Comparison

Here Comes the Bus vs BCPS Connect

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Here Comes the Bus

Track your child's school bus in real-time and receive notifications about its location and their boarding/deboarding. This app ensures your child arrives at the bus stop on time and provides peace of mind regarding their safety and transportation.

Highlights
  • Real-time bus location tracking
  • Customizable map view
  • Push notification alerts
  • Student ridership tracking
  • Arrival and departure information
  • Multi-child tracking
  • Multilingual support
Features
Read full description

**NOTICE: In order to use the app, your school district must have a contract with Synovia Solutions and make Here Comes the Bus® and/or Student Ridership available to parents. Please contact your school district or visit www.herecomesthebus.com for more information.** Here Comes the Bus is an easy-to-use app that gives you the real-time location of your child’s bus, and alerts you when the bus is near. With Here Comes the Bus, your children will get to the bus stop not a minute too early – or a minute too late. And with Student Ridership, you’ll not only know your child got on the right bus at the right time, but that they got off the bus at the right stop. All of this equals safety for your children, and peace of mind for you. KEY FEATURES: Find your bus quickly and easily See the exact location of your child’s school bus using your own customizable map. Receive alerts via push notification -Be notified when the bus is within 2 miles of your stop, has a schedule change, and more -Receive notifications when your child gets on/off the bus, including the bus number, location and time Access arrival & departure info Confirm your child’s bus has arrived at the bus stop and at school, both before and after school. Track all of your children Have children that ride different buses? See each child's bus information within one account. App and notifications in three languages The app and notifications are available in English, Spanish and French. Know your privacy is protected Parents must obtain a private ID number, which grants access to their child’s bus only.

About

BCPS Connect

This app serves as a central hub for parents, guardians, and students of Broward County Public Schools. It provides easy access to important educational information like grades, schedules, attendance, and school news. Stay connected with real-time notifications and messages to support your student's academic journey.

Highlights
  • Student and Parent Portals
  • Access grades and assignments
  • View schedules and attendance
  • School calendars and events
  • Real-time notifications and messages
  • Class resources and forms
Features
Read full description

Presenting BCPS Connect, the official one-stop-shop app for parents, guardians, and students of Broward County Public Schools (BCPS). Our carefully designed Student and Parent portals ensure that you stay involved and up-to-date with your student’s education. Effortlessly access key information such as enrollment status, schedules, attendance, grades, assignments, calendars, news, events, school and district social media feeds, class resources, forms, alerts, and messages—all in a single, user-friendly platform. BCPS Connect keeps you informed about essential updates and deadlines through real-time notifications and messages sent directly to your device. Support your student’s educational growth and remain connected to the BCPS community by downloading BCPS Connect. Now available on the Apple App Store.

Screenshots

Here Comes the Bus4 screens
BCPS Connect4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Here Comes the Bus at 4.5 against BCPS Connect's 1.8. Here Comes the Bus also leads on ratings volume (74K vs 101) and review sentiment (32% vs 13%). BCPS Connect's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Here Comes the Bus holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 1.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Here Comes the Bus has 74K ratings behind it against 101, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 32% of Here Comes the Bus's written reviews are positive against 13% of BCPS Connect's.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Here Comes the Bus versus BCPS Connect: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHere Comes the BusBCPS Connect
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (74K ratings) — better1.8 (101 ratings)
Positive reviews32.2% of reviews — better12.8% of reviews
Number of ratings74K — better101
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.113.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size40 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSynovia Solutions LLCFocus School Software

Customer experience

Here Comes the Bus

All ratings73,957 ratings
Positive90.2%
Neutral5.4%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews329 reviews
Positive32.2%
Neutral13.4%
Negative54.4%

BCPS Connect

All ratings101 ratings
Positive16.8%
Neutral4.0%
Negative79.2%
Written reviews39 reviews
Positive12.8%
Neutral5.1%
Negative82.1%

User reviews

Here Comes the Bus

From 74K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Helpful for tracking bus location
  • 👍 Provides peace of mind for parents
  • 💡 Useful concept for school transportation

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Unreliable and buggy
  • 🚫 Inaccurate bus location data
  • ⚠️ Unresponsive customer support
  • 🕰️ Delayed or missing notifications

BCPS Connect

From 101 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Useful for tracking progress
  • 👍 Better than previous tools
  • 👍 Good for viewing schedules
  • 👍 App works fine for some users

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App frequently crashes
  • 🐛 Login issues persist
  • 🐛 Blank/white screen errors
  • 🐛 Difficult registration process
  • 🐛 Poor user interface

Bugs and requests

Here Comes the Bus

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Bus location stuck or showing incorrect position
  • App crashing or not loading bus data
  • Student bus assignments not properly reflected

Requested features

3 requests
  • Improve notification accuracy and timeliness
  • Allow customization of notification settings per child
  • Integrate with school transportation systems for better data sync

BCPS Connect

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • App crashes frequently
  • Blank/white screen after login
  • Login issues (permission declined, Microsoft sign-in broken)
  • App logs users out automatically
  • Information disappears, children no longer visible
Show 5 more
  • Cannot register new students or create accounts
  • Content overlaps on screens
  • App freezes after one login
  • Translation is awful
  • JQuery errors on first open

Requested features

6 requests
  • Bring back Pinnacle/Virtual Counselor
  • Improve language settings/translation
  • Add face recognition for login
  • Fix bugs and improve functionality
  • Make app more user-friendly
Show 1 more
  • Allow students more privacy

In-app purchases

None

Here Comes the Bus

No in-app purchases

None

BCPS Connect

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Here Comes the Bus free?
Here Comes the Bus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is BCPS Connect free?
BCPS Connect is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Here Comes the Bus or BCPS Connect?
Here Comes the Bus is rated higher. Here Comes the Bus averages 4.5 out of 5 from 74K ratings, while BCPS Connect averages 1.8 from 101 ratings.
Do Here Comes the Bus or BCPS Connect have ads?
Neither Here Comes the Bus nor BCPS Connect shows ads.

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