The new school year has begun and for most parents with active kids, this means waiting in the parking lot – sometimes for hours – for your child to return from his soccer match.
But thanks to Tracker, the waiting will soon be a thing of the past. Tracker has developed an app called #MySafeKidz that will help parents monitor the location of the school bus to an accuracy of within five metres.
The app is part of the school bus project, an initiative that Tracker has started to install tracking devices on school buses as part of their new brand promise “To Care is to Protect”.
The tracking device will allow the school to have access to data from a web interface where they can track and manage their school buses, view driver behaviour, monitor fuel consumption as well as check the bus route and zone. The school will also be able to check and provide drivers with medical and road assistance in case of battery failure, keys locked in the bus or any other emergency.
“While Tracker is known for its stolen vehicle recovery, the company’s new brand campaign has set-off the repositioning of the brand to one that cares for and protects its customers and partners. It is from this promise that we have embarked on the school bus project that seeks to help schools better manage their bus fleet and for parents to keep track of their children’s location making sure that they are safe at all times and little Johnny is not waiting outside for mom to fetch him,” says Charlette Roetz, Tracker Connect marketing head.
Currently, Tracker is working with eight schools where they have installed the tracking devices and is hoping to expand this to more schools this year. While Tracker is not supplying the buses to the schools, it hopes that the schools that already have buses will take up the tracking devices for the benefit of managing their fleet and for parents to be able to download the #MySafeKidz app to keep track of the bus.
“We have seen great benefits from the tracking system and this has greatly improved our operating systems for fleet management,” says Dr Jorrie Jordaan, principal of Hoërskool Linden. “This has also made life easier for our parents as they don’t have to wait for hours or constantly call the school to find out what time the bus will arrive, they can now check this on their app.”
Parents at the schools that have installed the tracking devices can download the app to their smartphone or computer.
