November 10, 2017 17:10

App Helps Parents Track School Transport Service

For a small fee, a locally developed application enables parents in Tehran to monitor private transport services their children use to and from school

The application was unveiled in September and now is fully operational. According to the Tico website, the company is planning to offer services in other cities

In the sprawling capital that never stops expanding in all four directions, working parents mostly rely on private transport for getting their children to and from school. Now a newly launched application ‘Tico’ enables them to track via GPS vehicles the students ride.

According to the company’s website, parents can subscribe to the service for an annual fee of 150,000 rials ($4).

So far 400 drivers in Tehran have registered their cars with Tico, and GPS devices have been installed on their vehicles. On the application’s interactive map, parents can check when the car will arrive at their door and get the children ready in time.

Furthermore, they will receive a notification on their cell phone when the child arrives at school.

One of the other benefits of using Tico is that parents can communicate with the drivers. For instance, they can message the driver and cancel a ride for a day.

The application is available for download on Google Play and local app markets Sibapp (for iDevices) and Café Bazaar (Android). The company says 2,200 families are using Tico.

The application was unveiled in September and now is fully operational. Tico says it has plans to offer services in other cities.

Another Solution

An update for Telegram, the most popular messaging app in Iran, was released in October, can come handy in such situations.

A new location-based service ‘Live Location’ has been added to the messenger, which enables users to streamline their location to any chat in real time.

For instance, when the users are on their way to an appointment and they are late instead of sending static locations on the map every minute, they can share Live Location with other users.

To access the feature, users should select ‘Location’ from the attachment menu and choose ‘Share My Location for [a defined period of time with the chosen contact]’.

Many youngsters have smartphones these days. Before leaving the house, they can activate Telegram’s new service and share their location with their parents while on the way to school.