We built SpotMyRoute, a school bus platform with live GPS, RFID boarding records and parent alerts. The school office, parents and drivers each get their own app.
Client: SpotMyRouteIndustry: Logistics & Field ServicesService: SaaS & Software
Overview
Client
SpotMyRoute
School bus tracking platform for schools across India
Engagement snapshot
The challenge
Parents often can't tell where the school bus is, or whether their child got on it. So they wait at the corner, or they ring the school. The transport desk then has to ring the driver to find out.
Schools carry the responsibility whatever the tools. A paper register doesn't say where a child boarded, a delay on one route is hard to pass on to every family affected, and a sleeping child on a parked bus is a risk that no school can accept.
The office, parents and drivers each hold a different version of where the bus is and who is on it.
A handwritten list rarely shows the time and place a child got on or off.
Without a forced check, closing a trip depends on a tired driver remembering to look.
The solution
Each bus reports its position every second. Schools can connect the AIS-140 compliant trackers already fitted to their buses, or take pre-configured units instead.
Students tap a card on the reader by the door or on the driver's handheld scanner. Each tap stores the time, the stop and the location, and the parent gets a push notification.
At the end of a run, the driver walks to the back of the bus and scans a tag fixed behind the last row. The driver app will not close the trip until that scan is done.
Key features
Parents get a notification when the bus is ten minutes from their stop, along with a live location and arrival time on iOS or Android.
Business impact
Less waiting at the gate
Large buttons show stops in order, with the boarding scanner, one-tap SOS and delay reports close to hand.
Business impact
Clear view for drivers
The office sees which buses are on time and who has boarded, and can message every parent on a route in one go. Daily reports export as PDF or Excel.
Business impact
One screen for every bus
Before and after
Before
Phone calls
Parents ring the school, and the school rings the driver.
After
Live map
Parents follow the bus and its arrival time on their own phone.
Before
Paper register
A list marked by hand, with little detail on when or where a child boarded.
After
Tap records
Each boarding and drop-off is stored with its time, stop and location.
Before
Word of mouth
News of a late bus spreads slowly and unevenly between families.
After
Updated arrival times
When a bus falls more than five minutes behind, later stops are recalculated and parents on the route can be told.
Results
Live GPS tracking
The parent app now shows the live location of the bus, its arrival time and a confirmation when a child boards or gets off.
Before: Phone callsAfter: Live map
RFID or QR boarding
Each student's boarding and drop-off is logged by card or QR, so the office can check who is on the bus at any point in the run.
Before: Paper listAfter: Tap record
Back-seat check on each trip
Every trip finishes with a scan of the tag behind the last row. Speed, route and SOS alerts reach the transport desk during the run.
Before: MemoryAfter: Required scan
Trust and control
The driver app keeps a trip open until the tag behind the last row has been scanned.
Trip closureDrivers see stop names and students' first names. Other parent and student details stay with the school.
Data accessParents can call the driver from the app without sharing phone numbers.
Number privacySpeeding above the 40 km/h default, harsh braking, leaving the route and SOS presses all raise an alert for the transport desk.
Live alertsFaster delivery
These modules sit behind the three apps, so the office, parents and drivers all see the same bus.
Takes position data from trackers on each bus and works out arrival times for the stops ahead.
Stores each RFID or QR tap against the child, the stop and the trip.
Sends stop, boarding, delay, speed and route alerts to the right parents and staff.
Connects to school ERP systems through REST APIs and webhooks, so enrolments and stop changes stay in sync.
Each student has an ID card to tap on the reader by the bus door or on the driver's handheld scanner, with QR as another option. Every tap stores the time, the stop and the GPS location. The parent then receives a push notification, and the school office can see who has boarded.
Yes, in most cases. SpotMyRoute works with AIS-140 compliant trackers, so a school whose buses already carry one can connect it directly. Schools that need new hardware can get pre-configured units with dual 4G eSIMs, a backup battery and a panic button from SpotMyRoute instead.
It stops a trip being closed until the bus has been checked. The driver app asks the driver to walk to the back of the bus and scan a tag fixed behind the last row. Until that scan happens the trip stays open, so the check becomes part of every run.
If your operation still runs on phone calls and paper lists, we can build tracking, records and alerts that fit how your routes actually work.