Hamilton man develops school bus tracking app made to bring ‘peace of mind’ to parents

A Hamilton man has developed an app that allows parents to track their child's school bus in hopes of making mornings easier."

The YELOBUS app could be compared to a ride-share app like Uber or Lyft - but for the world of student transportation. Developed by Todd Lee, a father of three and software engineer at Google Canada, the app allows parents to track their child's bus and see when it will arrive at their stop.

In an interview, Lee said the idea for the app was born out of a challenge" his family faced a few years ago when two of their children were riding the bus to attend school at Lee Academy in Lynden.

Living in Ancaster, Lee's sons were first on and last off their daily bus route. With a baby at home, his wife would often have to do a bit of juggling" to ensure they made it to the bus stop on time for drop-off and pickup.

Then one September, their bus driver decided to add all of the parents as contacts and use the Find My Friends app to share his location so they could see the bus coming - but it had its downfalls.

It was a huge point of convenience," said Lee. But it wasn't the most reliable and certainly was a bit of a privacy nightmare for the driver."

With Lee working in software development - plus a gentle nudge from the bus driver - it sparked an idea. He got to work and began developing a bus tracking app specifically for the school, with the Lee Academy Bus Tracker launching as a pilot in 2019.

It was pretty well received," he said. And the parents loved it."

With the feedback, Lee thought the app might be something other parents would use, so he rebuilt it from the ground up last summer.

He designed a website, ensured the app was scalable and eventually, the YELOBUS app was born. He's also worked with the folks at The Forge business incubator, founded by McMaster University.

The app, which is completely cloud-based, runs off of the bus driver's phone. It can be turned on and off, at the beginning and the end of the route. And to use it, parents have to sign up and be given an access code by the school to see their child's route.

Families can only see their own child's stop to further ensure privacy of other students. Parents can also tell the driver their child will not be on the bus that day.

Lee said it's meant to help both parents and the school boards that utilize it. So far, 60 families at Lee Academy are on the app and its use has been mandated by the school.

It's great for parents and makes mornings easier," said Lee. There are also unexpected benefits that come out to the administrators directly, like not dealing with phone calls from parents in the morning."

Lee said the app also aims to help families navigate delays and cancellations by sending them direct notifications and providing visibility and transparency."

He noted that while other areas of life have improved with technology and location tracking, student transportation has fallen behind."

Parents have better means to track their online purchases to their doorstep than they do seeing their kids back and forth to school every day," said Lee. It really does speak to that peace of mind aspect."

So far, the app is only being used by Lee Academy, but Lee hopes to see its reach expand in the coming years.

In an email to The Spectator, Hamilton-Wentworth Student Transportation Services spokesperson Shawn McKillop said they haven't looked into using the app, but their buses will be required to use GPS next September.

Fallon Hewitt is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: fhewitt@thespec.com