Route Optimization
Turn student enrollment data into efficient routes, rosters, and printable route sheets instead of relying on paper maps or institutional memory.
Learn More →School Transportation App That's Actually Easy to Run
UniteGPS gives K-12 transportation teams one practical platform for routing, live bus visibility, parent communication, student ridership, and driver tools. Replace disconnected maps, manual rosters, and constant status calls with software built around the work districts do every day. Start with the capabilities you need, supported by a hands-on 90-day setup that builds your routes for you.
Our School Transportation App Services
Connected tools for routing, visibility, communication, student safety, and transportation operations.
Parent Bus Tracking
Give families real-time bus location, estimated arrival information, and timestamped ride history without a separate charge to parents.
Learn More →GPS Fleet Tracking
Track buses every five seconds, including when ignition is off, with mileage categories, geofence, speeding, and idle alerts.
Learn More →Student Ridership
Document which students boarded or exited each bus and when through card-scan records, parent notifications, and safety audit trails.
Learn More →IEP Medicaid Invoicing
Convert scan-verified special-education rides and categorized mileage into billing-ready records that support reimbursable transportation documentation.
Learn More →SIS Integration
Sync authoritative enrollment data with routes, stop assignments, and ridership records to avoid repetitive roster uploads and manual updates.
One Platform for Better Daily Transportation
Crosswalk K-12 brings the everyday work of school transportation into one connected system. Build optimized routes from enrollment data, see buses in real time, give parents useful arrival visibility, and document ridership when needed. Drivers get practical navigation and inspection tools, while transportation leaders spend less time reconciling spreadsheets, answering location calls, and chasing changes across disconnected systems.
District Success Stories
See how districts use UniteGPS to simplify transportation operations and strengthen family communication.
Why Choose UniteGPS?
A founder-built partner focused on the operational realities of K-12 transportation.
Founders remain directly involved in product development and long-term customer relationships.
Founder Built
Founders remain directly involved in product development and long-term customer relationships.
District Proven
More than 100 school districts nationwide use the platform for daily transportation work.
Live Support
Get unlimited live support without ticket queues when operational questions need answers.
Student Data Care
FERPA-compliant tools help districts manage transportation information with appropriate safeguards.
Meet the UniteGPS Team
Founders who build from real district needs.
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
How can I track my child's school bus?
Your school district must activate a parent bus-tracking app for its routes. Once the district provides access, parents can download the app and view the assigned bus’s real-time location, estimated arrival information, and timestamped ride history. UniteGPS offers this capability through participating K-12 districts; it is not a standalone consumer app that parents subscribe to independently.
What is the app for school bus location?
UniteGPS provides a real-time parent school bus tracking app for districts using its GPS Tracking & Routing platform. The app shows where an assigned bus is, provides an ETA, and records timestamped location history. Basic parent tracking is included with Tier 2, while Tier 3 can add scan-on and scan-off ridership notifications for participating families.
How does school bus route optimization software work?
Route optimization software uses district student enrollment information, stop assignments, and operational requirements to build organized bus routes, rosters, and printable route sheets. UniteGPS can synchronize with a district’s SIS so updates do not require repeated manual uploads. During the free 90-day setup, the UniteGPS team builds routes to help districts begin with a workable system.
How often does UniteGPS update bus locations?
UniteGPS GPS tracking updates school bus locations every five seconds. The system can continue reporting even when a vehicle’s ignition is off, providing transportation teams with a clearer operational record. In addition to live location, districts can use the data for mileage categorization, geofence events, speeding alerts, idle alerts, and timestamped parent-dispute resolution.
Is UniteGPS FERPA compliant?
Yes. UniteGPS is FERPA compliant and built for K-12 transportation information, including student enrollment synchronization, stop assignments, ridership records, and parent notifications. Districts control activation and access to parent-facing features. The platform’s purpose is to help transportation teams use student-related operational data in a more organized, secure, and practical way.
What is included in the free 90-day setup?
The free 90-day setup includes hands-on onboarding from the UniteGPS team, with routes built for the district. SIS integration configuration is also handled during onboarding for districts using the platform. The offer is designed to reduce the burden of moving away from paper maps, Google Maps, disconnected rosters, or knowledge held by one experienced staff member.
Can the app track which students are on the bus?
Yes, districts using the Tier 3 Tablet Suite can use card swipe scan-on and scan-off ridership tracking. These records document which students were on a particular bus and at what time, creating a useful safety and compliance trail. The same capability supports advanced parent notifications and can help document special-education transportation rides for billing workflows.
How is UniteGPS priced for school districts?
Pricing is structured by capability and fleet size. Routing Essentials starts at $49 per month for fleets of one to five buses, while GPS Tracking & Routing is $25 per bus per month. The Tablet Suite is $39 per bus per month, with separate tablet hardware and data-plan costs. Parent access carries no separate charge.
Still Have Transportation Questions?
Talk with a live team member about your district’s needs.
Awards and Recognition
Student data protection for K-12 transportation.
Trusted by districts across the nation.
FERPA Compliant
Student data protection for K-12 transportation.
100+ Districts Served
Trusted by districts across the nation.
Founded in 2014
More than a decade of focused development.
