School and work ticketing platform ShuttleID is to offer its parent boarding notification feature to operators for free.
The safeguarding extra was offered to existing ShuttleID customers for the 2022-23 school year but will in future be free for all users of the platform.
With the feature, parents can receive an email notification and link to live vehicle tracking every time their child boards and scans their mobile or printed pass.
ShuttleID says that user feedback suggests not all parents require the feature but those who opted in highly valued it. Parents told the business that, as well as the safeguarding benefit, they appreciated being able to plan when to pick up their child from the bus stop or to expect them home.
The feedback also indicated that data allowance and lack of battery often hampered children’s usage of their own personal tracking apps on their mobiles.
Alan Bullock, Director of Bullocks Coaches, which was the first firm to use the feature, says: “Safeguarding is such a big deal now that, as soon as we upgraded our ShuttleID system to live tracking and live boarding data, I asked if this could be available to parents. The response was positive and as usual ShuttleID have delivered. We did a trial with existing parents and feedback was really positive.”
“Feedback from new starters in September has been extremely positive too. Some pupils will not have travelled on a bus before and the combination of live tracking and boarding notifications will go a long way to allay parental apprehension about their children travelling on a bus without them.”
ShuttleID Director Chris Bell adds: “Helping reassure worried parents about the safety of their child travelling on a school bus not only boosts an operator’s safeguarding credentials but it has the potential to increase bus usage and revenue. With boarding notifications now bundled in for free on all packages, there’s little reason why an operator would not want to benefit from this safety feature.”
“As the initial setup to issue or sell passes only takes 24 hours, there is still plenty of time to take advantage of this offer ahead of September.”
