Smart fleet technology supplier Zonar has announced three new solutions to help pupil transportation operators during the pandemic.

Included in the offerings are the addition of student ridership alerts to the Zonar MyView app for real-time school bus fleet tracking; Zonar OnRoute, a route agnostic turn-by-turn direction solution; and Zonar Access, a driver task and time management application, according to a news release from the company.

“As parents send their students back to school, we’re helping districts reimagine the safety and efficiency of their bus fleets by providing a new level of transparency and accountability through digital services,” said H. Kevin Mest, senior vice president and general manager of passenger services at Zonar. “We encourage all school bus fleet managers and transportation directors, whether their fleets have remained idle during the pandemic or are up and running, to seize the opportunity to rethink how they plan to conduct their operations going forward and consider the technology solutions available to them.”

Enabled by Zonar Z Pass, the new student ridership alerts inside MyView now provide parents with the exact time, location, and bus their child entered and exited, according to the smart fleet technology supplier. Additionally, Zonar customers can take advantage of capabilities within OnRoute and Access:

• Zonar OnRoute: Available through the driver’s Zonar tablet, OnRoute provides turn-by-turn directions to empower safe navigation. OnRoute is route-agnostic and is designed to save time by creating maps with seamless editing and approval, eliminating handwritten notes and directions, increasing route efficiency and timeliness, and capturing all paths and stop location data in real time with Zonar’s OnRouteRecord.

• Zonar Access: The application is designed to lower operational costs for school districts by enabling digital processes for managing employee hours with a customizable clock-in threshold, which can help streamline and eliminate human errors. Zonar Access also alleviates the need for drivers to pick up schedules in person, helping them adhere to social distancing requirements.

In addition to its three new technology offerings, Zonar announced its partnership with routing software developer Transfinder. As a Zonar reseller in the U.S. and Canada under a new reseller agreement, Transfinder will sell Zonar solutions along with its school bus routing and transportation management technologies, according to a news release from Zonar.

The partnership integrates Transfinder technologies with Zonar APIs, leveraging its GPS data and EVIR for Transfinder’s Routefinder, Servicefinder, and Wayfinder solutions, according to the smart fleet technology provider. The compatibility will reportedly ensure school transportation fleets benefit from more accurate and efficient route optimization, increased fleet safety and ridership visibility, and improved maintenance shop productivity.

"With the development of our latest solutions, combined with Zonar’s long-standing history in the industry, together we make it easier for school districts to deploy smart technologies," said Antonio Civitella, president and CEO of Transfinder.