Transportation Technology Super Users Share Benefits of Working with IT Departments

September 12, 2024

A transportation staff member for Palmer Bus Services utilizes Zonar's technology. (Photo courtesy of Palmer Bus Services.)

When integrating new technology into one’s fleet of school transportation vehicles, it’s important to get the thoughts and perspective of the district’s information technology department, as transportation directors recently shared.

For instance, Ron Johnson said the transportation department for Indian Prairie School District #204 in Illinois engages IT when resources or software need to be installed in a computer. But Johnson, the district’s director of support operations, noted that transportation doesn’t necessarily involve IT heavily in the vendor selection process, though it does seek input.

When Indian Prairie was implementing Tyler Drive tablets, he said transportation involved IT because there were resources that transportation needed on the server regarding data.

“We wanted to make sure that our current setup was supportive of the new data coming in,” Johnson said, adding that prior to the tablets transportation staff were only getting about 78 percent of GPS data and wanted to make sure the server could handle the additional 30 percent. “They assist us in implementation pitfalls.”

Because its camera system is not cloud-based, he said the district’s tech team will be involved in installing the software for the live viewing and remote downloading. “They’ll be involved with that piece, and they know what’s coming but they’re not a decision maker,” Johnson explained.

He added that it’s important, however, to work with one’s technology department because they’re supporting and tracking a lot of the data processing.

However, he noted that the need to implement new resources, like a new server or additional bandwidth training, is coordinated directly with the vendors.

Meanwhile, Trace Johnson, unrelated to Ron, is the director of student routing and technologies for Palmer Bus Services. He noted that when looking into implementing GPS and routing software, the company sought systems that had an existing partnership, like Zonar and Transfinder. This, he said, eliminated having to rope in the IT department to integrate the two systems.

“Since those two companies already do that for us, that was just a huge selling point in partnering with both,” he said, adding that he reaches out to the vendor support teams to assist with any issues that arise.

Palmer’s Johnson noted that IT gets involved when there’s an issue with the computers or servers and they need to pull the Transfinder or Zonar data. He added the tech department is also works the bus camera systems, if they’re not recording properly, for example.

He noted that technology adoption conversations take place between Johnson, the company’s CEO Jenna Fromm, CFO Chris Champlin and COO Shane Johnson (Trace’s father), as well as the head fleet mechanic, when the system deals with the maintenance of vehicles.

For Fort Mills School District in South Carolina, Transportation Specialist Matthew Purvis said building a coalition by partnering with the school board, district representatives, safety departments, and IT department enhances safety in transportation.

“Our IT department is critical to meeting our network security requirements to keep our students and drivers safe and to ensure that our systems are compatible, reliable, and work when we need them,” Purvis said.

School bus contractor Krapf Bus and its operations in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey handle things differently. Vendor partner Eagle Wireless, a regional distributor of Geotab solutions, acts as the company’s on-board technology consulting and management service.

“It’s a nice value-added, it’s actually fantastic,” said Dan Jauch, VP of operations for Krapf Bus. “If I need a timecard report generated to verify payroll, I don’t need an in-house person to do it. All I do is call up Eagle Wireless, tell them what I need, they create the report for us and provide it. They are not only a dealer, but they’re like a sales and support service. It eliminates the need for us to have like a true full-time dedicated resource to manage all the on-board technology. When I say onboard technology, I mean, all the IT equipment that’s on the actual vehicles.”

Jauch added that Krapf Bus has a personal relationship with Eagle Wireless, and it’s not just a “transactional experience.” “If we need something, they act as an advisor in terms of all of our onboard technology,” he continued.

He noted that it eliminates him having to search the Geotab Marketplace for solutions. Instead, he can explain the situation to Eagle Wireless, and its representatives can provide solutions that would fit the ask.

“They essentially went and found that solution for us and did all the integration and set it up,” Jauch explained. “So, from our standpoint, it works great for us because we would need a full-time resource to do all that, where now we get all that benefit by using them as our dealer. They’re giving us full not only sales, but full service.”

Jauch said full support from Eagle Wireless includes installations, repairs, guidance, trouble shooting, service, reporting, finding different solutions, and partnering with new solutions. He added that Krapf does have its own installation crew.

Josh Blackmun, president of Eagle Wireless, added that each support approach includes a dedicated care rep that provides one-on-one access to training, rules/report customization, accident reconstruction, device troubleshooting and more. He added that the same Eagle Wireless reps for both sales and support have worked with Krapf since 2011, when the companies’ partnership began.