it's just about time to hear giggling kids in a schoolyard and recess bells ringing, as school begins for both local school divisions on Tuesday. 

The Prairie South School Division has made some major adjustments to their bussing schedules, both times and routes, to make things more efficient for not only them but students and parents as well. 

"What we've been able to do in the last two or three years is implement a piece of software called Bus Planner, which is a mapping software and it's connected with the GPS' in our busses," explained Director of Education Tony Baldwin. "We can ask the computer to run through some filters and decide which route is the most efficient route for a boy or girl to be on as they make their way to school."

Despite what might seem like various changes on paper, Baldwin said families shouldn't notice a difference as they will still be getting kids back and forth to school safely. 

"It's a more efficient system and our service times are better with the computer, even though we're running fewer routes division-wide. From the perspective of moms, dads, and kids, a bus will show up, a student will get on, and we'll deliver them safely to school and bring them back after school. There's really no impact on the parent."

He also noted that even though they made some major leaps recently with advancements, they're continuing to work on new ideas and potential programs that they could someday implement. One idea is something the city started not long ago, where riders can track their bus by looking at their phones. 

"We've done some testing this summer on a 'find your bus' portion of this software.... some of the city transit systems have where you can look at an app and see where the bus is and you know exactly when it'll get to your door. That's something we've done some testing on and we're quite excited about that."

Most of these changes and adjustments were done to the rural schedules that they had. But Baldwin said after the Prairie South and the Holy Trinity Catholic School Division agreed to work together on bussing, they have all students getting picked up with both sides seeing fewer miles put on the busses and students spending less time on the bus in the mornings and at the end of the day.