Implementation Examples - Safety & Security

Childcare Transportation Service - Oversight

The Challenge

An organization responsible for busing children from their homes in the morning to all day daycare, from schools in the afternoon to after school daycare and from those daycare facilities back to the children’s homes each day is mandated to keep pick-up and drop-off logs. Additionally, occasionally, children will fall asleep in the back of the bus, and although drivers are required to do pre-trip and post-trip inspections of the buses, sometimes sleeping children aren’t noticed until they wake up alone in the parked bus.

The organization’s goals were:

To maintain a log of when drivers clocked in and clocked off their shifts
To determine which driver is on which unique bus each day
To ensure that pre-trip and post-trip safely inspections are being performed each day for each bus
To monitor and log each child as they enter and exit each bus and to alert drivers when children have been left on the bus.

Sparrow's Solution

Each child is entered into Sparrow and assigned a “bus pass” that uniquely identifies each child and includes a Sparrow QR Code.
Each bus, and each inspection point on each bus is assigned a unique Sparrow QR Code marker, printed to an Avery label, which is affixed to each unique bus and each inspection point on each bus.
Drivers are added to Sparrow and provided with an employee identification card that includes a unique Sparrow QR Code.
Each trip drivers are provided with a tablet that includes a QR Code reader and a cellular data connection.
When drivers arrive, they use their employee badge to clock in by scanning it with the tablet that they are assigned for the trip. When they reach their bus, they scan the buses Sparrow QR Code marker and each of the pre-trip inspection points before they leave for their route.
When children are picked up, the driver scans the Sparrow QR Code on their bus pass. If they have lost or forgotten their bus pass, the driver scans a copy of their bus pass kept in a binder on the bus. When children are dropped off, the driver scans their bus pass again.

ROI & Benefits

Because each scan of a Sparrow QR Code marker is logged in real-time, when the drivers arrive each morning and scan in (and leave each afternoon scanning out), management is provided with a clock in time that is used by payroll for accurate time attendance.
As drivers scan the Sparrow QR Code markers at the bus and at the pre-trip inspection points, management is provided with reports regarding the condition of the inspection points.
As each child is picked up (and dropped off) and their bus pass is scanned, a log of the exact time and date, which bus, which driver and the identity of the child is created and maintained as required by state regulations. This is available to the organizations operations and management team immediately and is updated each time a scan occurs.
As drivers scan the Sparrow QR Code markers at the post-trip inspection points, they are provided with a list of children that failed to scan off the bus, that may still be on board the bus.
In the event of an emergency, first responders can be provided with an accurate list of everyone on board the bus at that moment.
Organizational management is provided with historical reports about driver attendance, time between stops, child attendance and those reports can be used for route optimization and provide management with information about drivers’ overall performances.