1. Who we are
RouteSafe ("RouteSafe", "we", "us") provides a school bus tracking platform consisting of a parent mobile app, a driver app, and a school administration module (together, the "Services"). This policy explains what personal data we collect across the Services, why we collect it, and how it is handled.
This policy applies to parents and guardians using the RouteSafe parent app, school staff using the admin module, and bus drivers using the driver app. Schools that deploy RouteSafe act as the data controller for their students' information in most cases, and RouteSafe acts as a data processor on their behalf, in addition to our own obligations as a service provider.
2. What we collect
The data we collect depends on which part of the Services you use.
From parents
- Name, phone number, and email address used to create an account
- Child's name, class/section, and assigned bus route (provided by the school or by you)
- Device information and push notification token, to deliver alerts
- App usage data such as login activity and notification preferences
From school administrators
- Staff name, role, and contact details for admin module access
- Student roster information provided by the school (name, class, route assignment, parent contact details) for the purpose of running the tracking service
- Attendance/boarding records generated through the driver app
From drivers
- Name and contact details
- Real-time location of the device while a route is active (see Section 3)
- Trip data such as speed, route adherence, and timestamps, used for safety monitoring
3. Location data
RouteSafe does not require dedicated GPS hardware on buses. Instead, location is captured from the bus driver's smartphone through the RouteSafe Driver app while a route is active. This location is used to power the live map shown to parents and the school's live fleet dashboard.
- Location is only collected while a driver is signed in and a route is in progress, not continuously or outside working hours.
- Parents only see the live location of the specific bus assigned to their own child's route — never any other route or bus.
- Historical route data may be retained for a limited period to support route replay, incident review, and dispute resolution (see Section 7).
4. Children's data
Because RouteSafe is used to track school transportation for minors, some of the data we process relates to children. We do not knowingly allow children to directly create RouteSafe accounts; accounts are created and managed by parents/guardians or by the school on the child's behalf.
Student data collected through the school admin module (name, class, route, boarding/attendance records) is provided by the school as part of operating its transportation service, and is used solely for that purpose — never for advertising, profiling, or any purpose unrelated to safe transportation.
5. The school admin module
Schools using the admin module can view live bus locations, route status, driver behavior alerts, and attendance records for their own buses and students. School administrators do not have access to data from other schools using RouteSafe. Access within a school is intended to be limited to authorized transportation and administrative staff, and schools are responsible for managing who on their staff has login access.
6. How we use data
- To show live bus location to parents and school staff
- To send arrival, delay, and emergency alerts
- To record boarding/attendance and share it with the school
- To monitor driver behavior (speed, route adherence) for safety
- To provide customer support and respond to queries
- To maintain and improve the reliability of the Services
We do not use student or parent data for advertising, and we do not sell personal data to third parties.
7. Sharing & disclosure
We share data only as needed to operate the Services:
- With the relevant school, for students enrolled at that school
- With parents, limited to their own child's route information
- With infrastructure and service providers (such as cloud hosting and SMS/push notification providers) under confidentiality obligations
- Where required by law, such as in response to a valid legal request from an authority
8. Data retention
We retain account data for as long as your account or your child's enrollment with a participating school is active. Live location history is generally retained for a limited window (typically a few months) to support route replay and incident resolution, after which it is deleted or anonymized, unless a school requests a longer retention period for its own records, or longer retention is required by law.
9. Security
We use industry-standard measures such as encryption in transit, access controls, and role-based permissions within the admin module to protect data. No system is completely secure, but we work to keep data protected against unauthorized access, alteration, or loss.
10. Your rights
Subject to applicable law, you may request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal data we hold about you or your child, or object to certain uses of that data. School-provided student data is generally managed by the school in the first instance; if you have a request about your child's data, you can raise it with your school's transportation office or contact us directly using the details below.
11. DPDP Act, 2023
RouteSafe is built and operated with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 in mind. We aim to collect only the data necessary to operate the Services (data minimization), to be transparent about how data is used, and to support schools in meeting their own obligations as data fiduciaries for their students' information.
12. Extra protections for children
Given that much of the data we handle relates to school-going children, we apply additional care: student data is used only for safe transportation purposes, school admin access is scoped to a school's own students, and we do not use children's data for behavioral advertising, profiling, or any purpose unrelated to running the transportation service.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the Services evolve. If we make material changes, we will notify schools and, where appropriate, parents through the app or via email, and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.
14. Contact us
If you have questions about this policy or how your data is handled, reach us at privacy@routesafe.example or through the contact form on our homepage.