For school transportation leaders, the pressure to deliver safe, reliable service—while managing staffing shortages, parent expectations, and operational complexity—has never been greater.
Van Buren Public Schools in Michigan faced all of these challenges across a geographically diverse district spanning rural roads, subdivisions and commercial areas. What followed was a rapid, full-scale transformation powered by Transfinder solutions.
“We have a very diverse type of area in a very diverse district, with a little over 4,500 students in the study body that we transport,” said Elizabeth Banks, Van Buren Public School’s director of transportation.
From Fragmented Systems to a Unified Platform with ‘Over-the-Top Customer Service’
Before Transfinder, the district relied on outdated tools that slowed operations and limited visibility. Routing changes required external support, and inefficiencies compounded during peak planning periods.
“The functionality was horrible,” Banks said. “It took a long time to get anything done.”
After evaluating nine vendors for the better part of a year, the district chose Transfinder for its comprehensive platform—integrating routing, driver navigation, maintenance, and parent communication into one ecosystem.
“It was all together,” she said. “It wasn’t like we would have to go to this company to get this piece and this company to get that piece.”
There was another reason the Van Buren Public School District chose Transfinder technology: “The ease of use,” she said.
Topping it off was the support team behind the solutions, one that returns calls swiftly. “The customer service aspect was a big draw as well.”
The other vendors the district looked at, she said, “weren’t as responsive. We’ve never had that problem with Transfinder. Matter of fact, your (Transfinder’s) customer service has been over-the-top helpful. We have a call back within a couple of hours. It’s not like we’re waiting days.”
In fact, she raved, “I love your staff. I love everybody at Transfinder that we’ve talked to, all of our trainers that we’ve dealt with. They’re just amazing, amazing people.”
Combine it all, the functionality, the all-in-one approach and customer support to back it, and the choice was clear.
“The determination was easy to make once we had our data,” Banks said.
Today, Van Buren has Transfinder’s award-winning suite of solutions, including Routefinder PLUS, parent app Stopfinder, driver app Wayfinder, fleet maintenance tool Servicefinder, and Viewfinder, which provides staff access to monitor the day-to-day operations of the transportation department.
Improving Safety with Wayfinder and Real-Time Visibility
Driver confidence and student safety improved immediately with Wayfinder, Transfinder’s in-vehicle navigation solution.
Instead of relying on paper route sheets, drivers now benefit from turn-by-turn directions and precise stop guidance.
“I’m grateful that we’re able to utilize the tablet and the turn-by-turn direction,” she said. “It makes it safer for the students. It makes it safer for our staff out on the road. It makes them more confident and comfortable doing a route that they may not know because of the turn-by-turn directions.
This is especially critical in a district with varying terrain and unfamiliar routes for substitute drivers. By guiding drivers exactly where they need to go and where to stop, Wayfinder reduces errors that can compromise student safety.
Strengthening Parent Communication with Stopfinder
A major pain point for the district was the volume of parent calls during peak hours—especially around missed buses, delays, and daily uncertainties.
“With the driver shortage, oftentimes our office staff were short as well because we’re covering routes,” Banks said. During the busiest times the office was fielding calls from parents with a reduced staff while other team members were out on the road.
Stopfinder changed that by opening up two-way messaging.
The rollout of Stopfinder transformed that dynamic. Initially piloted with special needs routes, the app quickly expanded district-wide, reaching approximately 75 percent parent adoption.
“We really pushed it in our messaging and then parents started talking to each other,” Banks explained.
Stopfinder enabled:
- Real-time bus updates and delay notifications
- Two-way communication between parents and transportation staff
- Automated alerts that put information directly in parents’ hands
“It’s saving time because we’re not having to field phone calls,” Banks said.
More importantly, it shifted the relationship with families.
“I think that they feel more in control now because they can set up that alert to tell them if the bus is running earlier, if the bus is running late,” she said. “it’s putting more control in their court.”
Driving Operational Efficiency Across the Department
Everything starts with the Routefinder PLUS platform. The safest and most efficient routes are created in PLUS, which is read by Wayfinder and then communicated out via Stopfinder.
With Routefinder PLUS, staff gained the ability to make real-time map edits and routing adjustments internally—eliminating delays that sometimes took months.
“Being able to do these ourselves, we were never able to do those ourselves in our own system,” Banks said. “We had to reach out to (the vendor) and put in a ticket for them to make an adjustment on the map and a lot of times those addresses were not put in the correct place.”
That’s all changed with PLUS.
“The biggest thing I’ve noticed with this program is that we are able to easily get in there, make the map edit because we know what it looks like and it saves time. It definitely saves time,” she said.
It’s a changing landscape, literally, this is critically important.
“Especially with new builds, new construction, it’s just amazing that we can just get in there and do it,” Banks said. “I don’t have to wait.
The impact was immediate, measurable and personal. Banks recalled talking with her router and remembering routinely putting in 12-hour days during the summer in preparation for the fall opening.
“Usually come August we’re here 12 hours a day trying to get all the kids routed,” she said. “This year, we’re done. We actually get to take Friday off before the holiday weekend. Wow, look at us go!”
Data-Driven Maintenance and Better Decision-Making
Because safety starts in the garage, by using Servicefinder, Banks and her team now track maintenance data and identifies patterns across its fleet.
This visibility supports smarter, data-driven decisions—helping prevent breakdowns and ensuring safer, more reliable vehicles for students.
A True Transformation
In just one year, Van Buren Public Schools moved from fragmented systems to a fully integrated transportation operation—improving safety, communication, and efficiency across the board.
When asked if Transfinder transformed the transportation department, Banks didn’t hesitate: “Yeah, 100 percent, unequivocally.”
And she’s not shy about sharing it with other transportation leaders. Banks said supervisors will often ask, “Is there something better? What do you use? And I always tell them Transfinder, that’s what we use. Don’t judge a book by its cover, she warned.
“I looked into several of these other companies and they may have looked good on the surface but there was nothing behind the pages in the book,” she said. “We turned the pages. It was empty.”
Key Takeaways for Transportation Leaders:
- Safety improves when drivers have real-time guidance and accurate routing tools
- Parent communication reduces operational strain and builds trust
- Integrated platforms eliminate inefficiencies and streamline workflows
- Data visibility supports better decisions across routing and maintenance
- Strong vendor support is critical to long-term success
To learn more about Transfinder’s transformational tools and service, visit transfinder.com/solutions, call 800-373-3609 or email solutions@transfinder.com.
The views expressed are those of the content sponsor and do not reflect those of School Transportation News.
