The arrivals dashboard is the staff-facing screen used at pickup time each afternoon. It shows every bus due today, lets staff tap to mark arrived / called / departed, and updates the public displays in real time.
Opening the dashboard
Go to Buses from the staff menu. The dashboard loads with the day’s bus arrivals — one row per bus, ordered by expected arrival.
The three states
Each bus moves through three states during pickup:
| State | What it means | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Expected | The bus is on the schedule for today but hasn’t arrived yet. | Default state. No action required. |
| Arrived | The bus has pulled up at the pickup point. | Staff tap Arrived. The bus shows on the large-screen display so students know it’s here. |
| Called | Students for this bus are being directed to board. | Staff tap Called. The large-screen flags the bus as boarding. |
| Departed | The bus has left. | Staff tap Departed. The bus is removed from the active list. |
Each tap is a single click — the dashboard is designed for touchscreen use at the bus stop.
Re-toggling a state
If a tap is made by mistake — e.g. you marked a bus arrived when you meant the one next to it — tap the state again to undo. The state toggles off.
What students see
When you tap Arrived or Called, the large-screen display updates immediately — see The large-screen and responsive bus displays. Students looking at the screen know which bus is ready without crowding the staff dashboard.
Late or missing buses
If a bus hasn’t arrived by its expected time:
- The dashboard still shows it as Expected.
- Use the bus company contact details (set up in Setting up buses and bus companies) to ring the operator.
- If the bus is running late, add a note via the bus’s Arrival text — it’ll show on the large-screen.
Changes mid-pickup
If you need to change a bus’s expected arrival time on the fly (e.g. the bus company rings to say they’re 15 minutes late), there’s no direct “update arrival time” field on the dashboard. The fastest way to communicate the change to students is:
- Go to the bus’s manage page.
- Add an Arrival text (e.g. Bus 7 running 15 mins late).
- The text appears on the dashboard and large-screen.
Clear the text after the bus departs.
End of day
Once all buses have departed, the dashboard empties. There’s no end-of-day action — tomorrow’s arrivals are generated overnight from the schedule.
If you want to review today’s pickup, the dashboard shows departed buses at the bottom of the screen for the rest of the day.
Who can use the dashboard
The dashboard is restricted to staff with the bus pickup permission. Most schools grant this to a small operations team (typically the staff on duty at pickup) rather than all staff.
Mobile use
The dashboard works on a phone or tablet — the layout adapts to smaller screens. Some schools issue tablets to the staff doing pickup; others use a dedicated screen at the bus stop with a touchscreen overlay.
Troubleshooting
- A bus is missing from the dashboard. Check that it’s marked Active and has the right day-of-week tick. If both look right and it’s still missing, ask your portal admin to regenerate today’s arrivals.
- A tap isn’t registering. Refresh the page. The dashboard polls for changes but a stale browser tab can occasionally miss a state.
- The large-screen isn’t updating. See The large-screen and responsive bus displays.