The bus list is a one-time setup task. Once your fleet is configured, the daily arrivals dashboard works automatically — you only come back here when a route changes.
Where to manage buses
Go to Buses → Manage. The list shows every bus configured for your school. Use New bus to add one.
Fields per bus
For each bus, set:
- Identifier — what staff and students see. Bus 7, White Bus, Mosman Route — whatever your school calls it.
- Company — the operator running the route. Pick from the list of bus companies (see below). If the company doesn’t exist yet, add it first.
- Route description — optional free text describing the route or destination (e.g. Mosman via Spit Bridge). Shown on the large-screen display.
- Days running — tick the weekdays this bus operates. Most school buses run Monday–Friday, but some routes are only certain days.
- Active — untick to retire a bus without deleting it.
Bus companies
Each bus belongs to a company — the operator. To add one:
- Go to Buses → Companies.
- New company.
- Set the name, contact email and phone.
Use the contact details for follow-up calls if a bus is late or hasn’t arrived. PortalHQ doesn’t send anything automatically — the company record is just a directory.
Generating today’s arrivals
Each morning, PortalHQ generates a Bus Arrival record for every bus due to run today (based on the Days running tick boxes). Staff don’t need to do this manually.
If the schedule changes — e.g. a bus that normally runs Mondays needs to run a Tuesday this week — talk to your portal admin about a one-off override.
Editing a bus
To change details:
- Open the bus from the manage list.
- Edit fields.
- Save.
Changes apply to future days. Today’s arrival record carries the bus’s settings as they were when the day’s arrivals were generated, so a change you make at midday doesn’t change what’s on the dashboard right now.
Removing a bus
Two options:
- Untick Active — keeps the historical record (so the arrival history makes sense) but the bus stops appearing on new daily arrivals. Use this for routes that are pausing or being replaced.
- Delete — removes the bus and its history. Only use this for buses added in error.
Arrival text customisation
Each bus can have a customisable arrival text that shows on the dashboard and on the large-screen display when the bus arrives. Use this for special instructions: students wait at the back gate today or late departure: 4:15 pm.
Set it via the bus’s manage page. Clear it once the special instruction no longer applies.
A note on multi-campus schools
If your school operates multiple campuses, each campus typically has its own bus list. The daily arrivals dashboard filters automatically based on which campus the staff member belongs to. Set the campus on each bus to keep the right buses on the right dashboards.