Can Parent Portals Help with Driver Shortages?

Many transportation departments and schools have experienced the early morning phone calls from parents or guardians wondering where their child’s bus is. Late buses happen sometimes, whether it is from mechanical issues or traffic. Fortunately, TravelTracker-Routing’s Parent Portal and communication platform allow transportation to keep parents, administration, and drivers in the loop.

For transportation departments nationwide, communicating up-to-date on route assignments, late buses, and bus safety measures has been at the top of the list. One of our transportation customer service reps once said, “Phone calls are constant for transportation departments. Anytime we are on the phone with districts, we are continuously hearing the phone or radio go off and we built the communication piece and parent portal to aid in this area.”

How Does the Parent Portal Work?

1. TravelTracker-Routing provides open visibility to transportation information across the district. Unlimited licensing provides administrators at school locations access to view routes and assignments, avoiding phone calls back and forth to transportation. Transportation departments can also send single notifications for new route assignments or mass notifications for bus breakdowns or delayed buses.
2. The Parent Portal allows parents to request new route assignments removing the need for extra paperwork. Additionally, once the student is assigned, a message can be sent directly to all contacts listed for the student with new bus assignments.
3. Parents can access an interactive map that allows them to set up a radius with notifications for when the bus is approaching, removing the need for long wait times at the bus stop and providing parents who may not be home notifications of when their children should arrive home.