Parent Bus App
Show families the real-time location of their child’s bus, current ETA, and timestamped ride history through a parent app activated by the district.
Learn More →Real-Time School Bus Tracking App for Parents
Give families real-time visibility into school bus location, arrival estimates, and ride history from their phones. UniteGPS helps K-12 districts reduce “where is the bus?” calls, improve parent confidence, and support safer student transportation with GPS data, FERPA-conscious tools, and optional scan-on/scan-off ridership notifications at no separate charge to parents.
Our School Bus Tracking Services
Real-time parent visibility, GPS tracking, ridership records, and routing tools built for K-12 transportation teams.
GPS Tracking
Track school buses with GPS updates every 5 seconds, including mileage, speeding alerts, idle alerts, geofences, and data to resolve parent questions.
Learn More →Ridership Notifications
Send advanced notifications when students scan on or off the bus, creating a reliable record for safety, parent updates, and transportation accountability.
Learn More →Student Ridership
Use card swipe tracking to prove which students rode which bus and when, supporting audits, special-education transportation, and documented ride history.
Learn More →Route Optimization
Turn student enrollment data into efficient bus routes, rosters, and printable route sheets, with free 90-day setup available from UniteGPS.
Learn More →SIS Integration
Sync student enrollment data directly into routing and ridership tools, reducing manual roster updates when students move or change schools.
Give Parents Reliable Bus Arrival Answers
UniteGPS turns real-time school bus GPS data into practical information families can trust. Parents see where the bus is, transportation teams reduce repetitive calls, and districts gain timestamped records to answer disputes with confidence. With optional ridership notifications and SIS-connected transportation data, the platform supports safer, clearer communication without adding a separate parent fee.
Customer Success
Districts use UniteGPS to improve communication, safety, routing, and transportation office efficiency every day.
Why Choose UniteGPS?
UniteGPS combines practical transportation technology with long-term customer commitment.
Built from the original parent need: knowing when the school bus will arrive.
Parent Focused
Built from the original parent need: knowing when the school bus will arrive.
Data Protection
FERPA compliant tools help districts protect student transportation data responsibly.
Founder Led
Founder-led development means product decisions stay close to real district feedback.
Live Support
Unlimited live support avoids ticket queues and helps districts solve issues faster.
Meet The UniteGPS Team
Meet the founders behind the Crosswalk platform.
Christopher Bunnell
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.
Steve C. Lanning
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.
Steven J. Lanning
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use live bus tracking on my phone?
Yes. Parents can use the UniteGPS parent school bus tracking app on their phone after their school district activates the service. The app shows the bus location in real time, estimated arrival information, and timestamped ride history. Basic real-time tracking is included with Tier 2, while advanced scan-on and scan-off notifications are available with Tier 3.
How does a real-time school bus tracking app work?
The parent app uses GPS data from the district’s school buses to show where a child’s bus is right now. UniteGPS tracking updates every 5 seconds, giving families current visibility instead of relying on phone calls or guesswork. Districts manage access so parents see the appropriate bus information tied to their transportation setup.
How much does the parent school bus tracking app cost?
UniteGPS includes the basic real-time parent app in GPS Tracking & Routing, Tier 2, priced at $25 per bus per month. There is no separate charge to parents. Advanced ridership notifications, including child scanned on and scanned off alerts, are included in the Tablet Suite, Tier 3, at $39 per bus per month.
Can the app reduce calls to the transportation office?
The app helps reduce routine calls asking when a bus will arrive because parents can check live location and ETA information themselves. Transportation offices also gain timestamped data that can help resolve parent disputes, verify bus activity, and communicate with more confidence during delays, route changes, or daily arrival questions.
Can parents see when their child gets on or off the bus?
Yes. With UniteGPS Tablet Suite, districts can enable advanced parent ridership notifications based on student card swipe activity. This confirms when a student scans onto or off the bus and creates a timestamped record. That feature is especially useful for safety, parent confidence, IEP documentation, and transportation accountability.
Is the school bus tracking app FERPA compliant?
UniteGPS is FERPA compliant and built for K-12 transportation environments where student data protection matters. Districts control implementation, access, and use of transportation information. The platform is designed to support real-time visibility while helping schools maintain responsible student privacy practices across routing, GPS tracking, and ridership records.
How long does setup take for a school district?
UniteGPS provides a free 90-day trial with no credit card required for GPS tracking and routing. Setup support is handled by the UniteGPS team, and routing configuration can be built for the district during onboarding. The platform is available nationwide for K-12 school districts across all 50 states.
Does UniteGPS integrate with our SIS?
Yes. UniteGPS integrates with Student Information Systems to keep student enrollment, stop assignments, routes, and ridership records aligned with the district’s authoritative data source. SIS integration is included in every UniteGPS tier, with configuration handled during the free 90-day setup period to reduce manual roster updates.
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Get clear answers about parent app setup, pricing, and implementation.
Awards and Recognition
Supports responsible student data protection practices.
Trusted by K-12 transportation teams nationwide.
FERPA Compliant
Supports responsible student data protection practices.
100+ Districts Served
Trusted by K-12 transportation teams nationwide.
Since 2014
Founder-led company building transportation software since 2014.
