A seventh grader in Polk County is getting national attention for creating an app to help track school buses.

  • Polk County teen creates app to track school buses
  • Niriham Shah got idea for app after being tired of waiting for bus
  • The app, Bus Wiz, in the process of being developed for use

Niriham Shah is the creator of Bus W​iz.

“It’s a school bus tracking app. It can tell the expected arrival time, the exact location of the bus, and it sends notifications when the bus will be at the stop or if it’ll be late,” said Niriham Shah.

Shah said he came up with the idea in September when he got tired of not knowing when his bus was going to pick him up at Sikes Elementary and take him to Union Academy, where he attends school.

“I would have to wait for hours at the bus stop at times and um, my parents wouldn’t know when the bus would be getting to the stop and they wouldn’t know when to pick me up. In the mornings I would have to wait in the cold and it’d be very frustrating to not know where the bus was,” Shah explained.

Instead of complaining, he got to work and came up with the concept for the app.

Shah joined the Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy to learn how to build the business.

Investors liked his idea so much they gave him more than $5,000. During the Young Entrepreneur Academy’s national competition, the Saunders Scholars competition, Shah said he got fourth place amongst 100 other competitors.

He made his parents proud.

“It was a very humbling experience for us,” said Malay Shah, his father. “We never knew he would reach to that stage. And I believe all the credit goes to all of his mentors at the Lakeland Chamber, especially the Polk County School Board Transportation Department who has been a fantastic support to him.”

The Polk County School District and All Saints Academy have both signed letters of intent, stating they’d like to learn more about the app and explore implementing it in a pilot program when it’s ready.

“It’s been difficult to develop this app but it’s definitely worth it because it will help so many parents around Polk County,” said Shah.

Shah said he’ll be busy working on the app throughout the summer. He hopes to have parents using it by this fall. 

“I’ll send it out to developers who are going to be making the app. And they’ve already started, actually,” Shah explained.  

Parents will be able to use the app by paying $25 per year for the first child in the household. Families with multiple students will receive a discounted rate, according to Shah.

The Polk County School District won’t incur an expense implementing it, since the app will use the district’s bus GPS system already in use.

Shah hopes his app will one day be used by school districts across the state.