UniteGPS helps K-12 transportation teams build efficient, defensible bus routes with software that connects routing, SIS data, GPS tracking, parent communication, and performance analytics. Replace spreadsheets, paper maps, and institutional memory with a practical system built around real district workflows, backed by live support and a 90-day risk-free trial that removes pressure from budget timing.
Integrated routing, optimization, SIS sync, communication, and analytics tools for school transportation teams.
Build and manage bus routes straight from your student data — assign students to stops and zones, support transfer points, double runs, and day-of-the-week routing for split-custody and dual-address students, and drag stops between routes instantly.
Learn More →Analyze your existing routes to find consolidations, eliminate redundant routes, and cut daily mileage and student ride time — with before-and-after overlays and documented dollar savings to defend route changes to your board.
Learn More →The engine behind optimization: it rebalances student loads across your school bus fleet within hard constraints — capacity caps, maximum ride time, and bell windows — and proposes consolidation scenarios for your team to review and approve.
Learn More →A daily data feed from your student information system — PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, Skyward, or Harmony — that works even without the SIS transportation module, flagging new students, address changes, and disenrollments in one action center and bulk-importing staff.
Parent messaging by email and SMS: send each family their stop and pickup or drop-off times, broadcast route changes, and handle weather and emergency alerts — replacing manual phone trees and a pile of separate apps.
Learn More →A shared trip calendar with a request-and-approval workflow (secretary → AD → principal), Google Calendar export, and bus and driver assignment checked against your daily routes.
Learn More →UniteGPS starts by learning how your transportation team currently builds routes, handles student changes, communicates with families, and reports to leadership. This helps identify the fastest path from spreadsheets, paper maps, or legacy tools to a workable routing system.
The team connects your student information system, imports student and staff data, and builds the initial routing foundation. Daily feeds from systems like PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, Skyward, or Harmony help keep addresses, enrollments, and student changes current.
Routes are evaluated for capacity, ride time, bell windows, duplicate mileage, and consolidation opportunities. UniteGPS can produce before-and-after overlays, load balancing scenarios, and savings evidence that transportation directors can review before approving changes.
Once routes are approved, UniteGPS helps transportation staff use printable directions, communication tools, GPS tracking, parent notifications, and optional tablet workflows. Drivers and administrators receive practical training focused on adoption, not just software access.
After launch, performance analytics, mileage tracking, alerts, and live support help teams keep improving. UniteGPS support is handled by an in-house team with a named implementation contact rather than anonymous queues or chatbot-only service.
See why K-12 districts choose UniteGPS to simplify routing, improve safety, and reduce transportation office workload.
UniteGPS combines practical software, hands-on setup, and long-term partnership for school transportation teams. We don't just sell you software and walk away — we stay, we share what we know, and we help you build a transportation operation your district can be proud of.
Built specifically for K-12 transportation workflows, from routing through GPS, ridership, and parent communication.
Built specifically for K-12 transportation workflows, from routing through GPS, ridership, and parent communication.
More than a decade of customer-driven development, with 100+ districts using UniteGPS nationwide.
A 90-day trial includes route and SIS setup, reducing risk before budget commitment.
Human, in-house support with named implementation contacts, training, and no chatbot-only ticket queues.
Founder-led transportation software built from real district needs.
Co-Founder
Christopher Bunnell is a Co-Founder of UniteGPS, the company he helped launch in 2014 after watching his own children wait in the freezing Maine winter for a school bus with no arrival information. Driven by that firsthand frustration, Chris partnered with Steve C. Lanning and Steven J. Lanning to build a real-time GPS tracking solution that gave families the visibility they deserved. Before UniteGPS, Chris served as the on-site client representative in Baltimore for a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services project, while the technical team operated remotely from California. At UniteGPS, Chris has led client relationships and stakeholder engagement since day one, ensuring the platform continues to solve real problems for school districts and transit agencies nationwide.
Co-Founder
Steve C. Lanning is a Co-Founder of UniteGPS, bringing deep database architecture and enterprise-level technical expertise to the platform since its founding in 2014. Steve previously served as an Oracle database administrator on a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services project at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego, where he first collaborated with Chris Bunnell. In the early years of UniteGPS, Steve balanced the project alongside other professional commitments until growing client traction made it a full-time pursuit. His database expertise has been instrumental in building a reliable, scalable platform that now serves over 100 school districts nationwide, supporting everything from route optimization to student ridership tracking and SIS data integration.
Co-Founder
Steven J. Lanning is a Co-Founder of UniteGPS and the primary architect behind the Crosswalk platform, which he has built and continuously refined since the company's founding in 2014. Steven began his career on the same Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services project as his co-founders, focusing on solution quality assurance and software testing for production readiness while simultaneously pursuing formal software development training. When UniteGPS launched, Steven committed full-time to product development, translating real feedback from transportation directors and drivers into practical platform features. His customer-driven approach to engineering has helped UniteGPS grow into a fully integrated transportation management solution trusted by K-12 districts and transit agencies across the United States.
Often, yes. A free route optimization study analyzes your routes and returns a documented savings plan plus an independent outside assessment for your board — not just software output. For a mid-size district it's fairly standard to find $300,000 to $500,000, and eliminating a single route saves roughly $40,000 to $50,000 a year.
It's still worth a look. Even when there may be little to consolidate, the study gives you an independent outside assessment you can take to the board, and a two-tier bell schedule can often add capacity without adding drivers.
Yes. We run a daily data feed from your student information system — PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, Skyward, or Harmony. It works even if you don't have the SIS transportation module, and it can still identify who's a bus rider. A daily action center flags new students, address changes, and disenrollments so your routes stay current.
That's handled with day-of-the-week routing — a student can ride Route 2 during week A and Route 3 during week B, or use different stops on different days, for split-custody and dual-address situations.
We handle student data under FERPA, with a data use agreement, encryption, and a data destruction policy. If your district has its own data form, we'll sign it — so student information isn't scattered across disconnected tools.
Neither — there's no first-year gimmick, and nobody's expected to work for free. We set up your routes and your data feed at no cost for 90 days to take the risk out of the decision, and if you don't continue, you keep the routing we built. Billing is year-to-year with annual invoicing, and at the GPS tier the GPS devices are included free.
Yes. Contracts are year-to-year with annual invoicing — not a five-year lock-in — and we put that in writing on the quote, so districts whose board or attorney restricts long-term agreements can move forward without exceeding their term limits.
A real person. It's not a chatbot and it's not outsourced to an overseas call center — it's somebody in our own organization. One director said they'd met at least five of our team, compared with a prior vendor they spoke to once in five years.
Get practical answers from a transportation software specialist.
Protects student transportation data privacy.
Trusted by districts across the country.
Protects student transportation data privacy.
Trusted by districts across the country.
Built steadily since founding in 2014.
