Should your school district implement electronic ID cards for student ridership tracking on buses?
Since the first use of ID cards to track students in Houston, in 2004, the practice has been highly controversial. Yet schools continue to experiment with ID cards for tracking student ridership and attendance, because it brings a lot of long-term benefits for a reasonable cost.
What is ridership tracking, and what can it do for your school district? Let's take a look.
How Student Ridership Tracking Works
Currently, there are three basic ways of tracking student ID cards, with scanners installed on buses.
Any of these technologies can be used to track student ridership on buses. While some are made uncomfortable by direct student tracking, managing your student ridership becomes easier if implemented in your district.
Why Utilize ID Cards for Student Ridership Tracking?
Despite some largely overblown privacy concerns, the reality is that student tracking will bring significant benefits to your bus system.
1 - Always know who's on your buses
The most direct benefit of student ID tracking is that you will always have accurate data about bus usage: who gets on, who gets off, when and where. The onboard ID scanner will register and record every student as they come and go. This data can later be analyzed to help refine your bus routes and ridership.
2 - Prevent ridership mistakes
Children are accident-prone, and could easily get onto the wrong bus, or get off at the wrong stop. With a cloud-connected system, the ID tracking system would be able to instantly alert bus drivers to the problem. This gives them time to correct any errors before the bus leaves and help ensure every student gets on and off at the right spots.
It can even prevent rare cases of students falling asleep on the bus and ending up back at the barn. If the students that got on are not marked as getting off, the driver gets alerted so he can do a sweep of the bus to make sure there are no students still onboard.
3 - GPS tracking adds more data
Chances are, you already have GPS tracking systems on your buses. These pair extremely well with ID tracking, because that gives you exact data on where every student disembarks. Again, this can help prevent lost students, or students accidentally getting off at the wrong stop.
Parents can also be notified instantly so they are kept informed of where their child got on and off the bus.
Whenever a student is 'lost' within the transportation system, they need to be located ASAP. A proper student ID tracking setup makes this far easier to accomplish, with a minimum of drama.
4 - Improve state reporting
If your state reimburses bus expenses based on ridership, ID tracking can be an invaluable tool for guaranteeing you get your full reimbursement. You'll have exact computer-tracked data, securely stored and ready to be put into your state reports. There's far less chance of human error, or under-counting your ridership.
BusBoss Protects Your Precious Cargo
BusBoss offers integrated school bus routing, tracking, and data analysis systems all designed to help your routes run better, safer, and more affordable. Click here to see our full product line, or contact us to request a live demo!
Tracking is good for districts, it’s good for students, and it’s good for parents. That makes it a real win-win investment for districts. What arguments do you find compelling, when talking about bus tracking?