no fee plan) are listed back to you to collect at the office.
What students and parents see
A student sees their route, stop, landmark, pickup and drop times, the vehicle number and the driver's name and phone on their Campus page; a linked parent sees the same on the Campus tab of their dashboard. While the bus is on its way, they also see it on a map with the minutes to their stop: see Live bus tracking.
Questions
Is there live GPS tracking? Yes, from the phone on the bus, with no tracker to fit. See Live bus tracking.
Two vehicles on one route? Make it two routes (Route 3A, Route 3B) so each driver has a list.
A child rides only on some days. Add them as riding both ways and tell the attendant; weekly patterns aren't recorded.