Two years ago Keith Corso was still in high school when he had an epiphany during a traffic jam caused by a school bus. The bus made four stops without any students getting off. "I started to think to myself, there's got to be a better way."
Like most 18-year-olds, he thought the solution might be a smartphone app. He launched BusRight, an app that creates the most efficient route for school buses each day, based on the students that are actually on that bus.
Corso says school districts don't have information on daily ridership so they purchase buses based on the number of students enrolled in the school. With BusRight, students interface with the driver's device as they enter the bus. The app can determine which stops are necessary and then calculates the most efficient route.
BusRight also allows parents to monitor exactly where their child's bus is.
Mothers like Katie Gill say that would alleviate some anxious moments of waiting for a late bus. "I think there was only one occasion where the bus was running like 20 minutes late, but that's really late to be sitting home and waiting for your kid to get off the bus, and wondering, what the heck happened here?"
Phil Dunn, a school administrator in Connecticut, said without this technology bus monitors have over 60 kids to manage, maybe more." Dunn is now consulting with the company and thinks the app could save school districts money. "Buses are purchased per bus, per diem, so you may go out and buy 80 buses when, in fact, if you did a better job of routing, you may only need 65-70."
Corso also spent the summer working with a bus fleet at a Rhode Island camp and now has several Massachusetts schools that want to take a closer look at the app.
Corso doesn't think his idea is going to make him the next Steve Jobs, yet, and he's looking forward to getting back to class. "There’s a lot that I don't know, and I’m just trying to learn as much as I can, and I don’t think there’s a better way to do that than starting your own company."
BusRight recently won a startup challenge award at Northeastern and received a $2,500 grant for development.