SEATTLE — First Student has begun the roll-out of Zonar Systems' electronic fleet management solution, which will be added to the school bus contractor's entire fleet of 60,000 vehicles.

"We have been working with Zonar over the last six years, first as a pilot customer, then as a full-service solutions provider," said Gary Catapano, First Student's senior vice president of safety. "Zonar has proven itself to be a valuable partner, providing a unique solution that enables us to support our primary business objective of delivering the highest level of safety and security to our customers and the 4 million students we transport to and from school each day."

The agreement includes deploying Zonar's full suite of applications: the EVIR Inspection System for verified pre-trip, post-trip and child-check inspections; the V2J Vehicle Diagnostic Device for tracking and managing of assets and real-time transmission of vehicle subsystem data; and Ground Traffic Control, a Web-based data and fleet management application.

"We are pleased to have been chosen by First Student," said Brett Brinton, president of Zonar. "It's a win/win for fleet managers, drivers and riders alike because our unique solutions lead to better-maintained vehicles, improved driver and passenger safety, and more efficient operations."