When Jason Hibbard arrived at Chenango Valley School District, New York, in 2023, he inherited a transportation department that had already made a major technology change. The district had moved away from Transfinder and adopted another routing solution roughly a year earlier.

Chenango Valley’s experience with Transfinder was rooted in Routefinder Pro, a legacy platform. The transportation department opted to try another routing product rather than move to Transfinder’s new Routefinder PLUS when it was released.

“Pro is 100 percent why they left and went with another provider,” explained Hibbard, Chenango Valley’s supervisor of transportation.

There was another factor as well. Hibbard believes his predecessor, who was approaching retirement, simply wasn’t interested in giving the new Routefinder PLUS platform a chance.

“That probably was where my predecessor’s mindset was,” he said. “She was close to retirement. She was not tech savvy, and it was just like, ‘Nope, it’s not working,’ I want something different.’”

What made the situation unique was that Hibbard had already experienced Transfinder’s evolution firsthand.

Prior to joining Chenango Valley, he served at Chenango Forks Central School District, a district about 10 miles north, where he helped lead the upgrade from Routefinder Pro to Routefinder PLUS and added Transfinder’s parent app Stopfinder to the mix. The experience showed him that the newer generation of Transfinder technology was dramatically different from the legacy product many transportation departments remembered.

So when he arrived at Chenango Valley and began learning the district’s replacement software, he immediately noticed the difference.

“I tried learning it. I wasn’t getting a feel for it,” Hibbard recalled.

As he spent more time with the system, the gaps became increasingly apparent. There were reporting capabilities he had used with Transfinder that weren’t available. Processes that should have been simple felt unnecessarily complex. Customer support and training resources didn’t provide the same experience he had become accustomed to with Transfinder.

“There are a lot of features that you guys [at Transfinder] have that they didn’t,” he said. “A lot of things I could do, forms for example, reports I could manipulate and change. I couldn’t do that there.”

Hibbard didn’t force a decision. Instead, he brought the discussion to his team.

A unique funding opportunity gave the district the ability to reevaluate its transportation technology. Rather than deciding on his own, Hibbard wanted buy-in from the people who would use the system every day.

“I said, ‘I want my team to decide this, not me,’” he explained.

His staff examined the possibilities and ultimately reached a consensus.

“My team decided that, ‘Yes, we’re struggling. If Jason knows PLUS better, we can do some things better. We want to make that move.’”

The district returned to Transfinder and made the commitment to go all in.

“We’re only doing this once,” Hibbard said. “So, I was able to buy every single product. I went all on board with everything.” That includes the parent app Stopfinder, driver app Wayfinder, fleet maintenance and inventory management solution Servicefinder, field trip management solution Tripfinder, Transfinder Hardware and Viewfinder, a solution to monitor day-to-day operations.

The transition was substantial. Hibbard described it as “a massive project.” Today, however, the benefits are evident throughout the operation.

One transportation staff member became so proficient with the software that she began helping other districts. Complex routing adjustments that once created headaches can now be managed quickly using data sources and modern routing tools. Road closures, construction projects and route changes can be addressed without disrupting what drivers and parents see in the field.

The district recently underwent an outside operational efficiency review, and the findings reinforced the value of the technology investment.

“All the district is ecstatic,” Hibbard said. “They can’t say enough of how good we’re doing. They can’t find any more efficiencies for us. We’re tracking everything, parts, fuel, all our tracking systems are phenomenal.”

For Hibbard, one of the most significant advantages is immediate access to information.

Whether a superintendent requests data, state mileage reports are due, or questions arise about student transportation records, the answers are typically only a few clicks away.

“Any question anybody asks me, the amount of time it saved me,” Hibbard said. “It’s right there. It’s in a report. I just run a report. I’m not looking in eight different places.”

But perhaps no solution has had a greater visible impact than Stopfinder.

Like transportation departments everywhere, Chenango Valley once spent countless hours answering routine calls from parents asking about pickup times, drop-off locations and route changes. Today, Hibbard estimates those calls have been dramatically reduced.

“I would say three-quarters of my phone calls are gone because we’ve got Stopfinder,” he said.

Ironically, a recent user mistake provided the clearest evidence of Stopfinder’s value.

