Camera systems for school buses

Schools and parents want to know where the bus is, how many children got on, and what happened on board.

The short answer

A school bus needs four or more camera views: the road, the driver, each door and the aisle. An MDVR such as the WD11 records them to SD cards, counts passengers at one to four doors and sends location and video to the school or operator over 4G. A driver-monitoring camera adds a fatigue alarm.

Camera views: 4 to 8
Recorder: WD11 MDVR
Storage: Two SD cards, up to 256 GB each

What goes wrong, and what video changes

Knowing how many boarded
Schools need to know how many children got on and off at each stop. Counters above the doors record boarding and alighting on every trip.
Incidents on board
Aisle and door cameras record what happened inside the bus, with time and GPS position, so a complaint can be checked against video.
Driver alertness
A driver-facing infrared camera detects closed eyes and head nodding and sounds an alarm in the cab, on dark mornings as well as in daylight.

Recommended camera layout

An SD-card MDVR records interior and exterior cameras and counts boarding passengers at each door, while a driver-monitoring camera watches for fatigue.

Camera layout for school buses
Position	Equipment	What it covers
Windscreen, facing the road	ADAS Camera	The road ahead, with lane-departure, pedestrian and vehicle-distance warnings
Dashboard or A-pillar	DSM Camera	The driver, with a closed-eye and head-nodding fatigue alarm
Above each door	3D passenger counter on the WD11	Boarding and alighting counts, on one to four doors
Ceiling, over the aisle	AHD003 dome camera	Seats and aisle, with infrared for dark mornings and evenings
Rear	Exterior AHD camera	Reversing and vehicles behind the bus

What this setup gives you

Live location for administrators
Passenger counting at 1 to 4 doors
Over-speed and geofence alerts

How ADAS, DMS and BSD alerts work

Products in this setup

Storage and mobile data

How long footage is kept

This setup records 2 × 1080p and 2 × 720p, about 6.3 GB an hour at standard quality. On one 256 GB SD card, that is roughly 38 hours of recording before the oldest footage is overwritten, or about 76 hours in H.265, which the WD11 supports.

Storage calculator

How much 4G data it uses

Recording uses no mobile data. Tracking uses about 17 MB a month at a 30-second interval. Watching all 4 cameras of this setup on the sub-stream for an hour uses about 160 to 240 MB. A 15-second event clip is about 5.6 MB at 720p or 7.5 MB at 1080p.

4G data calculator

Before you order

The WD11 runs on 10–36 V DC, for 12 V and 24 V buses, and operates from -20 °C to +70 °C. 4G and GPS are optional modules: order them for live location and video.
Passenger counters and AI cameras share the recorder's inputs. Tell us the number of doors and views and we will confirm the configuration before you order.
Counting gives totals per door and stop; it does not identify individual passengers. Our specification rates the 3D counter above 95% accuracy, and mounting height, door width and lighting affect the result.
Mount the counters above each door. We recommend professional installation and provide wiring guidance.

School bus camera questions

How many cameras does a school bus need?

A school bus needs four to eight cameras, depending on its length and the number of doors: the road, the driver, each door, the aisle and the rear.

Can the system count students getting on and off?

Yes. The WD11 MDVR supports 3D binocular passenger counting on one to four doors. It counts people boarding and alighting; it does not identify individuals.

Can the school see where the bus is?

Yes. With 4G and GPS, the bus's live location, route history and video are available in the Traqcare app and web platform, with alerts for over-speeding and for entering or leaving a zone you define.

How long is school bus video kept?

With the road and driver cameras at 1080p and the aisle and rear cameras at 720p, the setup uses about 6.3 GB an hour, so one 256 GB card holds roughly 38 hours before the oldest footage is overwritten. H.265 doubles that, and the WD11 takes two cards.

Guides for this fleet

Not sure which camera fits your fleet?

Tell us your vehicles and what you need to see. An engineer recommends a setup, usually within 2 hours.

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