News Details

The Integrated Transport Centre Launches the "Salama" Application Allowing Parents to Monitor Students During School Bus Trips

Aiming to ensure the safety of students during transport

App Features:

• The app allows parents to monitor students' bus trips to and from school in real-time to ensure their safety.
• The app enables parents to directly communicate with bus supervisors and operators.
• The app is available to all students in private and charter schools in Abu Dhabi, during its first stage.
• The app operates on Android and iOS smart mobile phones.

Based on its role as regulator and supervisor of the school transport sector activities in Abu Dhabi, the Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) of the Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) has launched the “Salama” application as part of its integrated smart system for managing and monitoring school transport. The app was launched in collaboration with the Department of Education and Knowledge.

The app aims to raise levels of security and safety for students during their trips on school buses and to enhance parents’ trust in the school transport sector through effective communication between parents and schools.

Features of the Salama App

Features of the app include providing status update and details of the school bus trip in real time, time of trip’s departure and destination, the time in which students board and disembark from the school bus, and record students attendance, as well as the estimated arrival time at school or home through notifications sent to parents. It also provides parents and schools with details on drivers and supervisors, and allows direct communication with bus supervisor and operators.

Salama system for school transport

This ITC’s initiative features an integrated system and smart applications available for use to parents, educational institutions, school transport operating entities, in addition to bus drivers and supervisors. This in its turn, permits school transport authorities to monitor students’ bus trips to and from school in real time, enabling stakeholders to supervise students whereabouts at all times and easily communicate with school buses during trips. Therefore, improving levels of security and safety and facilitating the prompt response of relevant authorities in case of emergencies. The Salama app will be available to private, public, and charter schools in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The app enables supervisors to take down the attendance of students on the school bus and submit reports through the app on the status of bus trips, and noting remarks through the smart system about any emergency that might occur during the bus trip, while the control room at the ITC follows up on procedures. The app also provides accurate data to support planning, implementing, and developing strategic projects aimed at enhancing the security and safety of students and improving the quality of school transport services in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Furthermore, the application provides an operational and central platform to monitor and evaluate the performance of all relevant authorities in the school transport system. This is carried out by accurately tracking pick-up and drop-off times, taking into consideration traffic congestion around schools, and calculating the start time of the morning journey from the time that the first student boards the school bus until the end of the trip and on their way back from school as well, all-the-while taking into account traffic flow and peak hours.

The ITC has implemented a training session for all Salama application relevant entities, which included executing 32 workshops on the new smart system. The workshops were attended by representatives from 256 educational institutions, including private schools, nurseries and 768 school bus operators, school transport coordinators, and supervisors in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Dhafra region.

The ITC urges parents and the public to report any indiscretions or misbehavior committed by school bus drivers, and not to hesitate in contacting the ITC if they have any feedback or suggestions, especially those related to safety, by calling the Service Support Centre of the Department of Municipalities and Transport on its toll-free number 800850.