New App Allows District 204 Parents, Students To Track Bus Arrivals

NAPERVILLE, IL — Local parents who are hoping to track when their students will be picked up or dropped off by an Indian Prairie District 204 school bus are getting an assist that, starting Monday, will be right at their fingertips.

School officials on Wednesday announced the release of a new mobile app that tracks when school buses will be arriving at designated bus stops, district officials said.

The district said that the release of the MyStop app to increase the safety of students and improvement communication with parents whose students rely on school transportation. The technology is being offered at no costs to district parents.

Through the MyStop app, parents and students are able to view the bus stop, location and estimated arrival times. The app updates every five seconds and adjusts the scheduled arrival time as the bus is actually en route, the district said.

District transportation officials told the school board this week that all of the district buses are equipped with GPS technology, which allows the bus's location to be tracked on mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets.

The mobile app won't offer live tech support and the implementation of the app will not change the district's transportation guidelines, the district said in an announcement to parents on Wednesday.

Starting Monday, students should continue to follow the following measures:

Always plan to arrive at your bus stop location a minimum of five minutes prior to the arrival time.

• If students arrive late, they should never attempt to chase, flag down, or chase a bus.
• If a student has missed their bus, he or she should never attempt to travel to another scheduled stop location. Parents or guardians should never follow a bus or attempt to drive their child to another stop location.
• If a student misses the bus, they should immediately return home and call their parent or guardian and the student's school.

Parents are reminded that weather, traffic, driver absenteeism, maintenance difficulties and unforeseen incidents can cause delays in arrival of school buses. Officials said that the district does everything possible to have all buses running on schedule each and every day and that the MyStop app will assist in these efforts.

In the event your child's bus does not arrive as scheduled, parents should contact First Student at (630) 978-3284 to receive an estimated time of arrival for the bus, but should wait 10 minutes before calling.