Dear Parents/Guardians, 

We are receiving reports that some parents are having difficulties linking their students to their accounts or receiving SMART Alerts. Some of the reasons for these issues are listed below. 

• You changed your email address in the Parent Portal last year

• You are trying to register with an email address or phone number that does not match/missing your student’s profile - for one or more students. 

• One or more of your students has information on file that does not match the other student(s)

• The student ID number may not match 

• You recently moved school districts, SMART tag™ will need to disassociate your email from your previous district

The CBISD Transportation Department does not have access nor capabilities to correct these issues. Rest assured, SMART tag™ is working diligently to merge your accounts and link your students.

If you see all your students linked, your Parent App account is all set. If not, please reach out to [email protected] and provide the following information:

• Student Full name or ID # (for all your students in the district) 

• Date of birth (DOB)

• School District Name

• Email you are trying to register with

• Phone Number you are trying to register with

• Type of cell phone you are using (iPhone or Android)

IMPORTANT: SMART Alert notifications are sent each time your student LOADS and UNLOADS the bus (if you enabled these settings). These are not related to the Live Map. These alerts only confirm that your student has safely loaded or unloaded.

The Live Map only becomes available when an ARRIVAL notification is sent (To School/To Home alerts) and the bus is within the timeframe you selected on your phone.

NOTE: Based on feedback from school districts nationwide and for the safety of students & drivers, the live map location of the bus will only be available from the time you receive the arrival alert up to the time the bus leaves your home stop.

CBISD Transportation has increased the maximum time you can choose to receive your alerts from 20 minuets to 90 minutes. This will enable the live map bus view to be available for a longer period of time.

The new version of the app is customized to your specific student, giving you better visibility of your student’s movement compared to the bus’s movements. A few examples below.

• Your student is picked up by another bus that helps the regular route driver. You will still get the alert that your student loaded the bus and see where they loaded.

• The bus breaks down and another bus comes to assist. You will see where your student unloaded the regular route bus, loaded the new bus, and unloaded at school.

• You will see where your student exited the bus instead of where the bus arrived. For example, if the route bus has multiple campuses it services. You can see which one your student unloaded at.

• Your student rides a shuttle or field trip route. You can see where they loaded and unloaded.

• You have a banner showing the student is still on the bus instead of just knowing the bus is still en route to the school.

• Combined routes for driver shortages. You will still be able to see what route your students load and unload from.

Here is how SMART Locate Live Map currently works in the Parent App.

To School

Once the Arrival alert is received, tap the notification and you will be able to view the live bus location up to your home stop. You can also tap "View map" on the yellow banner within your student's profile.

Once your student is loaded, you will receive a Load alert and you will no longer be able to see the live map. However, the yellow banner will show "Currently on bus" until your student unloads at the school, which will trigger an Unload alert.

 To Home

Currently, the yellow banner here is slightly different from the "To School" banner. Once your student is loaded at the school, you will receive a Load alert. You won't be able to see the live map yet. Once the Arrival alert is received, tap the notification and you will be able to view the live bus location all the way to your home stop. The banner will not have a "View map" button available*. Once your student unloads, you will receive an Unload alert and you will no longer see the live map after.

Smart Tag is working on an update where the "View map" on the banner will work the same for both the To School and To Home notifications. You can still access the live map from your arrival notification.

Additional Resource

SMART Locate and Live Map in the Parent App

Parent App SMART Alerts