RISD uses Samsara<\/a> AI technology, a cloud-based fleet management platform, to monitor fleet vehicles and support safety efforts. The technology setup includes real-time GPS, AI dashcams and vehicle diagnostics that can tell district officials where a bus is, how many miles it has driven and who rode on it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou hear AI is good in some ways and bad in some ways,\u201d Gipson said. \u201cWith the bus system, it\u2019s a good thing because we can protect the kids, we can protect the drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n Gipson said while the district does not actively monitor the camera feed, they can access them when needed to address safety or conduct violations. The Samsara system also monitors driver safety, tracking things like taking their eyes off the road or coming to a rolling stop.<\/p>\n Each bus has six cameras on it, with RISD operating a total of 1,134 integrated AI and HD cameras.<\/p>\n Gipson said the technology improves operational efficiency and helps to reduce fuel and maintenance costs by keeping district officials up to date on vehicle needs.<\/p>\n Last year, RISD also introduced a student ID badging system<\/a>, requiring students to scan a customized ID when they board and exit the bus, which Jasso said helps the district know when students are on the bus.<\/p>\n A closer look<\/p>\n The Samsara system supports a new joint initiative between RISD\u2019s transportation and risk management departments, Jasso said, which uses the data to recognize drivers who consistently demonstrate safe driving behaviors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to not only spend time on our staff [to say], \u2018Hey, don\u2019t roll that stop sign\u2019 [or] \u2018Don\u2019t look down at your phone,\u2019 but we also want to recognize the folks that do a great job daily,\u201d Jasso said.<\/p>\n Jasso said the transportation department also ramped up staff training and professional development for drivers and other transportation staff members last year, especially related to student safety. The district saw a \u201cdouble-digit\u201d decrease in preventable accidents last year.<\/p>\n Staff retention has also been a priority for RISD, and since improving recognition and professional development efforts, the district has seen reduced turnover, Jasso said.<\/p>\n Diving in deeper<\/p>\n State funding for transportation has remained fairly constant, while RISD has seen its cost increase over the last several years. The majority of the transportation budget goes toward payroll, which has increased due to growing ridership in the district.<\/p>\n There is a \u201csignificant gap\u201d between the funding RISD receives from the state and the transportation needs in the district, Branum said. Transportation funding could be a legislative priority for RISD to advocate for during the upcoming 2027 Texas Legislature session.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know advocating for increased funding for public [education] is going to be one of those line items, but specifically these underfunded areas in transportation would be high on that list,\u201d Branum said.<\/p>\n Looking ahead<\/p>\n RISD\u2019s 2025 bond<\/a> will fund transportation updates for all four of the district\u2019s band programs. Most peer districts use big rigs to transport band equipment, but RISD currently rents vans for that, Branum said.<\/p>\n Branum said the new band vehicles will save money in the long run and will be an investment in a \u201cmore permanent solution that would be part of our infrastructure.\u201d She said she expects the new vehicles to come in 2028, after the district completes the middle school transformation<\/a>, also funded by the 2025 bond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richardson ISD continues to expand its technology systems that support its school bus fleet and other vehicles, while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[39791,42057,160,162,161,959,5809,3961,57948,3621,699],"class_list":["post-426501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-cameras","tag-fleet","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-richardson","tag-risd","tag-safety","tag-school-buses","tag-technology","tag-vehicles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"chart](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788559689_643_thumbnail.jpeg\")
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