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Contactless smart card scheme tracks pupils at US school
3 Sep 2010

A new contactless smart card scheme has been launched in a US school which allows officials to keep track of students during bus journeys.

Palos Heights School District 128 in Chicago has issued the ID cards to 400 students in 5th grade and below, reports chicagobreakingnews.com.

The system uses GPS technology to track the location of the school bus, while the institution can ascertain if a particular child is on the vehicle as they all log in once they are onboard.

Parents can simply phone the school to enquire about the whereabouts of the bus if their child is running late, and the school's secretary can alert them to its location.

Currently, around five per cent of the 490,000 US school buses use student tracking technology, according to the National Association for Pupil Transportation.

Mike Martin, executive director of the organisation, told the news provider: "It's absolutely growing, and I think exponentially."