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By Greg Bartlett

I remember my first day of school. I was excited and eager to head off to school, make new friends, and start learning. My parents took me to school and picked me up. But for some parents, the opportunity to drop off and pick up their children from school just isn’t feasible. Instead, their children ride the bus to school, leaving the parents with a new set of fears. They’re not just worried about how their child with fit in, find friends, and enjoy classes. Now they’re also worried about where their child is during the long bus ride.

After a five-year-old child was lost on a school bus for five hours, New York City implemented a plan to put GPS tracking units in its buses. Now parents will be able to find out where their children are while they are riding the bus, giving the parents peace of mind in knowing the location of their children, whether five years old or fifteen years old.

In Wales, another GPS tracking program requires students to swipe a card as they get on a bus. Then parents and officials can track the bus and know exactly who is riding the bus. The long bus rides are safer and the tracking options provide peace of mind for parents, students, school officials, and bus drivers.

A program in California aims for increased safety of its buses, bus drivers, and the students. The GPS system it uses allows the school to track the buses and have automatic updates every 60 seconds. In addition to increasing safety, the tracking system allows the school to streamline its routes for increased efficiency.

With GPS tracking, parents and school officials can know where a bus is and whether or not it will be late. If the bus is hijacked, has an accident, makes an unplanned stop, or deviates from its path, authorities can be alerted almost immediately. Furthermore, if the bus breaks down or is hijacked, the driver can send a silent alert or text message to the police and to the school, and the GPS will let them know where the bus is so that assistance can be sent to the right location.

Parents no longer have to be worried about the safety of their children who ride the bus to school. Instead, they can relax in knowing where the bus – and thus where their child – is. And with GPS tracking, security on school buses ensures that each child is safe and can be easily located.