While managing a temporary routing adjustment related to road construction, Hibbard switched data sources to accommodate the change. When the work was completed and he switched back, he accidentally left an activation date unchanged. While the routing information was correct, the data source remained inactive, creating issues within Stopfinder.

The result was immediate.

“I didn’t realize how often the phone didn’t ring until the last two days when everybody’s calling because their Stopfinder is not working,” Hibbard said.

For him, the experience highlighted just how much communication Stopfinder handles behind the scenes every day.

Hibbard believes districts that left Transfinder years ago should revisit the reasons they left in the first place.

“What was the reason behind it?” he asked.

The modern experience, he says, is completely different.

“To switch to PLUS was a game changer,” he said. Hibbard isn’t alone in his high rating of Transfinder’s solutions. Transfinder has long dominated the industry’s Innovation Awards, this year sweeping all four categories, Best Software/AI Solution, Best Hardware, Best Safety Technology and Best Green Technology.

He pointed to Transfinder’s Live Chat, online guides and Transfinder’s client portal Community resources as major differentiators that helped him quickly learn and maximize the platform.

“This Community is what does it,” Hibbard said. “I have a question, I can usually go to a guide and work through it.”

When asked whether Transfinder makes him look good, Hibbard didn’t hesitate.

“By far. Far and away,” he said. “No, seriously.”

For Chenango Valley, returning to Transfinder wasn’t about going back to where they started. It was about discovering how much had changed and finding a solution that helps the transportation department operate more efficiently, communicate more effectively and spend less time fighting technology and more time serving students.

To learn more about Transfinder’s solutions and how it can help your district become more efficient, visit transfinder.com/solutions, email solutions@transfinder.com or call 800-373-3609.

Key Takeaways

• The district left Transfinder because of Routefinder Pro, not Transfinder’s modern platform. The previous leadership team found the legacy software cumbersome and was reluctant to learn a new system before retirement, leading the district to choose another provider.
• Jason Hibbard’s prior experience with Routefinder PLUS changed the conversation. Having successfully implemented PLUS and Stopfinder at Chenango Forks Central School District, Hibbard knew firsthand how much the technology had evolved and helped his team evaluate a return to Transfinder.
• The decision to return was driven by the transportation team. Rather than imposing a change, Hibbard involved his staff in the evaluation process. The team concluded that Routefinder PLUS offered greater flexibility, better reporting, and a stronger overall user experience.
• Stopfinder dramatically reduced parent phone calls. Hibbard estimates that approximately 75 percent of routine calls to the transportation office disappeared because parents could access transportation information directly through the app.
• A temporary Stopfinder issue proved just how valuable the app had become. After an activation-date mistake interrupted communications, the transportation office was flooded with calls. The incident highlighted how much parent communication Stopfinder handles automatically every day and reinforced its value to both families and staff.

The views expressed are those of the content sponsor and do not reflect those of School Transportation News.

The post Coming Back Home: Why One District Returned to Transfinder appeared first on School Transportation News.

When the School District of Philadelphia began searching for a new transportation technology partner, leaders were looking for much more than a replacement for their existing routing software. They wanted a comprehensive platform capable of improving operational efficiency, increasing visibility and ultimately enhancing service for thousands of students and families across one of the nation’s largest school transportation systems.

After a competitive selection process, Philadelphia chose Transfinder. The decision was driven by a combination of technology, proven experience and a shared commitment to student transportation excellence.

The search began when the district learned that its previous provider, Compass, was exiting the school transportation business.

All-in-one Solution Sought

“We needed to identify another company for our routing for our school transportation,” said Executive Director of Transportation Tom Marcucci. “We wanted to ensure that we identified an all-in-one software solution so we didn’t have to navigate multiple platforms.” Transfinder’s all-in-one solution includes Routefinder PLUS as well as Transfinder’s parent app, Stopfinder and driver app Wayfinder.

Philadelphia is among the largest districts in the country with a student enrollment of 198,405 who attend 330 different schools. It was critically important to get it right. The district issued a formal RFP and evaluated several vendors before selecting Transfinder.

“Through our internal committee, we went through our process. Transfinder was the successful candidate based on our selection process,” Marcucci said.

For Marcucci, who spent more than three decades in mass transit leadership before joining the district, visibility and real-time information were critical differentiators.

