Vanu Driver App Guide
Learn how to use the Vanu Driver App to manage your trips, communicate with guardians, and provide safe transportation for students.
Quick Navigation
The Home Screen is your central hub for managing daily trips. Here you'll see all your trips scheduled for today at a glance.
Today's Trips
View all trips scheduled for the current day. Each trip card shows the trip name, scheduled time, and number of stops.
Create Trip Button
Tap the floating action button (+) in the bottom right corner to create a new trip.
Creating a trip allows you to plan your route, add students, and schedule pickup or dropoff times. Follow these steps to create a well-organized trip.
Naming Your Trip
Give your trip a descriptive name (e.g., 'Morning School Run' or 'Afternoon Dropoff'). This name will be visible to guardians, so choose something clear and recognizable.
Trip Type: Pickup vs Dropoff
Select whether this is a pickup or dropoff trip. This is important because guardians may have different addresses registered for each type.
Pickup Trip
Students are collected from their registered pickup addresses and brought to school or a central location.
Dropoff Trip
Students are taken from school to their registered dropoff addresses. The app automatically uses each guardian's dropoff address.
Adding Stops
Add the students and locations for your trip. There are two ways to add stops:
Add Individual Stops
Add students one by one, selecting them from your list of guardians. Each student's registered address (pickup or dropoff based on trip type) will be used.
Add Groups
If you've created guardian groups, you can add an entire group at once, saving time for recurring trips with the same students.
Managing Stops
After adding stops, you can organize them as needed:
- Remove a stop by tapping the delete button
- Drag stops from the menu icon (≡) to change the order of your route
- Tap a stop to edit its address
Route Optimization
The app can automatically optimize your route to minimize travel time and distance. Tap the optimize button to rearrange intermediate stops for the most efficient path. The first and last stops always remain fixed.
Locking Stops
Need certain intermediate stops to stay in a specific position? Lock them before optimizing. Locked stops will remain in place while the optimizer rearranges the unlocked stops around them.
Route Preview
Tap the Route button above the bottom drawer to see your complete trip route on the map with the current stop configuration and order. This helps you visualize the journey before starting.
Scheduling
Set when your trip will occur. You can create one-time trips or recurring schedules.
One-Time Trip
Select a specific date and time for a single trip occurrence.
Recurring Trip
Set up a weekly schedule by selecting which days of the week the trip repeats. Each selected day will have the trip at the specified time.
Create Trip
Once everything is configured, tap 'Create Trip' to save. The trip will appear in your calendar and home screen for the scheduled day(s). Guardians will be able to see the trip name, schedule, and their pickup/dropoff address.
Edit a trip when you need to make permanent changes that affect all future occurrences. This includes changing the name, schedule, or stops.
Important: Changes made here are permanent and affect all future instances of the trip. For changes that only affect a specific day, use Exceptions instead.
How to Access Edit Mode
- Navigate to the trip in your calendar or home screen
- Tap the trip card to open the trip details
- Tap the Edit button (pencil icon) to modify the trip
When it's time to begin your route, start the trip to enable live tracking and notifications for guardians.
Trip Overview
Tap a trip card on the home screen or calendar to open the trip overview. This shows you all the stops, scheduled times, and any exceptions for that day, allowing you to quickly review before starting.
Last Minute Changes
Need to make a quick adjustment? Enable 'Last Minute Changes' mode to modify stops, reorder the route, or skip students for today only.
These changes only affect today's trip and won't alter the original trip configuration.
Starting the Trip
When you're ready, tap 'Start Trip' to begin. This activates several features:
- Your live location starts being shared with all guardians on the trip
- Guardians receive a notification that the trip has started
- Guardians are automatically notified when you're approaching their stop
Using Maps Navigation
Tap the navigation button to open your trip in Google Maps. The app will load all your stops with your current settings, guiding you through the complete route.
Finishing the Trip
When you've completed all stops, tap 'Finish Trip' to end the session. This stops location sharing and marks the trip as complete for the day.
Exceptions handle special circumstances that affect a trip on a particular day without changing the regular schedule.
Types of Exceptions
Guardian Exceptions
Stop Cancellation
The student won't be picked up on this specific day. Useful for sick days, holidays, or other absences.
Location Change
The student needs to be picked up at a different address than usual for this specific day.
Driver Exceptions
Schedule Change
Change the trip start time for a specific day. Guardians will be notified of the new schedule.
Trip Cancellation
Cancel the entire trip for a specific day. Guardians will be notified that there will be no trip that day.
How Exceptions Work
When an exception is created, it's reflected in the trip for that day. To see all exceptions, navigate to the 'Manage Exceptions' screen by tapping 'manage all exceptions' in the trip overview, or by tapping the pencil icon and selecting 'manage this day's exceptions'.
Guardian-Created Exceptions
Guardians can also create exceptions through the web app. They might notify you that they'll cancel a stop, or request a different pickup/dropoff location. You'll receive a notification when a guardian creates an exception.
As the driver, you can cancel any guardian-created exception if needed. The guardian will be notified of the cancellation.
Creating an Exception
- Open the trip and tap the pencil icon, then select 'manage this day's exceptions'
- Tap the (+) button to create a new exception
- Select the exception type and the date it applies to
- Enter the relevant details based on the exception type
Connect with guardians to enable trip tracking and communication. There are multiple ways to invite guardians to your trips.
Email Invitation
Send an invitation directly to the guardian's email address.
- Enter the guardian's email in the app
- They receive an email with an invitation link
- Guardian creates an account (or logs in) and accepts the invitation
Share Invitation Link
Generate a unique invitation link to share via WhatsApp, SMS, or any messaging platform. The guardian opens the link, creates an account (or logs in), and accepts the invitation to connect with you.
Unregistered Guardians
If a guardian doesn't want to use the web app, you can create an unregistered guardian manually. This allows you to include them in trips like any other guardian.
Limitation: Unregistered guardians won't receive notifications or be able to track your location. They function as placeholders for route planning.
Groups help you organize guardians for faster trip creation. Instead of adding students one by one, add an entire group to your trip instantly.
Why Use Groups?
- Save time when creating trips with the same students
- Organize students by school, neighborhood, or schedule
- Quickly manage recurring trips with consistent passengers
Creating a Group
- Go to the guardian management screen
- Select the 'Groups' tab
- Tap the (+) button to create a new group
- Give the group a name and add the guardians you want