BusCall beats bus stop blues: Little-used control channels create a shorter wait

Combining underused aspects of the cellular network with other technology, several companies have developed a service that will keep schoolchildren from waiting too long for school buses.

BusCall is being tested in Bemidji, Minn. Parents who subscribe to the service will get a phone call that lets them know when the bus is coming before they send their children outside to wait.

BusCall is a product of Global Research Systems, a company based in Rome, Ga., that develops vehicle tracking and messaging technologies. School buses are equipped with a BusCall unit, and global positioning system satellites track the buses as they drive on their routes. The information is relayed via the cellular network control channels to a computer system at the local telephone company.

In this case, Paul Bunyan Telephone notifies the subscriber families by calling their landline phone with a distinctive ring and playing a message such as, "School bus number 44 will be arriving at your bus stop in five minutes and 21 seconds."

Families, who pay a modest per-month fee for the service, can also be notified via e-mail, a pager or a cellular phone. Subscribers also can call into the BusCall system for bus arrival information.

Kelly Jones, president and CEO of Global Research Systems, came up with the idea for BusCall in the 1980s.

"I observed a kid standing in the rain waiting for the bus in a dangerous area and saw the same person standing there 25 minutes later," he said. "I thought there had to be a better way, and I'm just weird enough to chase my own ideas."

BusCall is made possible by BellSouth's Cellemetry Data Service, a wireless technology that enables consumers to monitor a variety of equipment remotely-including copy machine meters and burglar alarms-using the existing cellular network's control channels. Cellemetry-a blend of cellular and telemetry-is sold to regional cellular carriers. A single, centralized service bureau enables carriers to put Cellemetry service to work in all their markets without requiring infrastructure modifications or sales distribution costs.

"Most data services are arranged for humans to talk to humans, but Cellemetry is for machines to talk to machines," said Edward Comer, director of the BellSouth Cellemetry Business Unit.

"In instances like BusCall, where small amounts of data are relayed at only a couple of times a day, it's a win-win situation," he said. "And the control channels earn no revenue now. This is a way to earn some revenue off them and allow service providers to offer another valuable service to their customers."

In Bemidji, Rural Cellular Corp. is the licensed distributor of the Cellemetry service.

"We are committed to improving the lives of the people in the communities we serve," said Richard Ekstrand, president and CEO of Rural Cellular Corp. "Rural Cellular strives to be the most innovative cellular carrier."

The technology eventually could be applied to city buses, subways and other forms of scheduled transportation, Jones said.

"A lot of people are tired of waiting on vehicles to arrive," he said. "We're hoping to develop other products that reduce that downtime."

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