“My background is mass transit,” he explained. “I had the capability to see every vehicle on the street, where they are, by driver number, bus number and route number. I was surprised that we did not have that capability within the school district.”

That was prior to Transfinder.

Transfinder’s ability to provide GPS integration, parent communication tools and real-time transportation visibility helped separate it from the competition.

“So the parent app, GPS location, all that information went into our decision and was one of the main reasons why Transfinder separated themselves from the rest,” Marcucci said. “In 2026, if I can pick up my phone and order a pizza through my phone and an app, why can’t we do the same with transportation?”

Transfinder Makes it Easy to Transition From Another Platform

The district also valued Transfinder’s long history and reputation within the industry. Compass itself recommended Transfinder as a proven platform with successful transitions at other school districts.

“Transfinder did come highly recommended,” Marcucci said. “Our partners from Compass said that Transfinder had been successful with previous school districts in integrating and transitioning from whatever platform they had.”

Today, Philadelphia is actively implementing Routefinder PLUS, with plans to expand into additional solutions in future phases. The district and Transfinder meet regularly to ensure progress remains on track.

“We have an implementation project plan that we have shared,” Marcucci said. “Our analysts started early training with Transfinder’s project manager and trainer coordinator. It morphed into both online virtual training and on-site training as well.”

The project represents a significant undertaking. Philadelphia’s transportation operation serves traditional public schools, charter schools, private schools, nonpublic schools and specialized transportation programs across the region. Transportation includes yellow buses, vans, taxis, public transit partnerships and parent reimbursement programs.

Despite the size and complexity of the operation, Marcucci said the implementation has been making steady progress.

“Thus far, everything’s going well,” he said. “We have ongoing trainings. We’re using Routefinder PLUS right now. We’re progressing toward our goal.”

Technology Leads to Improved Customer Service

Looking ahead, Philadelphia sees technology as a catalyst for improved customer service. One major objective is giving parents direct access to transportation information through mobile technology.

“What I’m looking for is a streamlined process,” Marcucci said. “A parent can then look up, ‘Where is my student?’ Because we know five minutes may seem like a lifetime when you’re a dad, a mom or a guardian.”

Rather than making phone calls, parents will be able to receive real-time updates and monitor transportation information through the parent app Stopfinder.

“Instead of having to pick up the phone and call the district or call a vendor, I can look right on that app and say, ‘Okay, I see where they are,'” he said.

Marcucci expects these improvements will reduce call volumes, improve customer service and create operational efficiencies throughout the department.

“It’ll make us more efficient in our response time with answering calls and responding to parents and guardians,” he said. “We’re looking at improving not only on-time performance, but a reduction in call volume and improving our overall customer service.”

The district is also excited about the role emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence can play in supporting employees. Transfinder recently received the Best Software/AI Innovation Award for its AI agent Atlas.

“That AI feature allows you to just type in and ask, ‘How do I do X, Y, Z?’ and it’ll give you suggestions,” Marcucci said. “You’re always going to need people, but resources have to be shifted to where they’re needed more.”

Ultimately, however, the mission remains unchanged.

“The real results come in the end when we are live and we’re into it,” Marcucci said. “Ultimately, are we transporting safely, effectively and efficiently where everything is seamless and transportation becomes an afterthought in the most positive way?”

That focus on students is why Philadelphia believes the partnership with Transfinder can help achieve its long-term goals.

“The school district is looking forward to its partnership with Transfinder,” Marcucci said. “We’re looking forward to providing the most efficient, the best, the safest and the most reliable transportation to our stakeholders, our student population, parents and guardians.” He added, “Never lose sight of the fact that it’s always about the safety, the transporting and the efficiency for our most precious asset, which is our children.”

For Philadelphia, Transfinder is more than a software implementation. It is an investment in a future where technology, communication and transportation work together seamlessly to better serve students, families and the community.

Transfinder President and CEO Antonio Civitella said The School District of Philadelphia’s selection of Transfinder’s solutions comes at the perfect time, as the company continues to innovate and better serve its clients.

