New app allows Westport families to track students to and from school
WESTPORT — With a new and improved bus service fully underway, the Westport school district has partnered with the FirstView app so families can track the routes of their children to and from school, a service that couldn’t be implemented with its former bus service.
“I’m looking forward to providing this tool to parents based on their requests,” Superintendent Thomas Scarice said.
Parents can download FirstView, which connects to the GPS in the new buses, from the app store on their phone or tablet, Scarice said.
The app features live tracking for morning and afternoon trips; customizable bus proximity notifications to alert families when the bus is approaching a distance set by the user; custom alerts and messages with up to three email accounts that can receive additional notifications for other users; a multi-stop view, with individual colors for each student in a family; and password protection.
“Overall, the FirstView app streamlines the process of knowing where a bus is, providing greater convenience, safety and peace of mind regarding transportation to and from school,” an announcement from the district read.
This school year, the district switched to First Student Inc. for transportation services after using Dattco for years. While there was an app available last school year, Scarice said it didn’t perform well with the Dattco buses.
The new app launched March 18; the full fleet of new buses did not arrive until mid-year.
“Performance has stabilized significantly since October and we are pleased with overall performance,” Scarice said of the new bus company.