Wrangell’s school bus operator is reminding parents and children that riders must wear a face mask, same as last year. But what will be new this school year is a software tool that will tell parents in real time the location of their children’s bus.
Zach Taylor, of Taylor Transportation, said face masks are a federal mandate, and not something they can bend on. He asks that kids use their own masks when riding the bus, but the drivers will provide disposable masks in case anyone forgets.
“That is a federal mandate, just like the airplanes,” Taylor said Tuesday. “School buses are federally regulated as far as safety stuff, things like that. They fall under mass transit like planes.”
Taylor expects that parents will be happy to know a new tracking software, called School Bus Hub, is nearly in place to provide families with up-to-date information on the location of their children’s bus.
“The tracking software is actually fairly new to this company,” Taylor said. “For now, parents will be able to log in and see where the bus is. Say it’s snowy, and they should be able to look up on their phone and see in real time where the bus is at.”
A big update to the software will be coming in a few months, Taylor added, which will notify parents when their child gets on or off their bus.
As the school year has already started for much of the country, he said getting the software and this update together has taken a while. “We’ve been playing phone tag with the company, because obviously they’re swamped.”
Taylor said parents wanting to get their kids signed up for a bus can complete a form when they register their children for classes.
He also said that parents should follow Taylor Transportation on Facebook. That is where they will put out their latest information and provide updates.
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