WeOrdaThe largest school bus fleet in America runs on records. WeOrda makes them provable.
More than 47,000 yellow buses carry over 1.8 million New York children every school day, under some of the strictest rules in the country: a DOT inspection every six months, Article 19-A driver files, three drills a year, a child check after every route. State auditors found the weak point is not the rules, it is proving they were followed. WeOrda is that proof, with no hardware and nothing to install on the bus.
The rules exist. The proof often doesn't.
When the Office of the State Comptroller audited school bus safety across seven districts in 2018, the pattern was the same everywhere: districts assumed their bus contractors were compliant, and could not show it.
the largest fleet in the nation
every school day
inspections of every bus
New York's rules, already enforced in WeOrda.
Each requirement below is state law or regulation today. In WeOrda, each one is a step that cannot be skipped and a record that is already filed.
The six-month DOT inspection
Transportation Law § 140: no valid inspection certificate, no passengers. WeOrda keeps pre-trip reports, defect photos and repair history per bus, ready for the inspector.
The end-of-route check
8 NYCRR 156.3 requires it: no child left on board unattended. WeOrda's post-trip sweep enforces it, and the sign-off is timestamped.
The Article 19-A driver file
Age 21 minimum, physicals, annual driving-record review, fingerprint checks. WeOrda keeps licenses, medical cards and training per driver, with warnings before anything expires.
Three drills a year, certified
On every bus, the first within the opening week of school, certified to the State Education Department. A dated record in one system beats a binder in the yard office.
The missed check is never hypothetical.
In May 2022 a 6-year-old on Staten Island fell asleep in the back of her school bus, woke up alone on the locked, parked bus, and got out through the back door onto the street. Her mother sued the city, alleging the driver and attendant never did the end-of-route check that regulation requires.
In WeOrda, a trip cannot close while a child is unaccounted for. The rider is scanned off, or the route holds and the office is alerted.
The nation's largest district already requires GPS. Run ahead of the rest.
New York City's 2019 Student Transportation Oversight Package requires GPS on every NYC school bus, real-time locations for parents and the DOE, and routes shared with families before the school year starts. Statewide, stop-arm cameras have been authorized since 2019 (VTL § 1174-a), and bills refining the camera rules are moving in Albany. The direction is one way: toward verification.
Required or moving in New York
- GPS with a parent view, required on NYC buses since 2019
- Stop-arm cameras authorized statewide, rules still evolving
- No statewide rider-level check-in mandate yet
Running in WeOrda today
- Real-time GPS and a parent app on every route, no hardware
- Drop-off notifications parents don't have to ask for
- Every boarding and drop-off verified, by QR scan or by name
New York compliance questions
How often are school buses inspected in New York?
Every six months. Under New York Transportation Law § 140, a bus may not carry passengers without an inspection certificate issued within the preceding six months, and NYSDOT inspectors check both the vehicle and its paperwork. A bus that fails is off the road until it passes again. WeOrda keeps pre-trip reports, defect photos and repair history per vehicle, so the paperwork half of the inspection is ready before the inspector asks.
Does New York require drivers to check for sleeping children at the end of the route?
Yes. The Commissioner of Education's regulations (8 NYCRR 156.3) require drivers, monitors and attendants to check the vehicle to ensure that no child is left behind on board unattended at the end of the route. WeOrda enforces that check as a post-trip sweep in the driver app: the trip cannot close without it, and the sign-off is timestamped, so compliance is a record rather than a recollection.
What is Article 19-A and what does it require of school bus drivers?
Article 19-A of the Vehicle and Traffic Law is New York's special qualification regime for bus drivers, created after the 1972 Congers crash. For school bus drivers it means a minimum age of 21, physical examinations, an annual review of the driving record, and fingerprint-based criminal history checks, on top of the annual physical the Education Commissioner's regulations require. WeOrda keeps each driver's licenses, medical cards and training on file, with warnings before anything expires.
How many school bus safety drills does New York require?
At least three per school year on each bus, the first within the first seven days of school, with the later drills in fixed windows across the year, and districts certify compliance to the State Education Department on their annual report. WeOrda keeps your fleet's safety records in one login, so the certification is backed by records instead of memory.
Does New York require GPS on school buses?
Statewide, not yet. New York City does: the Council's 2019 Student Transportation Oversight Package requires GPS on every NYC school bus, with real-time locations available to parents and the DOE, and routes shared with families before the school year starts. Operators running WeOrda already have real-time GPS and a parent app on every route, with no hardware to install, in the city or outside it.
Does New York require student check-in and check-out scanning?
No New York law requires rider-level check-in and check-out yet. WeOrda operators already verify every boarding and drop-off, by scanning the student's QR ID card or tapping the name, and a trip cannot close while a child is unaccounted for. That is how a child asleep on a bus is caught at the last stop, not discovered in the yard.
Every claim above is on the public record.
Fleet and ridership figures are the widely cited New York totals (47,000+ school buses, 1.8 million+ daily riders). Audit findings are from the Office of the State Comptroller's 2018 seven-district school bus safety audit series.
Ready before the inspector asks.
Every check enforced, every record filed, on the phones your drivers already carry.