The Wheels on the Bus

One school district in Kansas is setting up an RFID system to ensure buses transporting more than 10,000 students daily run safely and smoothly.

So far, RFID tags have been installed on 147 school buses, equipping drivers and mechanics with handheld RFID interrogators that are able to read those tags.

Software running on the handheld interrogators takes a driver through a series of questions about the vehicle’s mechanical systems. At the same time, it directs the driver to visit specific RFID-tagged areas, or zones, on the bus and check certain items, such as the brake lights, rear tires, overhead interior lights and emergency exits. Upon arrival at each tagged zone, the driver waves the handheld near the RFID tag, which time- and date-stamps the answers given to the questions associated with that zone.