“The Transfinder team has worked closely with the district to meet and exceed its objectives,” Civitella said. “We take The School District of Philadelphia’s trust—or the trust of any district—very seriously. Philadelphia is choosing Transfinder at an ideal time, when our solutions are more innovative and user-friendly than ever. With our award-winning AI tool, Atlas, and industry-leading support, the City of Brotherly Love is in good hands with Transfinder.”

Key Takeaways

• Sought an all-in-one solution: Philadelphia selected Transfinder after a competitive RFP process because district leaders wanted a single platform rather than multiple disconnected systems.
• Real-time visibility was a game changer: GPS tracking, vehicle visibility, and parent-facing technology were major factors in the district’s decision.
• Built on proven experience: Transfinder’s nearly four decades of school transportation expertise and successful transition history provided confidence during the vendor selection process. Plus, its previous provider recommended Transfinder.
• Serving one of the nation’s most complex operations: The district coordinates transportation for public, charter, private and nonpublic schools along with specialized transportation services and public transit programs.
• Phase One: Master routing: The immediate goal is to successfully implement Routefinder PLUS before expanding into additional Transfinder solutions.
• Future focus: Parent communication: District leaders expect parent-facing tools to provide real-time bus information, reduce phone calls and improve customer service.
• Data-driven efficiency: Long-term goals include improving on-time performance, reducing inquiry volume and reallocating staff resources to higher-value customer service activities.
• Embracing AI: Philadelphia sees Transfinder’s AI tools as a way to help employees learn the system faster, improve productivity and support better decision-making.
• Student safety remains the mission: “Never lose sight of the fact that it’s always about the safety, the transporting and the efficiency for our most precious asset, which is our children.” — Tom Marcucci.

To learn more about Transfinder’s solutions and how it can help your district become more efficient, visit transfinder.com/solutions, email solutions@transfinder.com or call 800-373-3609.

The post Philadelphia Chooses Transfinder to Power the Future of Student Transportation appeared first on School Transportation News.

Parents spend years teaching their children safe riding habits. It starts with properly installed car seats and buckled harnesses. Then come booster seats, reminders to sit correctly, and eventually that familiar phrase every parent has said at least once: “Make sure your seat belt is on!”

By the time many students board a school bus for the first time, safety has already become part of their daily routine.

That’s why more transportation leaders are beginning to look at student safety as a journey rather than a series of separate stages. A child doesn’t stop being a child passenger when they step off the family vehicle and onto a school bus. That expectation of protection follows them.

School buses have earned their reputation as one of the safest ways for students to travel. At the same time, the transportation industry has never stopped looking for ways to improve. Every generation has benefited from new research, new technology, and a better understanding of how to protect passengers in a crash.

The evolution of seat belts is a good example.

Years ago, lap belts were common throughout the automotive industry. Over time, manufacturers moved to lap-shoulder belts as research demonstrated the value of restraining both the upper and lower body. Today, lap-shoulder belts are standard equipment in passenger vehicles, and most parents wouldn’t think twice about expecting them in the vehicle carrying their family.

That shift is also influencing how child safety restraints are evaluated. Under FMVSS 213b, car seats will be tested using lap-shoulder belts rather than lap belts. The goal is to better reflect how children actually ride in vehicles and ensure safety products perform as intended in real-world conditions.

While the regulation itself focuses on child safety restraint systems, it points to a broader trend. Expectations around child passenger safety continue to move forward.

For school districts that transport preschool students or children who require specialized safety restraints, that trend may have practical implications. As manufacturers increasingly design and certify products around lap-shoulder belt systems, transportation departments will need to pay close attention to compatibility requirements and future fleet needs. Decisions being made today in the child restraint market could influence transportation operations for years to come.

In many ways, this is nothing new for pupil transportation. The industry has a long history of adapting and improving. The goal has always been the same: find opportunities to make an already safe ride even safer.

Of course, transportation directors are balancing much more than safety initiatives alone. Driver shortages, tight budgets, fleet maintenance, routing challenges, and increasing expectations from parents can quickly consume the day.

Yet many districts are also taking time to think about what comes next. How will fleet decisions made today support students five or ten years from now? How will changing safety expectations influence equipment choices? What can districts do now to prepare rather than react later?

