Walking School Bus App

Project Overview

The Walking School Bus is a volunteer led initiative that helps get school kids safely to and from school on foot, starting from and ending at a designated location. Up until now the service was being managed manually via WhatsApp groups, everything from attendance to rostering was done by hand, which quickly became inefficient and time consuming for the volunteers running it.

The goal was to create a centralised app that could manage attendance, rostering and communication in one place, while also introducing automation and real-time tracking features to make things easier and safer for both volunteers and parents.

Team

Design team (myself)
Development team
Parents & stakeholders

Role

Product design
UX research
Prototyping and user testing

Tools

Figma
Photoshop
Illustrator

The Problem

Managing the Walking School Bus via WhatsApp wasn’t sustainable. Volunteers were spending hours organising rosters and confirming attendance manually each day. There was no clear overview of who was attending, no easy way to communicate route changes and no safety tracking feature for peace of mind. It needed to be simplified and centralised to reduce the effort on volunteers and improve visibility for parents.

Project Process

The new mobile app gives users, volunteers and parents a clear, easy to use interface for managing and viewing daily and weekly rosters. Attendance is now handled automatically, so it’s easier to track which students are attending and which volunteers are scheduled for each day.

A key feature of the app is the live attendance overview, which shows the adult to child ratio and helps allocate volunteer resources accordingly. This ensures the Walking School Bus always runs smoothly, safely and efficiently.

We also added real-time GPS tracking for added safety. When a group begins their route, the lead volunteer activates a GPS beacon. This lets parents see the group’s location in real-time and get push notifications as the group passes key checkpoints. It gives peace of mind without adding more tasks to the volunteers’ workload.

All data is synced to the cloud, meaning everything from rostering to live tracking is always up to date and easily accessible. No more scattered WhatsApp messages or manual spreadsheets, everything is now in one place.

The app was designed and developed in collaboration with G&H IT Solutions using React Native for both iOS and Android platforms.

Responsibilities & Contributions

Identifying user needs and pain points
User experience and interface design
Wireframing and interactive prototyping
User testing and design validation
User testing
Supplying graphics and assets for development handoff

Outcome & Learnings

The Walking School Bus app has transformed how the service is run. What used to be a manual, time intensive task is now streamlined and automated. Volunteers can focus on what matters – keeping kids safe, while the app handles the logistics. Parents get live updates and reassurance, and volunteers save time and energy. It’s a win for everyone involved and a great example of how design and tech can come together to support community driven initiatives.