Davis School District works to resolve kinks with new bus routing software

SALT LAKE CITY — Families in Davis School District could soon be getting some relief after a bus system disaster started the school year.

Over the summer, the district transitioned to a new bus routing software and tracking app. It was supposed to make it easier for parents, but on the first day of school, they experienced issues. 

“It created a challenge in which we didn’t necessarily know there was a challenge until the challenge existed,” Chris Williams, communications director for Davis County School District, said. 

Davis School District parents frustrated by new routes

Christina, in Layton, said her 9th grader’s bus started coming later this year, and it now travels past the school to Kaysville and back, making him get to school and home later every day. She said that makes her son’s 10 minute ride to school 40 minutes long.

“It doesn’t make any sense that you would take a bus route just off Antelope in Layton and send it down to pick up in Kaysville,” Christina expressed. “There’s obviously got to be routes on that side of the school.”

She also said they have friends two blocks away that used to take the same bus together, but that is no longer the case.

On top of that, Christina said she has another friend in North Salt Lake who was not informed they would not have a bus on the first day of school.

“Literally, they didn’t find out that there was no bus driver for that route until the day of school when nobody showed up to pick up the kids,” Christina said.

Routing software problems

The problem is threefold. One problem was the new routing software, since the old program was no longer supported.

“So what that program did was it made new routes and our bus drivers started transporting the students along those designated routes. What we didn’t realize was the amount of time it would take for students to be picked up and then returned home,” Williams said.

Davis School District, in partnership with Tyler Technologies, introduced the My Ride K-12 app and website for this school year.

In addition to creating new routes, it is supposed to “make it easy for families to stay informed about their student’s school transportation,” according to the district’s website. It displays bus routes, pickup and drop-off times, and any updates from the district’s transportation team from a computer or mobile device.

Parents have also expressed problems getting logged in to access this information. Davis School District transportation department acknowledged those struggles in an email to parents.

“For some, the website and mobile app have worked great. For others, it’s been a challenge, and we recognize that,” the email said. “In an effort to improve, we have worked out some kinks and have streamlined processes we have followed previously.”

The created a web page to help parents with step-by-step instructions on how the app and website should work.

Bus driver shortage

Another problem is faced by Davis School District: a bus driver shortage to start the year. 

For three routes, the district is temporarily contracting out to a private company called Red Star Transportation until they get enough drivers. Williams said this is the first time they have ever had to seek third-party help for their bus routes.

“We also have a pool of 16 new drivers that are being trained right now, and as soon as they are trained, they will be on the road and they will help us pick up those students that have been waiting for buses to arrive at their homes, but because those routes are longer, they haven’t been able to be picked up on time,” Williams explained.

He also said they had fewer bus drivers than they would typically rely on for the beginning of the year.

Lack of communication from Davis School District

While she understands there will be kinks with a new system, Christina said lack of communication from Davis School District has been beyond exasperating. 

She, and many parents, were not informed by the school that their bus routes and times had changed from last year. They also didn’t know their route lacked a bus driver.

In the first few days of school, Christina tried to reach out to the transportation office, school leadership, the district superintendent, and finally, the school board to get more information about what was happening.

“I have repeatedly tried to get answers about these changes, but no one—including the superintendent—has responded. Parents deserve clear communication and, more importantly, a transportation system that prioritizes efficiency, safety, and fairness for our students,” Christina wrote, in an email to the board.

She finally received a response back from Davis Board of Education Member Julie Powell.

Improvements coming this week

Williams said they have heard parents’ complaints, and they are trying to fix it.

“We’ve had two employees working nights, working early mornings, working weekends to get all these routes adjusted to avoid these late arrivals,” Williams said.

The district is apologizing to parents for the huge headache this has been, and they hope families will start to see improvements this week.