Why Trayvar exists
School transport in Africa runs on WhatsApp groups, spreadsheets, and the operations manager's memory. That works at 30 children. It does not work at 300.
Trayvar is the layer that absorbs the complexity. The platform clusters children into pickup hubs, generates optimal routes overnight, delivers them to drivers on Android phones built to work offline on 2G, records each pickup with an NFC card tap and GPS, notifies parents on WhatsApp, and reports performance to operators and schools at the end of each month. Built for the operating realities of West and East Africa - and the buyers who run them.
Built for how schools actually work
The operating system built for how African schools move children.
One school, many campuses
Lekki primary at 07:30. Sangotedo secondary at 07:45. Kindergarten at Ikoyi from 08:00. One school brand, one Trayvar account, distinct bell times and routes per campus. Schools that run several campuses across Lagos get software that reflects how they operate.
Schools and operators, one platform
Whether your school runs its own buses or contracts an operator, Trayvar fits. Schools see their children. Operators see their fleets. Parents see their child's bus. Each role sees what matters to them, nothing more.
WhatsApp where parents already are
No new apps to download. Parents get a WhatsApp message when their child is picked up, when the bus is approaching home, when they have arrived safely. Built for how African parents already communicate.
What Trayvar does
Four functions, one platform, designed to work together.
Routing
An optimisation engine that clusters children into hubs and generates routes overnight. The operator reviews and approves in the morning.
NFC-enabled driver app
Android-first. Offline-capable. Built to work on 2G, on the phones drivers already carry. Drivers tap each child onto the bus with an NFC card; pickups are GPS-verified; panic button included.
Parent comms
WhatsApp is the channel parents already use. Trayvar sends pickup confirmations, ETAs, and service notices through it - automatically.
Analytics
Cost per child, on-time arrival, vehicle utilisation, safety incidents. The data operators show to schools, and schools show to boards.
How Trayvar fits your operation
Two pickup modes, built for how your market actually moves.
Hub mode
For shared pickup operations
Children gather at designated pickup points - bus stops, school gates, neighbourhood meeting spots. The driver visits each hub to collect children together. Suits operations where parents bring children to a common collection point. Common for schools with established neighbourhood transport patterns and operators serving suburbs with defined pickup zones.
Door mode
For home-to-school operations
Each child is picked up from their home address. The driver visits each child's home in an optimised sequence. Suits operations where parents expect collection at the front gate. Common for premium schools, smaller fleets serving fewer children per vehicle, and markets where shared hubs aren't culturally accepted.
Mix freely between hub and door. Trayvar supports operators who serve schools with different conventions, or who are transitioning from one model to another.
Built for the operating reality
Drivers on 2G phones. Pickup points the geocoder doesn't recognise. Bell times that vary by class.
Trayvar was designed in Lagos and engineered for the conditions West and East African school transport actually runs on. The NFC-enabled driver app holds its route offline. Parents drop a pin on WhatsApp when the address line fails. The optimiser handles a Kindergarten that finishes at 12:30 and a Secondary that finishes at 15:30 on the same day, from the same vehicle.
This is what infrastructure looks like when it's built for the buyer who lives the operation - not retrofitted from a US fleet tool.
How it works
Twelve stages. Two perspectives. One operating day.
Sign up & fleet setup
Operator creates a tenant, adds vehicles and drivers. Bulk import from CSV or manual entry.
Schools & children
Attach schools from the verified library. Enrol children via CSV or WhatsApp self-enrolment.
Hub clustering & routing
The optimiser clusters home pickups into hubs, generates routes overnight, surfaces them for review.
Live operations & reporting
Drivers run the route. Parents get notified. Operators monitor in real-time. The board sees monthly performance.
Who Trayvar is for
For schools
Whether you run one campus or several, your own fleet or a contracted operator. Trayvar gives you visibility over every child, every route, every bell time. Single campus today, several tomorrow - one account, the same tool. From a single campus in Lekki to several across Ikoyi and Abeokuta, to the school you are building next.
For operators
Run several schools as one operation. Trayvar handles the fleet, the drivers, the compliance, the routes. Pick up from hubs, drop at campuses, optimise across schools - one dashboard across every school you serve.
Trayvar is a Carthena Advisory product. Built by the firm that has spent years advising African organisations on operating, financial, and strategic questions - and decided to build software for one of them.
About Carthena AdvisoryMove children to school, with confidence.
If you run a school transport fleet anywhere in West or East Africa, we should talk. Pilots run for 14 weeks. The platform pays for itself within the first term.
Talk to us about your fleet