OurSchoolBus.. UAE based innovative way out of COVID19 student transportation management

Smart Navigation Systems, a UAE Based family startup – have developed a smart application, which aims to ensure safety for parents whose children use school buses. The solution proudly innovated and made in UAE. This solution will be a useful tool now as the schools will have modified and flexible programs due to the COVID-19 situation as far as the student’s pickups and school bus routes. The parents get notifications when the bus reaches a preset distance to avoid leaving students waiting in the streets.
The application uses the highest levels of effectiveness and geographical coverage and currently applied for calibration to users’ needs in many schools, and aims to reach the local product to the rank of global competition and raise the level of the knowledge-based economy.
The “Our School Bus” application was designed and implemented by a startup in the field of entrepreneurship headed by Mustafa Al-Hashemi, who invested his experience as a parent and specialization in location-based solutions in building the application. It sends text messages to parents about the status of the bus and sends a notification to the bus driver about the absence of any student. The school administration can track the location of the bus and the status of students on it, to ensure their safety.
Al-Hashemi says, “The idea started in 2015 when our family as one of the end-users realized the importance of having a mobile phone application that connects parents with bus drivers. So that parents know, with a notification on the mobile phone, that the school bus will arrive home in the morning and evening. Ensuring that the children are present at the specified time when the bus comes and leaves. From here, The startup team started the idea of the project and work on it during studies of some members at the university who developed their skills in technology and smart navigation systems. Because the project needs many technical skills, an integrated work team was required to bring it to a semi-integrated format and its application in schools.
Al-Hashemi adds, “The application, in its current state, is linked to the Internet and allows the school administration to enter data for students, parents, buses, bus drivers and their routes, and the bus can be tracked through the student’s guardian. The application sends a notification to him of the bus’s proximity according to what the parent has specified from time. The solution also allows tracking the bus and its location on the map if you want to join it if the student is late and the bus moves. The application provides a notification to the driver of the student’s absence, which allows him not to pass on that day and save time for the trip.
The application allows the school administration to know the number and identities of the students on the bus through the driver application, which detects the Bluetooth sensors that the student carries in his bag, thus helping to better manage their safety in case of emergency.