MERIDIAN, Idaho — West Ada is not only the largest school district in Idaho, but it also is the largest provider of public transportation in the state.
Their buses will be back on the road on Wednesday as kids head back to school, and they will have some new additions in hopes they will become more efficient.
The school district decided to equip all their buses with navigation tablets. The tablets are supposed to put drivers on the most efficient route as well as speak to the drivers so they don't have to take their eyes off the road.
Prior to the tablets, drivers were using paper maps with their routes. When detours would arise, they would work with dispatch to find routes to get back on track. Now the navigation tablets will help with that.
“The student management aspect of the bus goes up a priority because now they’re not worried about being lost," Said Rebecca Lenack, an operations manager with West Ada Transportation. "The kids are the reason why we do this so yeah that’s really cool.”
Lenack drove a bus before she got into the administrative side. She tells Idaho News 6 that having a digital navigation system would have made a big difference during her time as a driver as she thinks it would've allowed her to focus less on navigation and more on the other aspects of the job.
The other layer to the digital upgrades West Ada buses are seeing is the app the district is debuting. They are going to be using Traversa, an app that helps track the buses for a school district.
West Ada says parents will be able to download the app to see bus location information, delay information, and eventually they'll be able to see when their child gets on and off the bus.
“We just think it’s better customer service to put the power of knowledge in the hands of our parents," West Ada Chief Operations Officer David Reinhart told Idaho News 6.
To access the app, parents will need to download it from the West Ada websiteand enter their student's login information.
