Monitoring of school buses in Russia

10.09.2021

Problem

A large-scale passenger solution automation program is underway in the Belgorod region, Russia. As part of this program, local authorities have decided to digitize school bus routes. As a result, they wanted to get a solution that would not only track buses in real time but also inform parents of schoolchildren about the location of the transport and possible delays.

Solution

The integrator, LogExpert, has developed a complete solution for school bus operators, city officials, and parents. It includes a mobile application and an administrative panel connected to the Wialon GPS/GLONASS monitoring platform.

To operate this solution, the Scout MT 700 devices already installed on the buses are used.

• The bus location data from Scout devices go to the SCOUT platform; from there, using retranslators, they go to Wialon Local and NimBus.
• The solution is based on NimBus, the application for monitoring public transport. With the help of NimBus, school buses are assigned to the routes, and changes to the existing timetable are made.
• LogExpert developers have created a mobile application for Android and iOS operating systems, which takes the necessary data from the NimBus Locator. The school principal provides access to the application upon written request from the parents. To do this, LogExpert has developed an authorization system through identifiers linked to the IMEI number, which is unique for each device – that is, only the parent from a specific device will have access to the application and tracking a particular bus. The application informs parents about the trip’s status (cancellation, delay, out of order, etc.), provides the contacts of the responsible people on the bus, and shows text messages.
• The integrator has developed an administrative panel. In it, it is possible to manage all business processes, change the status of a trip, set up the distribution of notifications. Access to the administrative panel is available only for the state operator MKU Resource Support Center for Municipal Educational Institutions.