LPSS Launches My Ride K-12 App to Track School Buses in Real Time

LAFAYETTE, La. — Lafayette Parish School System has rolled out My Ride K-12, a GPS-based app that lets parents track their child’s bus in real time.

The rollout comes as LPSS shifts its transportation focus this year from route restructuring toward technology upgrades, according to Ross Cloteaux, the district’s transportation operations manager.

“This year, we’re changing some things more on the technology side, trying to bring transportation up into the 21st century,” Cloteaux said during an interview on KPEL’s Acadiana’s Morning News.

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What Lafayette Parish Parents Need to Know About My Ride K-12

My Ride K-12 works as both an online portal and a mobile app. Parents get direct access to their student’s transportation information without having to call the school. The app uses GPS technology paired with the district’s transportation software to generate estimated arrival times, show the bus’s current location, and identify the assigned driver and bus number.

The system also sends notifications when a student boards or exits the bus, based on scans from an ID card. Cloteaux said the district is encouraging every student to carry that identification card specifically for getting on and off the bus. It gives both the driver and the parent a reliable record of when and where a student was picked up or dropped off.

How to Sign Up for My Ride K-12

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Parents can register for an account through the app or at myridek12.tylerapp.com. During sign-up, the system asks for basic student information used to link a child’s data to their transportation record. Cloteaux said that includes the student ID number, and he believed it also includes the student’s grade level and school, though families should confirm exact requirements during registration.

Families who are new to the district or who haven’t yet registered their student won’t be able to complete this step until enrollment paperwork is processed. Once a student’s registration is finalized, that information is imported into the district’s transportation database, and the student is assigned to a bus route and stop.

What Happens Before Student IDs Are Issued

Student IDs typically aren’t issued until after the school year begins, so the system doesn’t rely on the ID card alone. Students are assigned to specific stops in advance, and when a bus arrives at a stop, the driver’s system displays which students are assigned there. Drivers can manually load and unload those students even before ID cards are in hand, so a missing card early in the year doesn’t keep a student off the bus.

How Student Safety and Privacy Are Protected

Cloteaux said the app runs on the same confidentiality standards that apply to other student records districtwide. “So our systems with LPSS, even on our technology side, they’re pretty much locked down,” he said, adding that the safeguards are meant to keep transportation data secure while giving parents visibility into their own child’s information.

LPSS has said publicly that the app only tracks a student from the moment they scan onto the bus until they scan off, and that no parent has access to another family’s student information, KATC reported.

Who to Contact With Questions

Schools haven’t opened yet, so some new families are still completing registration and won’t have full access to My Ride K-12 right away. In the meantime, parents can call 521-RIDE, the district’s transportation hotline and call center, for help figuring out bus assignments or general transportation questions. Once drivers officially return for the school year, families will also be able to reach their assigned driver directly for route-specific information.

Cloteaux said questions and route adjustments typically continue even after the first day of school, and the district’s call center stays available throughout the year for parents working to confirm their child is on the correct bus.

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