Nearly every day there is a news report of a student who is let off at the wrong bus stop or left behind on the school bus — a big source of stress for parents and school officials. Now there is a remedy: Zonar System’s new ZPass+.
The upgrade of the original ZPass student tracking system brings parents into the equation, enabling instant notifications when their child boards and exits the school bus.
With ZPass, students are issued a unique RFID identification card that transmits the time, date and location to a secure database each time the student passes the ZPass reader on the bus. It integrates with Zonar’s HD-GPS technology that captures information in four dimensions (latitude, longitude, time and speed) before transmitting it to administrators. They quickly receive a clear view of the bus path, each stop and start and the time, date and location whenever the door is opened.
Now, ZPass+ provides specific student rider information through a password-protected website. Parents can set up an account and create notification preferences by cell phone text messaging or e-mail.
“There is a parent website where they can log in and see the data as to when their child has gotten on and off the bus, and also set up alerts. It’s a fairly simple service,” said Andrew Johnson, director of marketing at Zonar. “Each school is going to deploy it differently as far as whether it’s a subscription service or provided free of charge.”
Freeport (Ill.) School District #145 took part in the pilot program for ZPass+ at the beginning of the school year and is already reporting benefits for parents. Located 100 miles west of Chicago, Freeport is a rural city with a population of 26,500. The district has roughly 4,300 students and operates 36 vehicles covering about 100 square miles.
“I wanted to transform our pupil transportation department into a model of safety, security and operational leadership,” said Transportation Director Dallas Rackow. “Student ridership tracking with ZPass has provided us with a level of security and confidence I didn’t know was possible.”
Rackow added that the tracking system eliminated the anxiety associated with locating a child that did not exit the bus, giving her vital information in 30 seconds as opposed to 15 minutes.
“ZPass+ is an excellent tool for parents,” she continued. “Calls to the transportation department are no longer necessary, because parents have that information on their cell phones.”
Also worth noting in this economy is that Freeport School District has achieved real dollar savings with the Zonar system, while enhancing student safety, Rackow added.
Earlier this year, ZPass earned recognition with the internationally known Edison Best New Product Award in the Innovative Services for Health, Wellness and Safety category.
“We are excited to extend the information and value provided through ZPass to parents with the new ZPass+,” said Chris Oliver, Zonar’s vice president of sales and marketing. “ZPass+ is a significant milestone as parents not only have greater peace of mind but can also use the information to more efficiently coordinate their child’s school transportation.”
After verifying that their school is participating in the ZPass+ program, parents can visit www.zpassplus.com to set up an account using their child’s ZPass card number.
