22
Jul
Stopfinder in the News - Austin Public Schools (MN)
- Posted By: Robb Snyder
- Category Featured, Announcements
Austin Public Schools offering new app to track school buses and contact transportation office
From KIMT3 / By Mike Bunge / July 22, 2024
Parents and guardians of students in Austin Public Schools (MN) have a new way to track their children’s school bus in real-time.
The school district says it is teaming up with Palmer Bus Service to create a new app called Stopfinder to give authorized users access to school bus information.
“We are pleased to be offering this service to parents and guardians in our district,” says Austin Superintendent Dr. Joey Page. “We believe Stopfinder will play a critical role in reducing anxiety because parents will be kept up to date in an instant and because parents can ask questions directly to the transportation office.”
Stopfinder is free to parents and guardians and allows users to customize when they receive alerts about their children’s bus location. The app, created by Austin Public Schools’ routing software company, Transfinder, is also a two-way communication tool, providing parents with an easy way to communicate quickly with district transportation officials and receive notifications instantly.
According to Palmer Bus Service Site Manager Trina Rios, “this tool will help the transportation office become even more efficient and responsive because Stopfinder will answer that most important question parents have: ‘Where is my child’s school bus?’ The ability to conduct two-way communication will strengthen the ties we have with our community.”
School officials say Stopfinder will work seamlessly with the district’s routing system, Routefinder PLUS, allowing district transportation leaders to target communications to specific regions that may only be relevant for that area. For example, if a road is closed and a bus will be late, only parents/guardians of students affected by that road closure will be contacted.
“Stopfinder was created with a lot of care by parents for parents,” says Transfinder President and CEO Antonio Civitella. “Just like with everything else having to do with student transportation, we had to get this right. The expectations parents have are understandably high. We believe Stopfinder will give parents and guardians the peace of mind they crave – knowing that their children are where they are supposed to be.”
In addition to real time GeoAlert notifications showing the location of the bus and the ability to conduct two-way communication, Stopfinder also provides school bus stop and schedule information.
Austin Public Schools is encouraging parents and guardians to be ready on August 15th for an email with an invitation and instructions on how to install and use the Stopfinder App on their mobile devices.
To learn more about Stopfinder, visit Stopfinder.com.
