tardy school buses? there's an app for that - digital signs

With the arrival of the winter season, the continuing problems with the late school bus in Boston will get worse.
In addition to being late, students will now wait in the cold, dark, and sometimes in the rain, sleet or snow for those buses.
Some help is emerging in the form of a new smartphone app.
But if Boston public schools pull a page from mbta's book, it's easy for people to get data on which buses are late and when they are late, then it is easier to provide arrival at a specific station at a very low cost.
It is commendable that of all school buses, there are only about 12% school buses-of all school buses, about 70 routes are always late, less than half of all buses in the fall.
However, if piles of snow will further reduce the already crowded streets of Boston, the problem could worsen in the winter.
Wouldn't it be great if students, parents, guardians and educators could find out if a particular bus would be late and when it might arrive?
In fact, there is already an app called "Where is my school bus?
"Built for Boston by a young software developer who works with the new city mechanics city office through the US code Fellowship program, the program is accessible via a smartphone or a computer connected to the Internet.
The BPS is currently testing it with three parent groups and will soon be rolled out to current students and their families.
While this is a step in the right direction, the BPS can and should go further.
In particular, BPS should provide information about their buses to people who only have regular mobile phones, land lines or do not have a phone at all.
To do this, BPS should learn from MBTA, which provides information to programmers and app developers about their bus and train locations.
Thanks to this open data policy, there are now more than 30 different ways to determine when MBTA buses will arrive at specific stations.
This information can be obtained not only through smartphones and computers, but also through text messages, homemade digital logos and old
Old-fashioned land line.
Based on our research on the impact of mbta efforts and similar initiatives taken by other major US agenciesS.
We believe that BPS's open data strategy will yield three important benefits.
Less Waiting: people using various apps will have less time waiting outside for buses.
Better information: by creating competition between various applications, opening up data for developers improves the quality of applications and websites that people use to understand when a particular bus arrives.
Improved services: by providing users with the information they need to hold the provider accountable, the open data approach should lead to improvements in the service.
Giving everyone access to information about when a particular school bus will arrive at a particular station is a legitimate concern.
We think this fear is excessive.
First of all, transporting students with a bright yellow bus that runs the same route every day has made this information available to anyone who wants it.
Second, the benefits of having no children in buses such as unpleasant and sometimes dangerous winters far outweigh any potential harm.
Finally, some problems may be solved by requiring users to register with the school department.
All in all, open school bus data is a low
Inspire citizen Innovation and Entrepreneur Spirit to improve cost opportunities for vital public services.
Francisca Rojas is the research director of the transparency policy program at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
David Luberoff is the executive director of Harvard University's lapapo King Boston College.