Update: Some of the Features have changed, please refer to www.busloc.io

BUSLOC Launches Free Text Messages Service for Parents and Students

BUSLOC recently launched FREE Text Messages service for parents and students. Now School Bus Drivers or School Schedulers can easily setup a bus route and start broadcasting messages to parents and students. Parents or students can receive the text messages in real-time.

Text Messaging in BUSLOC

Text messaging/alerting is the most simple and straightforward way of providing updates to subscribers. BUSLOC works with School Transportation Staff in implementing text messaging alerting parents and students about the bus status on the student’s route. For the schools, there is no limit on setting up the number of bus routes or on the number of parents on each route. There is also no daily/weekly/monthly limit on the number of text messages. The text messages can be predesigned (and stored in the system) or any free form text. Transportation staff has complete control over the text and sending of the text message. The staff can broadcast the messages from a control panel online and view all archived messages. Access to the control panel can be shared among the Transportation Staff giving control to the staff in broadcasting messages on a route.

BUSLOC Features

Some features of the service are:

• It is software as a service (SAS) offering from BUSLOC and doesn’t require any hardware, software, or servers
• It works with the school’s existing systems including bus tracking, route scheduling etc.
• The entire setup takes few minutes
• The setup involves creating a route which gets a unique proprietary RouteKey assigned
• This RouteKey (proprietary to BUSLOC) is to be shared with the parents/students on the route
• Parents/students would be able to subscribe to the specific route with the RouteKey and start receiving text messages on the mobile phones
• There is no need to download any mobile app or tracking software
• Currently, the service is limited to all parts of United States and Canada
• Schools of any type and Day Care facilities with bus service are eligible

What the Transportation Staff Has to Do

School Transportation Staff, most likely, an Administrator, should first sign up for a BUSLOC account. Once a Transportation Admin account is created in BUSLOC, the Admin or an authorized Transportation Staff member can create schools and routes; there is no restriction on the number of schools or routes. For every route created, BUSLOC generates a proprietary RouteKey (six alphanumeric character code). The Staff then shares the RouteKey to the parents and students on the route.

What the Parents or Students Have to Do

Parents receiving a RouteKey from the Transportation Staff, can signup for the BUSLOC service. The RouteKey identifies the route assigned by the Staff to the parents or students. During the sign up, parents and students can opt in to receive text messages (SMS) on their mobile device by providing the mobile number.

Sending and Receiving Text Messages (SMS)

The Transportation Staff can send text messages right from a console in their account. Staff member with the account access in BUSLOC, can send text messages to the parents on the route. The Staff can be a Driver, or Schedules or Administration wth the BUSLOC account access. Although there is no limit to the length of the text messages, it is recommended to be as short as possible. The Staff can also track recently sent messages.

Parents and students on the bus route, who opted for the subscription service (during the registration) and with a mobile number in their profile, can receive the text messages sent by the Staff in real-time.

For more details, please watch the short video at https://www.busloc.io/takeatour

Where is BUSLOC Located

BUSLOC is an Information Technology services company registered in the New York State. Over the past couple of years, BUSLOC explored the need and the technologies for GPS tracking to provide real-time school bus tracking information for schools in the United States and Canada. BUSLOC recently came up with the concept of FREE text messaging (SMS). BUSLOC also provides real-time GPS tracking of school buses on a map using the existing GPS devises equipped on the buses; this is another FREE service from BUSLOC. For further information, please contact the BUSLOC staff at https://www.busloc.io/contactus

Visit www.busloc.io for further details.