Built because we needed it.
BarkBus started as the in-house app for Cromwell Canines, a pack school running two vans out of Cromwell, Central Otago.
The status quo was the same as everywhere else in the industry: a printed sheet, a WhatsApp group, a spreadsheet that nobody trusts, and an owner phoning at 8:01am wondering why the van isn't outside. The team built BarkBus to make a morning run quiet — drivers know who's next, owners get a ping the second their dog is on board, and billing catches itself up without a Sunday-night reckoning.
After a year of using it ourselves, other pack-school owners started asking for it. So now it's a product.
Who's behind it
Tim McEwan — software engineer, dog person, and co-owner of Cromwell Canines. Builds BarkBus in the evenings; uses it every morning.
What we're not
We're not trying to be a giant SaaS platform. We're trying to make the morning run easier for ten or twenty pack schools that look a lot like ours. If that's you, we'd love to chat.