School is now open and school busses are in full force along our nation’s streets. Children have their eyes on the chalkboard and nose into their books, soaking up knowledge to last them a lifetime. But, as a fleet manager, when was the last time you were “schooled” on things that could improve your fleet’s safety and efficiency, as long with improve your fleet’s bottom line?

 GPS fleet tracking for school bus fleet managers is more than a tool to plan more efficient routes and shave a few dollars off the fuel budget each year. It’s an essential tool that offers many benefits to school systems and a great deal of peace of mind to parents.

There are several ways you can use GPS fleet tracking and management to ensure your buses and drivers are worthy of top marks this year, including these:

Improving Child Safety

For all school bus fleets, child safety is priority number one. It is the thing that keeps fleet managers up at night and with good reason. One child injured or lost is one too many. GPS fleet tracking will free up the driver to focus on driving rather than fielding phone calls from worried parents, schools, etc.  GPS fleet tracking can also be used to monitor the various systems on the bus itself to alert the school system about potential mechanical problems thus avoiding breakdowns and, possibly, accidents at critical times.

Parental Monitoring of School Buses (Arrivals and Departures)

Parents often dislike the idea of sending children out to wait for the bus when the temperatures are below freezing in the morning or the sky is dark. With GPS fleet tracking, parents can monitor the exact location of the buses, in real time, so they know the exact moment when to send their children out to catch the bus without worrying about unnecessary and sometimes dangerous waits.

Improving Bus Maintenance

Maintenance is a key issue for buses that carry precious cargo day after day. Staying on top of routine maintenance not only means that the buses will last longer, but it can also help to prevent risky breakdowns and accidents.

Tracking Driving Behaviors

As much as you’d like to believe that all drivers have the best interest of the children they are transporting at heart, the fact is that some drivers behave recklessly behind the wheel and that is something no school district can afford. GPS fleet tracking allows you to monitor each driver’s behavior behind the wheel and can even be set up to send alerts about specific driving behaviors like speeding, hard braking, swerving, etc. so that appropriate disciplinary actions can be taken.

Monitoring  Fuel Costs

Fuel costs can be cut by creating more efficient routes. That is something GPSP tracking can certainly assist with. It can also be reduced by cutting down on time spent idling, excessive stop lights, and other things. GPS fleet tracking allows you to monitor these things to determine who the biggest offending drivers are and to look for ways to reduce these inefficiencies – either with alternate routing or behavioral changes with the drivers.

Whether in terms of peace of mind, child safety, or fuel savings, GPS fleet tracking for buses is a fantastic way to make sure your buses make the grade this school year and beyond.

If you have not implemented GPS fleet tracking for your school bus fleet, now is the time to consider it. Call us here at LiveViewGPS at 1-888-544-0494 to learn how GPS fleet tracking can benefit school bus fleets like yours.

GPS fleet tracking is becoming prevalent in fleets around the world for the many benefits it offers. What you may not realize, though, is that GPS fleet tracking can be an invaluable tool in your defense when employees bring legal action against your organization. It can also be instrumental in helping you make your case when it comes to litigation against your employees as well.

These are a few ways your GPS fleet tracking system can aid in your defense or support your claims.

Track Employee Movements

GPS fleet tracking can record the movement of your vehicles at all hours of the day and night. This offers you the ability to know where your drivers are at all times – meaning you can track their hours working for you, their GPS locations, and even time they’ve deviated from the routes you’ve assigned to them so you can hold them accountable for personal business they may be taking care of on your clock.

One of the common issues raised against businesses today involves claims of workers not being compensated for the hours they work. GPS fleet tracking can verify the times your employees were on the job for you over the course of years. Helping you keep up with the paperwork and documentation necessary to defend your business when litigation occurs.

Record Employee Behavior Behind the Wheel

Sometimes, claims will be made against your company for property damage or accidents involving your business vehicles that never took place. The assumption by some unscrupulous people is that you will settle out of court rather than go to the expense of defending your business or the difficulty of proving you weren’t somewhere at a given time.

Fortunately for you, GPS doesn’t tell tall tales and you can easily prove that your fleet vehicles were not in vicinity of said incidents and accidents thanks to this useful technology in your vehicles – saving you from unwarranted legal action against your business.

Maintain Digital Records for Years

The most important benefit you have to gain from GPS tracking for fleets, when it comes to litigation, is that it allows you to keep digital records of GPS information for years. This means you don’t have to worry about losing invaluable information over the course of time that could aid in your defense from certain claims. You will have access to the resources you need to aid in your own defense – even when charges are levied years after the claimed offense occurs – a time when many organizations no longer have the records to prove their innocence.

GPS fleet tracking offers many benefits that go well beyond saving money and saving the planet for your business. You can actually consider GPS fleet tracking an investment in protecting your long-term financial interests and your good name.

To learn more about GPS fleet tracking, contact us here at LiveViewGPS.

The National Weather Service worked hard to gather up data before Hurricane Irma hit landfall.

Last Wednesday morning, Hurricane Irma hit the small northern Caribbean islands hard before it hit Anguilla and St. Martin. It’s recorded to be one of the strongest storms in the Atlantic and headed towards northern Puerto Rico and parts of the British Virgin Islands on its way to Southern Florida.

The storm has winds that are 185 mph, which are way above the threshold of a Category 5 which is 157 mph winds.

In Nebraska in North Platte, in one of the country’s weather service outposts, researchers began collecting data. They utilized a weather balloon that had special instruments equipped to it that help figure out the path of Hurricane Irma.

Officials are sending up these balloons, which are equipped with GPS tracking, six times a day as Irma strengthened in the Atlantic instead of twice daily.

Meteorologists were closely monitoring wind patterns, humidity, temperature, and pressure from over a hundred thousand feet up in the atmosphere to gather up models and predictions.

Some of the smaller islands sustained major damage according to early reports. These are the tropical region parts that tourists often come to.

Barbuda which has around 1,600 people was damaged so bad by Irma that the island had no communication, said director of Antigua and Barbuda’s meteorological office, Keithley Meade. Meade said they have a bunch of trees broken down across the island.

French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said that Irma destroyed four government buildings. They were located on the French-administered portion that’s near the island St. Martin with 75,000 people. He assumes there’s damage to other buildings that are older.

Virginia Barreras informed CNN that she rode the storm out in a “sanctuary hotel” on the tiny island where locals and tourists were told to check in before it was hit by the eyewall.

Barreras said early Wednesday, that you couldn’t see anything but white with bending palm trees. As the winds blow hard, the walls shake and they could hear debris being tossed all over.

After she left the Caribbean, Irma wreaked havoc on the Florida Keys, South Florida, and made her force known throughout Florida, and other southeastern U.S. states.

Hurricane Irma was the most intense Atlantic hurricane in more than a decade and the most forceful to strike the U.S. since 2005 when Katrina hit.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.