RUSTON, La. — The Lincoln Parish School Board announced last week that a new bus tracking system has been implemented as an extra student safety feature for families with bus riders.

The LPSB is partnering with Samsara to equip the buses with technology that will now give parents the opportunity to track the bus number their child rides on in real-time.

“We’re really excited about the system and the partnership with Samsara,” Lincoln Parish Schools Transportation Supervisor Doc Hoefler said. “The benefits we definitely see is being able to see where your child’s bus is according to your location. One of the biggest concerns people have is not knowing if the bus has already passed or is running late. Being able to see the bus location allows parents to send their child outside to wait at the most appropriate time.”

Each bus in the active fleet now has a box installed below the steering wheel that connects to the diagnostics converter that implements the tracking technology. Hoefler added that it was important for parents to understand which bus number their students would be riding on in order to use the system properly.

Samsara was one of multiple companies the district looked into before formalizing a partnership. The district implemented a trial run of four buses from February through the end of the school year to assess Samsara’s features and we pleased enough with both the results and the cost-effectiveness of the system for the LPSB.

Hoefler also said that in addition to location features, the system will also give the school board information about various performance factors, such as idle time, in order to minimize wasted fuel.

The cost annually is $17,280 for the system.

The website for the LPSB bus locator is here: https://www.lincolnschools.org/page/bus-locator