ST. PAUL, Minn. — Parents here have a new way to find out whether their child’s school bus is running on time: a smartphone app.

St. Paul Public Schools recently launched its MySPPS Bus application, which is available for free download through Google Play and the Apple App Store.

When the district’s school bus contractors have buses running late, they report that information to the district. The app tracks those reports and provides users with alerts on buses that are running more than 10 minutes late, as well as any that are canceled.

App users can add specific bus routes to their “Favorites,” and they can share bus delay information with others through text messaging, email, Facebook or Twitter.

In addition to the app, the bus status information is available on the school district’s website and on individual school websites.

A brochure about the app notes that buses can sometimes make up time later in the route. Parents are advised to still be at the bus stop at the regular schedule in case the bus arrives on time. Also, officials explained that the app is not a GPS tracking system, and updated information for each bus route may lag.

About 38,000 students in St. Paul Public Schools ride about 320 school buses daily.