WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Ahead of the 2024 school year, Waco ISD is installing a new GPS tracking system on all 79 of its buses, in addition to a new 360-degree camera system.
- This $75,000 project is all computer-based tracked instead of relying on two-way radios
- Test runs are happening all the way up to the first day of school on Wednesday
- Zonar Z-Passes with take place on these buses well into the school year
- To make sure your child is registered to ride the bus for the 2024 school year, click here
BROADCAST SCRIPT:
It’s one of several upgrades to these Waco ISD buses for the upcoming school year —
“We are having GPS systems installed by ZoNar, and so they are going to give us the ability to track where buses are,” said Dr. Ricky Edison, Director of Transportation at Waco ISD.
In addition to these 360-degree cameras being installed on all 79 of the district buses, they will also now be tracked by a GPS system.
“Before, the way the system worked was basically two-way radio — we would call if we needed to know the location of a bus, we’d have to radio that in, and we would track that," Dr. Edison said.
"Now, we can see that from a computer here at our department."
This $75,000 upgrade is part of a new era that Dr. Edison says is a long time coming.
“Waco ISD is taking over transportation for the first time in 30 years, so it is time to make some upgrades on some things,” he said.
So how do they work?
“You basically press start, now it’s looking for a tag. There’s an asset tag, this is what a bus is, an asset, so once you scan that tag, it’ll tie everything from this bus to this (pointing at the wand), with the tags."
The additions provide an added layer of security — easing the minds of students, parents and staff.
“This will give us another layer of safety as we identify where the buses are if a radio did break down, if communication was not available we’ll be able to see that through our GPS system,” Dr. Edison said.
