SafeStop

This app is a decent tracker for my children’s school bus. Sometimes, there’s a glitch in either the app or the bus transponder that will show the bus “in your zone,” but it’ll actually be a few miles away. That’s the reason for the 4-Star rating. Overall, the app works decently and is better than guessing each day.

The app has never worked for me or my husband (or several other families in our community). We’ve reached out numerous times to be told “you did this wrong” but they never tell us how to fix it and just close out the ticket IF they contact us at all. We all show Lebanon, Nebraska as our default (we live in Oregon) and it doesn’t show the bus, notifications, nothing. Like others, we are rural and our bus stop time can swing 30 minutes depending on coverage etc. Additionally, my child is too young to be dropped off by the buses without a parent at the stop therefore we sit out at the bus stop at least 30 minutes because the app doesn’t notify us what is or isn’t happening on the buses. There is a real lack of accountability on all sides that is getting increasingly frustrating as we continue to try and get someone to tell us the problem and resolve it.

When the app works, it’s brilliant. Shows the wee bus icon travel the 15min route with accuracy. We live in a semi-rural area, so I find the bus alerts very handy. It’s set to let us know when the bus crosses into our neighborhood, which gives us just enough notice to get outside to the stop. The BUT: Sometimes the app just... doesn’t work. Like it can’t or won’t connect to the server. It will act like I’m signed in but have no children or busses listed for my profile. Then I’ll reopen it later on and it will be fine. Very frustrating. But we own a clock so it’s not like it’s going to cause us to miss the bus, so WHEN it works it’s a lovely tool.