For a growing number of transportation leaders, lap-shoulder belts are part of that conversation. The discussion isn’t simply about meeting a requirement. It’s about creating consistency in how we think about occupant protection across a child’s entire transportation experience. When students are taught to buckle up in family vehicles, ride in child restraints designed around lap-shoulder belts and then encounter similar safety principles in other transportation environments, the message becomes clear and consistent.

Families notice those investments. Whether it’s upgraded vehicle technology, enhanced driver training, or lap-shoulder belt implementation, each step reinforces a district’s commitment to student safety.

As expectations continue to evolve, transportation leaders have an opportunity to focus on something bigger than any single product, policy, or regulation: creating a seamless safety journey for every student.

Learn here how school districts across the country are preparing for the future of student safety through lap-shoulder belt implementation that supports students, drivers, and families alike.

The views expressed are those of the content sponsor and do not reflect those of School Transportation News.

The post Bridging the Safety Journey: From Car Seats to School Bus Seating appeared first on School Transportation News.

Your district’s bus cameras capture footage from every route every day, quietly building a record of what happens inside and around your buses. If you’ve focused your vendor selection on picture quality, camera placement, and ease-of-use features, there’s a good chance you have overlooked a critical question: how well is that footage protected?

The Onboard Storage Security Gap

When something happens on a bus, whether it’s a bullying complaint, a driver dispute, or an accident, the video footage is often the only objective account of what occurred. That’s why the system capturing it needs real safeguards built in from the start, not only to ensure the footage exists, but to protect it once it does.

If your current system still relies on someone physically accessing a bus to manually remove a card or drive it, you’re exposed to significant risk. That storage device could end up lost or damaged. The footage may never have been recorded properly in the first place, and you might not discover that until you need it.

Many modern system setups now store footage on a mobile Digital Video Recorder (DVR) on the bus first, then move it to a secure cloud platform where your team can pull up an incident without needing physical access to the vehicle.

Ask whether your system is capable of:

• Remote System Health Monitoring
  Catch a failed camera or a recording issue before an incident happens
• Locked Physical Storage
  A DVR unit that’s physically locked down, so footage can’t be pulled by just anyone with access to the bus
• Role-Based Software Permissions
  Only approved staff can view, share, or download footage
• Audit Logs
  Documenting who accessed which recording, when, and any sharing or downloading activity

Audit logs are the most overlooked of the four during procurement and can sometimes be the most important after an incident. If a parent or school administrator asks how footage was handled, you want a clear, documented answer, not one you’re piecing together after the fact.

Hardware Must Be Part of Your Security Plan

Buses subject onboard equipment to constant vibration, temperature swings, and daily wear from transporting students five days a week. But durability isn’t the only reason that mounting and camera choices are important. A camera that protrudes out into the cabin is also easier to grab, twist out of position, or cover.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 222, the regulation governing school bus passenger seating and crash protection, establishes a “head impact zone” inside the bus. Many states build on that by requiring that interior equipment be located outside that zone, have no sharp edges or projections, and be placed in a manner unlikely to cause student injury. Cameras that sit flush with the ceiling, rather than protruding into the cabin, are more likely to meet those requirements and more resistant to tampering.

This is a detail that rarely factors into early vendor conversations, yet it can influence how dependable your system stays for years into its service life.

Security Doesn’t Stop at the Interior

If your approach to bus video security only covers what happens inside the bus, you’re missing part of the picture. Stop-arm cameras that capture plates of vehicles passing illegally, along with forward- and side-facing exterior cameras, need the same protection as interior footage: controlled access, tamper resistance, and a record of who has accessed each file. A system that’s locked down inside but loosely managed outside still leaves you exposed.

It All Comes Back to Trust

Two factors determine whether your video system delivers when it matters: whether you can trust the footage will be there when you need it, and whether it holds up to scrutiny from parents, administrators, or law enforcement.

A system that protects footage from loss or tampering, and documents who accessed it and when, addresses both. You’re not just more likely to have the footage. You’re in a far stronger position if it’s ever questioned, whether that’s a bullying complaint, a question about a driver, or documentation following an accident.

That’s the standard worth holding your video solution to. Capturing what happened isn’t enough on its own. The footage needs to be there when needed, with safeguards in place to protect it for as long as it’s needed.

Learn more at www.provisionsolutions.com. 

