SHELBY — Shelby City Schools is transforming the way district parents stay in the loop regarding bus transportation.
On Monday, the district launched the Stopfinder app, now available for download on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
Created by Transfinder, a logistics software company based in New York, the “all-in-one parent engagement app” provides parents with real-time bus transportation updates.
According to the company’s website, more than 2,000 school districts in North America use the bus routing software designed to strengthen parents’ confidence in transportation departments.
District adds Stopfinder to transportation department
Eric Cutlip, transportation director for Shelby City Schools, said the district has had a routing system through Transfinder for a number of years.
Cutlip said he spoke with Columbus City Schools administrators, who also use the bus transportation software, to hear about their experience using Stopfinder.
After receiving funds from a safety grant last year, Shelby decided to add Stopfinder to the transportation department’s toolbox, he said.
“The initial cost of it (Stopfinder) didn’t cost the district anything, which is wonderful,” said the transportation director.
Equipment for the school bus transportation software was installed in 2023, said Cutlip, who spent the last year learning and adjusting the technology to meet the district’s needs.
He hoped to launch the app earlier this school year — but prioritized a proper setup of the system.
“We finally got all of it worked out and we’ve actually been running a test-run on a bus for a couple weeks,” Cutlip said.
“We felt pretty comfortable with going ahead and releasing it to the rest of the district’s parents.”
Parents, bus drivers to benefit from new features
One feature available to parents who download the app is the ability to create geozones, which are virtual boundaries formed around a specific physical location.
Cutlip said Stopfinder users can receive a variety of notifications by setting up a geozone around the area their student gets on the bus.
“When the bus passes through that circle (geozone), it’ll give you an alert that it just went there,” he said.
Users can also set up alerts regarding the bus’ estimated time of arrival. Notification intervals are included for when the bus is a projected 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes away.
The transportation director said the alert system will be useful on inclement weather days.
App will partner with ID badges
He added that students’ ID badges will also be incorporated with the recently launched software.
“When the students get on the bus, they’ll swipe their badge in front of an RFID reader and it reads a chip inside the card,” Cutlip said.
“That’ll send a notification to the parents that ‘Hey, your student is on the bus.'”
Furthermore, an additional notification is sent when students swipe their badge upon exiting the bus. The app will not display bus routes in their entirety in order to protect students’ safety, he said.
Cutlip noted the transportation department will also benefit from Stopfinder.
Compatible use between bus transportation software and students’ ID badges will help with issues involving students taking incorrect bus routes upon school dismissal.
“The (bus) drivers will know right away if a student isn’t supposed to be on their bus,” he said. “For the parents to be able to know ‘Hey, my kid got on and off of the bus,’ it eliminates some of the confusion for them as well.”
Stopfinder presents no costs to parents
District parents should receive an invitation to join Stopfinder through their primary email on file with the district, Cutlip said.
After they’ve joined, parents have the ability to grant access to others such as grandparents, babysitters and caregivers, among others.
Shelby City Schools included a quick-start guide in a post on the district’s Facebook page to help users get started with Stopfinder.
“The great thing about it is for the parents, there’s no cost whatsoever,” the transportation director said. “It doesn’t cost anything to download the app. Whoever they want to invite onto the app, it doesn’t cost them anything either.
“It’s been a long road to get it up and running but I’m glad it’s finally there.”