Bus Pass Distribution Strategies

Bus Pass Distribution Strategies

Here are some common ways schools go about assigning and distributing bus passes (fobs, RFID cards, etc.) to students.

Table at Lunch, Study Hall, or Orientation

A school will set up a table at lunch and have students that ride the bus come up to the table.
  1. An administrator will have a laptop, an RFID reader, and bus passes to scan. The laptop is open to the Students tile of the dashboard.
  2. Bus riders approach the table and give their name (e.g. Sally Smith).
  3. The administrator finds Sally Smith in the Students tile, clicks Edit, and scans a bus pass on the RFID reader. The fob number field will populate.
  4. The administrator gives the bus pass to the student.

Assign Bus Passes En Masse and Distribute

  1. An administrator will have a laptop, an RFID reader, and bus passes to scan. The laptop is open to the Students tile of the dashboard.
  2. The administrator finds a bus rider for bus pass assignment in the Students tile, clicks Edit, and scans a bus pass on the RFID reader. The fob number field will populate.
  3. Label the bus pass in a way that it will get to the correct student. For example, attach a key tag to the bus pass with the student's name on it, put the bus pass in a zipper storage bag along with the student's name on a slip of paper, etc.
  4. Repeat until all bus riders have been assigned bus passes.
  5. Distribute the bus passes to the students.
The key is to find a way that each bus pass gets to the correct student so that you have correct reporting on the dashboard.

District Roll Out Considerations

Discuss options for assigning and distributing bus passes and the timeline:
  1. District-Wide
  2. School by School
  3. Bus by Bus
Discuss timeline. Plan on assigning about 100 bus passes per hour.
Make a plan for replacing lost bus passes:
  1. Will schools have their own readers?
  2. Who will be responsible for reassigning bus passes?
  3. Will you charge a replacement fee?

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