The views expressed are those of the content sponsor and do not reflect those of School Transportation News.

The post The Security Gaps Most Districts Overlook in Bus Video Solutions appeared first on School Transportation News.

In Churchill County School District in Fallon, Nevada, the value of Transfinder’s transportation management system looks different depending on where you sit.

For Transportation Director Austin Metz, it is about managing routes, serving approximately 1,300 students and finding practical ways to make a complex operation easier to manage. For transportation trainer Scotty Grenamyer, it is about something more immediate: being able to learn the system quickly, use it every day and give drivers and parents better information.

From both vantage points, the conclusion is remarkably similar.

“I wouldn’t change it,” Metz said. “I’m happy with what I’ve got and for the value it can’t be beat.”

Churchill County operates 17 routes and uses Transfinder’s transportation technology to help manage its operation. Metz said the district uses the award-winning Routefinder PLUS, parent app Stopfinder and Tripfinder to manage field trips. It also has Viewfinder for a deeper look at the transportation department’s transportation operation.

Each of the solutions help address everything from daily routing to field trips and parent communication.

For Metz, Stopfinder has been particularly valuable from the parent perspective.

“Stopfinder has been a great solution for our parents,” he said. “It’s very user friendly and our parents really enjoy being able to see where buses are in real time, set those GeoAlerts and contact us at the click of a button.”

That visibility can also translate into fewer questions for transportation staff.

Grenamyer, who works directly with drivers and transportation operations, sees the same benefit from a different perspective.

“Stopfinder has been really good,” he said. “I mean, I haven’t had any issue with it.”

More importantly, he said, Stopfinder has changed the parents’ experience.

“Very much so, yes,” Grenamyer said when asked whether Stopfinder had reduced calls from parents and improved communications. “It’s made it much easier.”

He added that parents appreciate knowing what is happening with their children during the school day.

“The parents love to be able to see that we’ve gotten their kids, picked them up and that that we made it to the school and dropped them off.”

Behind that parent-facing experience is the district’s routing operation. Metz said Routefinder PLUS offers the flexibility needed when circumstances change.

“It’s great,” he said, noting that once he learned the system, “there’s a world of possibilities and abilities to add, alter, absorb routes, it’s great.”

That flexibility proved especially useful when Churchill County needed to combine routes.

“We’ve had to combine routes once, and Routefinder made it extremely easy to just create a new trip, move those stops where they need to be, and send that information out to parents at the click of a button,” Metz said.

Grenamyer’s experience illustrates another important piece of the equation: usability.

As a transportation trainer, he works with the people who have to use the system in the real world. He said he was able to get comfortable with it relatively quickly.

“I got it like really quick,” he added. “Took me just a couple weeks to figure it out and I’ve been using it every day for my reports, routing, everything.”

For a transportation department, that ease of use can matter as much as the technology itself. A powerful system has to work for the people sitting behind the transportation desk as well as the people behind the wheel.

Churchill County also uses Tripfinder for field trips and activity trips. Metz said the product helps the district manage drivers, mileage and billing from a centralized dashboard.

“It allows us to track our drivers, track our mileage, and create invoices right from the dashboard,” he said. “And it makes it super simple for anyone that has to step into that role.”

Grenamyer has also found value in Transfinder’s support and learning resources. He said Transfinder Community, Transfinder’s portal featuring guides, videos, webinars, training sessions and more – has helped him continue building his knowledge of the system.

“I love that you guys have got that Community system where you can go and learn and do courses. I’m halfway through with it right now and I’m getting certifications,” he said.

When he hit a roadblock with PLUS, support was readily available.

“They walked me through it and then they actually even designed it where I could use it directly, have my own tabs for certain reports I want to run to automatically give me a 60-day warning.”

For Churchill County, the technology is not simply about routing buses. It is about giving transportation leaders flexibility, giving trainers usable tools, giving parents information and giving the district a system that can adapt as needs change.

Metz’s assessment of Transfinder’s technology is straightforward.

“I wouldn’t change it.”

And from the driver’s training side, Grenamyer offers an equally direct endorsement of support:

“I enjoy it and I love that they are very friendly and helpful.”

For a school transportation operation looking for technology that combines functionality, usability and value, Churchill County’s experience offers a compelling perspective—from the transportation director’s office to the people working with drivers every day.

