With sub-zero temperatures and storms in the winter and spring, the Crookston School District is encouraging families with children who take the bus to school to download their BusQuest app to allow parents to track their child’s bus location to let them know when it is scheduled to arrive at their bus stop and receive up-to-date information about where the child is. The school district covers the app’s payment, so it is free for parents to download.
All the district’s bus drivers use a program known as 3D EZRouting that the District’s Transportation Department programs to find the most efficient routes for the bus drivers to use to save mileage and time to get all the students home safely and make it to their stops. “There’s a tablet in every bus that the bus drivers are able to turn on, and they can select a route, either a.m. or p.m., and if they turn the sound on, and it will tell the driver, turn-by-turn navigation,” Highland Principal and substitute bus driver Chris Trostad explained. “It also tells you what time the drivers are supposed to arrive at which stops and which students should get on at that stop.”
Parents can cue into this information by downloading the school’s BusQuest app to see where the bus is when it’s dropping kids off.
“BusQuest is a cool app that shows where the bus is currently. You can contact the bus garage or the schools. We have the directions on how to add the app to your phone. Only parents can add the app, and it’s only for parents. Then parents, while they’re setting it up, can put an alarm on there to let them know if the bus is 15 or 10 minutes away from their house. Every parent should be using this app because then your child would not need to stand outside for long periods of time, especially when it’s freezing.”
The app is helpful for students and parents when they’re waiting for the bus after a major snowstorm that may have caused a bus to have to take a different route to the bus stop that may take longer than usual, this way children can stay at home out of the cold, snow, or rain until the bus gets near the stop rather than waiting unknowingly at the bus stop. It also helps parents as they are supposed to have their children at the bus stop at least five minutes before their pick-up time, which can help them accomplish this. It is also helpful for the bus drivers, such as in the case of a bus getting stuck and unable to complete its route, another bus can change its route to get to the stop to pick up the children and alert the parents of the changes.
The app connects with Skyward to log into the app. Transportation Director Rick Niemela will work with parents on setting up the app and having it work for multiple devices in case the parents cannot pick up their children that day and need another person to.
“I would work with the parents if they had a tablet or computer at home that we’re using to notify them of that, then they can be on the site wherever the kids were being picked up,” Crookston Transportation Director Rick Niemela explained. “So, whoever has access to that particular device.”
If parents have any questions or need help downloading the BusQuest app, they can contact the School District at 218-281-5313 or the Bus Garage at 218-281-5444. The app can also be downloaded on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
