BusM8 is the all-in-one platform Australian bus operators use to roster drivers, manage vehicles, triage defects, and stay compliant. One depot calendar. One source of truth.
Drivers see today's shifts, accept their roster, mark defects, request leave, and start each shift with a tap. No paperwork. No radios.
Build rosters, approve leave, triage defects, track compliance, manage charters. Operations staff see exactly what's covered — and what isn't — in one view.
Drivers, buses, leave, training, charters, defects — all in one stacked calendar. Filter by category. See who else is off before approving a leave request. See exactly which runs aren't covered. No spreadsheets, no whiteboard, no surprises.
The roster is colour-coded by status. Operations staff don't read names — they read colours. A black box appears around any run that isn't covered. Click it, change the driver or the bus, done.
| Shift | Mon 25/05 | Tue 26/05 | Wed 27/05 | Thu 28/05 | Fri 29/05 | Sat 30/05 | Sun 31/05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M1Schln | Walker B. | Cooper J. | Walker B. | Bennett M. | Walker B. | Available | Available |
| M2Schln | Cooper J. | Bennett M. | Cooper J. | Walker B. | Adams S. | Available | Available |
| S302AM | Carter L. | Carter L. | Carter L. | Carter L. | Carter L. | Available | Available |
| S303PM | Hayes T. | Foster K. | Foster K. | Foster K. | Foster K. | Available | Available |
| S318AM | Hayes T. | No driver | No driver | No driver | No driver | Available | Available |
| CH-104 | Char · Echuca | — | — | Training | Char · Echuca | — | — |
Defects captured on the driver app feed straight to the workshop. Workshop triage decides when a vehicle is rectified, and that flows back into vehicle availability and the depot calendar.
Pre-trip, mid-shift or post-trip — the driver captures the defect, photos, severity and notes on their phone.
Workshop assigns severity, schedules rectification, and decides whether the bus stays in service.
If the bus is grounded, vehicle availability updates instantly — flagged on the calendar and pushed back to the driver app.
Every bus has an NFC tag at the rear. To finish a shift, the driver must walk the bus and scan it — proving the visual check happened, and logging who did it, when, and where.
At the end of the run, the driver hits End Shift on the app. Instead of closing, the app opens a Children Check screen — and it won't go away.
Only way to clear the screen: walk to the back of the bus and scan the NFC tag fixed there. The walk itself is the check — eyes on every seat, no child left on board.
The portal records the check: driver, time, GPS location and which trip it belonged to. The shift closes; operations can audit any check at any time.
BusM8 tracks every driver's Working with Children Check, Licence and Driver Authority. Expire one, the driver drops off the roster automatically. Renew one, they're back. Operations sees what's about to expire — well before it does.
See compliance tracking →One day-view across drivers, buses, leave, training, charters and defects. Filter by category.
Colour-coded weekly grid with a black box around any run that's not covered.
Allocate leave & training so only drivers who know the runs are rostered to drive them.
Manage the fleet. Mark buses unavailable. Service schedules feed straight into roster availability.
WWC, Licences & Driver Authorities tracked. Expiries auto-remove the driver from the roster.
Driver-captured defects flow to the workshop. Workshop decisions feed back to availability.
Plan and assign charter work alongside school runs. Charters share the same roster, calendar and buses.
SSTS roll from TfNSW, matched to runs and stops, with by-stop manifests checked on a map.
Accept rosters, start shifts, capture defects, request leave — all from the driver's phone.
BusM8 is built and supported in Australia. We know what a school run looks like, what a Driver Authority is, why a Working with Children Check matters, and how a charter on a Saturday quietly blows up the Monday roster.