New app helps track St. Paul school buses
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The St. Paul district is using a new app to help families track whether school buses are running on time.
The app uses a color coded system to show families the status of students' morning and afternoon bus routes.
Green means the bus is on time, yellow means it's running 10 or more minutes late, and red indicates the route has been cancelled.
"We wanted a way to simply put a message out to those parents and reassure them that yes the bus is coming but it's just going to be a bit delayed today," said BJ Ison, transportation logistics manager.
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The app doesn't track the exact location of each bus, but rather relies on bus contractors to report delays.
The system will cost the district $6,250 per year.
St. Paul is the second district in the state to use the system. The Osseo district put it in place last fall.
The app is free and available in the iTunes and Google Play stores.