HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- As students head back to school in Henrico County, parents and guardians can now track their bus route.
The district launched Edulog, a free app that tracks individual students' bus routes and arrival times.
HCPS Chief of Operations Lenny Pritchard said the app uses GPS location systems to pinpoint where a bus is and share its arrival time. Changes and delays are said to be entered manually.
"No app is 100% guaranteed, so when you start switching out buses, or buses have to go into inspection, that can throw this off," Pritchard said.
This comes as the district continues to face bus driver shortages. Right now, the district is down 75 drivers. Pritchard told CBS6 that only about 35 more hires are needed to return to pre-pandemic staffing levels.
"Even last year, as bad as we were in a way as far as drivers go, we were about 90% efficient by the end of the school year in making our bus runs, and we're in a better place today than we were last year," Pritchard said.
Still, shortages are prone to cause delays.
Eileen Cox, a spokesperson for the district, said the app will be able to give guardians an accurate time for when a late bus will arrive by pinpointing a bus's individual stops, hoping to alleviate questions for parents about delays or changes.
"By providing real-time updates, that can sort of reduce those questions and perhaps make them feel more confident that their student is safe and on the way, and may only be two or three stops away," Cox said.
To use the app, a parent or guardian must enter the name of their student, their student ID, their school, and their date of birth.
Barbara Jones, whose son is in the first grade, uses the app to track when her son's bus will be returning home. She said last year, his bus was sometimes late by 30 to 45 minutes.
"Last year I was considering having a tile in my son's backpack, so I could try to catch him to see what the delay was, so this is basically doing that for me," Jones said.
She's encouraging parents to have patience as they return to school, noting that young kids and parents may have to provide identification and other information that could delay routes.
"They are doing their very best, I know that," Jones said. "We just thank them every single time. Thank you for being here. Thank you for showing up. Because when they go, it all falls apart."
Instructions on how to download the app can be found here.