Five Key Takeaways

• A complete transportation ecosystem: Churchill County School District relies on Routefinder PLUS, Stopfinder, Viewfinder and Tripfinder, creating a connected platform for routing, parent communication, reporting, and trip management. Records dating back to 2007 provide valuable historical data for planning and decision-making.
• Operational efficiency drives cost savings: Routefinder PLUS enables the transportation team to quickly modify, combine, and optimize routes when circumstances change, helping the district maximize resources and reduce administrative workload.
• Parent communication improves while phone calls decrease: Stopfinder gives families real-time bus visibility, geo-alerts, and direct communication tools. Staff spend less time answering routine inquiries.
• Trip management becomes more accountable: Tripfinder helps track drivers, mileage, and invoicing from a single dashboard, streamlining field trip administration and providing better financial oversight for transportation departments and business offices.
• Strong support accelerates staff productivity: Scotty was able to become proficient with the system within weeks, and Transfinder’s support team helped create customized reporting tools that monitor certifications, licenses, CPR renewals, and physicals, reducing compliance risks and saving administrative time.

Discover more on “From Driver-Trainer to Transportation Director” from Austin Metz in his own words.

 

To learn more about the STN Expo 2026 Innovation Choice Awards: award-winning Best Hardware, Best Software, Best Safety Technology, and Best Green Technology leveraged by Churchill County School District, visit www.transfinder.com, email solutions@transfinder.com or call 800-373-3609.

The post From the Director’s Desk to the Driver’s Seat: Transfinder Delivers Results appeared first on School Transportation News.

When bus surveillance footage is difficult to access or unreliable, transportation teams lose valuable time resolving incidents and supporting drivers. Read how one Washington school district improved efficiency with REI’s ARMOR Software Suite. Michael Dofelmire, transportation specialist at Fife Public Schools, discusses its impact.

REI: What prompted you to look for a solution like ARMOR?

Dofelmire: We had a very old [camera] system with a lot of problems. We would pull hard drives and they wouldn’t work, they’d be corrupt. The cameras wouldn’t work. Overall, we weren’t getting quality out of our systems. We also had only two cameras in every bus. One in the front and one in the back. With those cameras and the newer high-back seats, you couldn’t see among the seats. Kids would sneak down, and you couldn’t see them. That pushed us to get a newer camera system. We chose REI due to all the features and what it had in the background, including ARMOR.

REI: What do you like most?

Dofelmire: The quality and how everything is a cloud-based service so anybody can log in depending on how it’s set up. We have it set to where incident video is automatically downloaded before the driver even gets back, so they can view it quickly. Each person can download and see their own videos. That’s huge for [drivers] to have that access and flexibility. Saves a lot of time.

REI: How has ARMOR helped you resolve events faster?

Dofelmire: Being able to track things immediately. It’s set up so that when drivers press their panic buttons, my supervisor and I automatically receive text messages. [ARMOR] automatically flags the video, downloads it and does all the amazing work that it does.

REI: How has it simplified your job?

Dofelmire: We’ve had vaping on the bus and situations where a driver wonders what’s going on. We’re able to see live into the bus, look at that seat and catch the kids doing something right then and there. By the time the driver gets back, we’ve done the paperwork on writing those kids up and disciplining them. It has really streamlined the process.

REI: What’s the most significant change?

Dofelmire: The GPS, knowing where the buses are, and having access to the video almost instantly once it downloads. It’s very quick to send a video link to a principal through e-mail.

REI: What’s the feedback on ARMOR?

Dofelmire: Really good. Drivers love being able to download and watch the video themselves. Principals love it. [Incidents] can be dealt with that night versus tomorrow. It streamlines everything, definitely a game changer.

The ARMOR advantage is simple: stronger student safety, better driver support and streamlined daily operations. Let’s discuss all the ways ARMOR’s automated fleet management tools and REI camera systems can help your team save time and work smarter. Watch the demo, then send us a message, call 800.228.9275 or contact your REI sales rep.

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The views expressed are those of the content sponsor and do not reflect those of School Transportation News.

The post Work Smarter, Not Harder: The ARMOR Advantage in Fleet Management appeared first on School Transportation News.