On many school days, parents pepper the Prince George's County district with an urgent question: Where's the bus?
Some complain the bus is running late. Others fear it zoomed past the stop too early. Still others don't know the routes. Many are juggling work, school and home schedules that leave little room for transportation error.
Yesterday, county school officials announced that they have begun installing a satellite tracking system on their fleet of 1,330 buses. The telephone-based technology will enable them for the first time to tell parents instantly the location of a bus and its estimated travel time to a school or a street corner.
The system, projected to cost $177,000 for installation and about $800,000 for annual operation under a contract with Nextel Communications Inc., is subsidized in large part by federal grants.
It also puts the county in the vanguard of a growing fleet-management movement in school districts across the country. The Prince George's district, which buses about 95,000 students daily, ranks fifth in the nation in ridership, according to the trade magazine School Bus Fleet.
D.C. public schools, which bus about 4,000 special education children daily, began installing a similar tracking system starting last year, a school transportation official said. But Fairfax and Montgomery county schools, which have large fleets, do not have such equipment.
"In the kind of traffic we have around here, I'm sure it would be a useful thing to have," said Mary Shaw, a Fairfax schools spokeswoman. But she said the Northern Virginia district, which buses about 125,000 students daily, judged the tracking system too expensive.
Yesterday's announcement came as Prince George's was still abuzz over a school bus crash Tuesday in which, police said, the driver lost control while using a cell phone and plunged the bus into a ditch. About 30 middle school students were evacuated from the bus, but students and the driver suffered only minor injuries, authorities said.
County schools chief Andre J. Hornsby said the Global Positioning System technology might have helped officials respond more quickly to the crash. He said the communications devices are equipped with 911 speed-dialing for drivers. And, he said, the technology would enable officials to pinpoint, and get help to, a crash site rapidly.
"The safety of the operation is so significant," Hornsby said. "A parents' nightmare is, 'Where is my child?' This is going to move our transportation system to the next level."
At the school district's facilities center in Upper Marlboro, Hornsby said the GPS devices are on about 100 buses that carry disabled children and are expected to be installed on the rest by June. Using a computer map and projector, he showed how officials can track GPS-equipped buses with data updated every 30 seconds. Black triangles showed buses in motion; black circles showed them at a stop.
The system shows how fast the buses are moving and whether they are exceeding the speed limit. Hornsby also said the system would compile traffic data to help officials fine-tune routes.
One parent leader applauded the development. "It's a good idea to keep track of buses for safety's sake, or if buses are delayed because of weather," said Howard Tutman III, president of the county Council of Parent-Teacher Associations. "Obviously it makes the parents feel a little safer."
Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
