BusLinks and the BusLinks App

The inconsistency of school bus arrival times is a problem that plagues students across the United States of America. Quite often, students are given a time that their bus will arrive, but bus drivers often fail to arrive at that specified time for a variety of reasons. If a bus arrives too early, and leaves without picking up a student, the student may end up missing school entirely. If it does not arrive early enough, students are left waiting for unreasonable amounts of time in conditions that may not be ideal. According to a survey we conducted, 75% of high school students reported having faced inconsistent bus schedules. In a response given by a student of South Brunswick High School, a student stated that “bus drivers [are] too early and [do not] stop for me when they see me running.” The repercussions of this issue extend far beyond mere inconvenience, permeating into various facets of students' academic and personal lives. A significant consequence of erratic bus arrival times is the prevalence of tardiness among students. Students who are unable to board buses departing prematurely find themselves marked as tardy, subsequently needing to make up for missed classwork. Moreover, the ripple effect of late arrivals is felt by parents who may be compelled to drive their children to school, potentially jeopardizing their own punctuality at work. Bus times undeniably have an affect on education.

In response to these challenges, our team created BusLinks—a unique combination of specialized trackers seamlessly integrated into an app accessible to students, parents, teachers, and school administrators. This pioneering solution is designed to bolster the reliability and effectiveness of school bus transportation, thereby alleviating adverse effects on students, parents, and overall safety.  Our system utilizes an Arduino ESP board as the primary unit, alongside a SIM board for wireless transmission of GPS coordinates to our servers, accessible via our app for real-time bus location tracking by students. We've opted for the Arduino ESP32D board for its affordability and processing capabilities. Power for the Arduino ESP board can be sourced from the bus's USB slots or via battery, with the latter requiring annual replacement. While battery power is feasible due to the board's low power consumption, direct connection to the bus is more efficient, with batteries serving as a backup. The SIM 7070G board facilitates 4G connectivity, chosen for its future-proofing compared to the outdated 2G supported by the SIM800L. Data from the ESP32 board is relayed to servers via the SIM 7070G, ensuring temporary storage for app access, with all data automatically purged after each trip. The total cost to produce the tracker amounts to $22.56, inclusive of expenses for the ESP32 board, SIM 7070G, wires, and 3D-printed cover with velcro attachments. Each tracker consumes approximately 1.209600 megabytes of data per school year, resulting in a service cost of $7.10 annually, considering the charges of the specialized IoT SIM card. Offering a one-time installation fee of $25.00 per bus and yearly subscription options of $17.00 or monthly subscriptions of $2.00, we anticipate profits of $2.43 per bus for installation and $1,485 or $1,935 per school year for yearly or monthly subscriptions in a district with 150 buses. According to U.S. News & World Report, South Brunswick school district allocated $5.5 million to non-instructional or support services. If we hypothesize the district owns 150 buses and opts for a $3,000 monthly subscription for 10 months, our service would account for only 0.05% of the total expenditure. Considering this figure reflects solely the proportion of the service cost relative to the non-instructional or support service-related budget, it underscores the affordability of the service for schools. Upon completion of installation, the school district will furnish our company with a roster of students' and parents' school email addresses and passwords, along with their respective bus assignments. Subsequently, students and parents can log in to the BusLinks app, where they'll gain exclusive access to the real-time location of their designated bus, estimated arrival times at stops, and school departure/arrival times. The app will feature a live GPS map tracking option, and users may opt to receive notifications regarding their bus's proximity to their stop. Additionally, administrators and teachers will have app access, providing comprehensive bus information.

Our solution serves all students and parents who may rely on real-time information on bus locations to structure their day. In areas that are underdeveloped or even dangerous, it may be hard for students to know when their bus arrives because of several factors. Having access to this app will make visiting their place of education far easier for these underpriveledged students. Teachers and administrators also benefit because having access to real-time locations of buses can explain attendance issues or help them respond to accidents. For example, if a bus happens to get into a crash, and the bus driver has no way of answering the radio, the school district may have no idea where the bus is. This issue is solved with BusLinks.

Each one of us is an individual that has undergone, and still undergoes the issues that BusLinks aims to solve. As mentioned previously, in a survey we took of 32 people from our high school, 75% stated that they face issues with bus inconsitencies. In addition, 93.8% stated that they would benefit from our service, and 87.6% said our service would be effective at a 4 or 5 from a scale of 1 to 5.

We have yet to build or test anything so far as we do not have the proper technology to make the product. We have served zero customers but have taken data from students at our school. We have made a theoretically working model that once we purchase the proper equipment should work with some testing.

We do not have the proper equipment or capital to begin producing real models of our product and app. Additionally, we do not have enough size or outreach to begin partnering with school districts.

4 people are on our team: Srivatsan Tirucherai, Rohan Patel, Quincy Kin, and Pallav Debroy