Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) has completed the migration of its existing school bus radio system from the public safety radio system to the new Local Government Trunked Radio System (LGTRS), which was planned for the start of the school year.

The installation of all school bus radios for the entire fleet (1,367), four dispatch control stations, 14 fleet maintenance trucks and all 314 two-way hand-held portable radios, is completed 10 days ahead of schedule. BCPS’s migration to the LGTRS is a separate, but parallel, effort from the purchase and distribution of an additional 1,100 two-way hand-held portable radios distributed to more than 190 of District schools in March 2019.

Since the beginning of the process, BCPS and Broward County have worked together to assure seamless and on-time completion, including delivery and programming of the radios, installation of the control station, radio testing, installation and training.

“The migrated system will continue to provide reliable communication to our busses each day without impacting the capacity of the public safety system,” said Superintendent Robert W. Runcie. “The positive collaboration between BCPS and Broward County on this complex migration process was key to its momentum, efficiency and overall success.”

"The new $1.3 million investment in infrastructure, paid for by Broward County with General Fund (ad valorem) dollars and implemented ahead of schedule and before the start of the new school year, achieves the goal of moving non-public safety communications off the public safety radio system, which ensures that public safety first responders have a dedicated public safety radio system and it saves money for local government and public school users," said County Administrator Bertha Henry. 

In June 2019, summer school dispatchers and school bus drivers were trained, including call-ins to dispatch through the two-way system on their dry runs to ensure the system is functioning properly. Transportation specialists, transportation supervisors and terminal managers were trained on the new system earlier this month, with the remainder of school bus driver training scheduled just prior to the start of school.